No calorie comfort: Viewing and drawing “comfort foods” similarly augment positive mood for those with depression:

Based on behavioral and neurobiological data, we tested the hypothesis that viewing/drawing visual images of comfort foods in the absence of eating will increase positive mood and that this effect is augmented for those with clinical symptoms of depression. A counterbalanced design was used for 60 participants with and without clinical symptoms in two variations: food image and food art. In each variation, participants viewed/drew foods high or low in fat/sugar; pre-post mood was recorded. Results show a consistent pattern: viewing/drawing comfort foods [food image (95% confidence interval): 2.72–4.85; food art (95% confidence interval): 2.65–4.62] and fruits [food image (95% confidence interval): 1.20–2.23; food art (95% confidence interval): 1.51–2.56] enhanced mood. For comfort foods, mood was augmented for those with clinical symptoms of depression [food image (95% confidence interval): 0.95–3.59; food art (95% confidence interval): 0.97–3.46]. Findings corroborate previous data and reveal a novel fin...