Study reveals the psychological reasons for comfort eating

By Dr. Liji Thomas, MDReviewed by Lauren HardakerJul 14 2025

We think that we eat comfort food for pleasure, but science shows boredom and the need for a mental boost is what really sends us diving into the snack drawer.

Study: Why Do We Eat Comfort Food? Exploring Expectations Regarding Comfort Food and Their Relationship with Comfort Eating Frequency. Image credit: Prostock-studio/Shutterstock.com

Comfort food is commonly consumed worldwide and is widely associated with various emotional and mental states. However, the reasons for eating comfort food are still unknown. A recent study in Nutrients examined specific expectations from comfort food and whether these influenced their comfort eating behavior.

What is comfort food?

Comfort food is food that provides psychological comfort. It commonly includes snacks like chips, ice cream, cookies, candies, chocolate, and food-like items like pizza. Comfort foods are often rich in calories and have a high sugar and/or fat content, making them potentially harmful to health.  

Research on the emotional benefits of eating comfort foods remains inconclusive. It suggests that some foods are more likely than others to enhance mood after a negative mood inducer, but that the benefit may be short-lived. Interestingly, people who believe comfort food helps them may feel better just thinking about it, for instance, by looking at a drawing or writing about their experience with comfort food. This suggests that anticipated outcomes play a significant role in the emotional benefits of comfort food.

Different people may expect comfort food to act in various ways. Such differences may also exist between the sexes because they regulate their emotions differently. Women ponder over problems and try to get a proper perspective to manage their feelings, while men are more likely to blame others and to bury their emotions.

Behavior is also influenced by their expectations about the outcome, usually learned from prior direct or indirect experiences.  People who eat for pleasure or reward tend to overeat during social gatherings and celebrations. Conversely, those who eat to feel better when they are depressed are more likely to binge-eat.

Expectations from comfort eating may be based on culture or memories, often from childhood or significant life events, or from experiencing a better mood after eating comfort food. Physiological underpinnings are not lacking, such as increased levels of the mood-elevating chemical serotonin after eating chicken, which is rich in the precursor amino acid tryptophan. However, the recent study did not test these biological mechanisms directly.

Comfort eating may also reduce activity within the neural pathways involved in chronic stress release. People may eat comfort food to reduce their stress when faced with cognitive tasks, or to get extra energy, as seen in students eating more before an examination.

However, these findings have not been tested in comfort food eating patterns. The current study examined the hypothesis that people turn to comfort food because they expect some emotional or mental benefit.  

About the study

The researchers conducted an online survey, which attracted 214 participants. They were asked to report their primary comfort food and how often they ate it over the past two weeks and the long term. The primary comfort foods most frequently reported were chocolate, chips or crisps, and sweet baked goods, but responses varied widely.

The investigators explored comfort food feelings using five subscales related to their expectations: Manage Negative Affect, Pleasurable and Rewarding, Enhances Cognitive Competence, Alleviates Boredom, and Positive Feelings.

Study findings

For most participants, chocolate was the primary comfort food, followed by chips or crisps and baked sweetmeats like cake or doughnuts. The primary comfort food was typically the most often eaten, the easiest to obtain, or the one that provided comfort in various situations or moods.

Participants most commonly reported eating their primary comfort food at least once in the past two weeks. They reported consuming as many as 20 times, the median being two. The most common reported frequency for their primary comfort food was once a month, with a mean rating of 5.8 on a 0-9 scale, vs. several times a week for all comfort foods. 

Most participants said they expected benefits from comfort food. Most thought eating comfort food would be “pleasurable and rewarding” or expected positive feelings. However, these expectations showed weak or no statistical associations with how often participants ate comfort food. In other words, these motivations did not actually drive comfort eating, though people believed they did. This suggests a possible disconnect between participants’ beliefs about comfort food and the actual psychological factors influencing their behavior.

The other three subscales (Alleviates Boredom, Enhances Cognitive Competence, and Manages Negative Affect) had comparable lower ratings. However, people who ate comfort food to alleviate boredom or to improve cognitive competence were likely to eat their primary comfort food more often. In contrast, only those who ate comfort food to alleviate boredom were likely to eat any comfort food more often.

Eating to relieve boredom and improve cognitive performance independently correlated with a higher typical frequency of eating the primary comfort food. Conversely, only those who ate when bored had a higher typical frequency of eating all comfort foods.

Regression analysis confirmed that expectations for alleviating boredom showed the most consistent predictive relationship with comfort eating frequency. Expectations about enhancing cognitive competence or managing negative emotions also predicted some frequency aspects. By contrast, the highest-rated expectation, eating for reward, was not associated with eating frequency and was, in one case, negatively related.

The current study did not find sex-related differences in comfort food preferences. However, other studies suggested that women preferred snacks, especially chocolate, vs meal-like foods (pizza, steak, or burgers) among men.  

Conclusions

The findings suggest that people eat comfort food because they expect some benefits from it. These benefits span multiple domains, including positive reinforcement (pleasure or reward) or having positive feelings.

However, the actual frequency of comfort eating was more strongly related to expectations of managing negative feelings, reducing boredom, and enhancing cognitive performance. These drivers may reflect attempts to cope with emotional or cognitive demands, rather than seeking pleasure.

“These findings may help develop interventions to address unhealthy comfort eating behaviors.”

Future studies should examine objectively reported comfort eating habits, perhaps in specific situations, to help predict when comfort eating happens and what expectations shape such behavior. Since this was a correlational study, causal relationships could not be established. A population-based sample would help determine the overall frequency of comfort eating, as the current sample included only individuals who ate comfort food at some frequency.

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