Study: Eating to Deal With Stress Adds Extra Weight to Burden

People who eat to deal with stress gain the burden of added weight, according to researchers at the Oulu Regional Institute of Occupational Health om Finland.

The foods people choose to appease their stress tend to be comfort foods consisting of greasy, salty or sweet choices.

Stress-driven eaters, more of them women than men, weigh more on average, according to the study published in Preventive Medicine.

Researchers studied 2,359 men and 2,791 women born in 1966 in Northern Finland. The participants were assessed at four times during their life (birth, age 1, 14 and 31). At age 31, the participant's body mass index, eating habits and methods of coping with stress were analyzed.

The body mass index at 31 years was highest among stress-driven eaters and drinkers, especially among women, the researchers reported.

The participants who ate to relieve stress ate more pizza, hamburgers, sausages and chocolate than other people. They also drank more alcohol than non-stress driven eaters. Men were more likely to be stress-driven eaters if they were single, divorced, frequently unemployed, had an academic degree (possibly due to on-the-job stress) or a low level of occupational education.

For women, the best predictor was a lack of emotional support.

"Programs aimed at preventing and treating obesity should cover the way in which people deal with emotions, ways of achieving greater emotional support, and strategies for handling stress caused by unemployment or work," advised the researchers.

Other sources: Preventive Medicine