In women, unhealthy eating habits may worsen their moods, say researchers.

While negative mood was worse after disordered eating, a positive mood did not change either before or after any of the behaviors studied by the researchers.The researchers gathered data from participants in real-life situations. The team gave handheld computers to 131 women who had high levels of unhealthy eating habits and concerns about their body shape and weight, but did not have eating disorders.
Several times during the day, the devices would prompt the participants to answer questions about their mood and eating behaviors. "What we know about mood and eating behaviors comes primarily from studies with eating disorder patients or from laboratory studies," said Heron. "We were interested in studying women in their everyday lives to see whether mood changed before or after they engaged in unhealthy eating and weight control behaviors."Smyth said that the study could lead to better treatments for women experiencing eating problems."This study is unique because it evaluates moods and eating behaviors as they occur in people's daily lives, which can provide a more accurate picture of the relationship between emotions and eating," Smyth said. "The results from this study can help us to better understand the role mood may play in the development and maintenance of unhealthy eating, and weight-control behaviors, which could be useful for creating more effective treatment programs for people with eating and weight concerns."
Source-Eurekalert