Food-Mood Connection

Written by Pat's Papers | Monday, 8 November 2010 8:45 AM

You’ve heard it before: You are what you eat. But what about this one: Can the food on your plate affect your mood? The LA Times says no—unless you want it to. “If food were designed to take mood way up or way down, we’d be in big trouble,” says a psychologist interviewed by the paper.

But if you believe chocolate will, say, improve your mood, it probably will. Explains the same psychologist:  “Our perceptions about food and what it will do for us are very strong and can create a self-fulfilling prophecy, even if no physiological evidence exists.” For clarity, the Times asked a group of scientists to test what, if any, effect three things—sugar, coffee and carbs—had on people’s moods. Apparently, it’s true that coffee makes you sharper but the myth that sugar makes kids hyperactive or that carbs calm you down are just that—myths.

The BBC explored the relationship between food and mood in a recent documentary:

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