Post subject: women like sugar, men like meat

Women Like Sugar, Men Like Meat

Extract

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Comfort food for women often means snuggling up with tub of mint chocolate ice cream to wallow in their blues. But for men, comfort foods serve as a reward when life is looking rosy.

Just what triggers people to turn to "comfort foods" — and which foods they pick — often depends on whether you're asking a man or a woman, according to a new study by Cornell University researchers.

It turns out women are slightly more likely to eat comfort foods high in fat and sugar like cakes and ice cream — along with a hefty serving of guilt, loneliness and depression.

Men, on the other hand, are more likely to turn to soups, pasta and steaks as a reward when they're feeling upbeat.

"Comfort foods don't have to be high in fat and sugar. Comfort foods can be healthy," said Jordan LeBel, a Cornell professor and lead author on the study. "This shows we can re-educate people so that comfort foods aren't always about negative emotions."

Foods high in sugar and fat content are more efficient in alleviating negative feelings, according to the study. That finding is supported by numerous past studies, including one by researchers at the University of California in San Francisco that found rats tended to consume fat-packed foods when confronted with high-stress situations.

But the Cornell study also found that those who named comfort foods low in calories — like soups, fruits and vegetables — were more prone to associate them with positive emotions.

"Not everyone uses comfort foods to alleviate stress," LeBel said.

Among the other findings were that older people were also more likely to report higher positive emotions after eating their favorite comfort foods than women and younger adults.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health...ds_x.htm?csp=34

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I love the sweets

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Meat is meat, and a man must eat!!!

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I wonder if Macdonald's tries to adverse burgers more toward men than women.

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Interesting article. I like sugar from time to time but I do tend to prefer savoury rather than sweet foods for the most part.

Aaron

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I also don't eat too much sugary products, but I never thought that it's a male behavior. I wonder if this is true in US. Not all, but most Americans, both men and women eat a lot of sugary products.

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I don't know why but I think chocolate cravings are often associated with women rather than men (at least more so).

Aaron

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Could this be because woman may have a lower threshhold for strong tastes? http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Thompson/chap4.htm

Perhaps beer comes across less tasty to women while chocolates, etc come across a bit too sweet for men?

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Also interesting to note how their findings have differed from previous findings!

Goes to show how research is a process rather than "The Undeniable Truth". Perhaps we should make like Confucius and "always reserve judgement for later"?

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That's true! All the more reason, imo, for us to stop just swallowing every bit of research that makes the papers, but to give the research process a chance to mature and see where the findings eventually end up!

Women like sugar, men like... beer?

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I agree, its an interesting article and at the same time a very predictable sexist myth created in the film industry. Where else would you find a woman lying on a sofa, with a tub of ice-cream than in a chick flick?

I don't eat any sugar myself, as I'm more of a savoury person. I find sugar replacements in natural fruit, and nuts. I do love my meat too, but I don't over eat too much of it, as it's not good for my body.