Television or specifically romcoms have given a preview suggesting that women tend to eat extremely sweetened foods like yoghurts as a coping mechanism when they have been heartbroken. Now, a four-year study has put a stamp on it by connecting the reason why females crave for sugary things to a sign of their loneliness.

To arrive at the conclusion, researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles in the U.S carried out a test on 93 case studies, women of course, who they solicited from advertisements placed between September 7, 2021, and February 27, 2023.

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Carrying out this study was necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic. At its onset, both men and women were mostly forced to stay away from each other, meaning absolute isolation for the latter.

In examining the neural links between social isolation and brain reactivity to food cues, reads the 2024 report published in the JAMA Network Open journal, sweet foods appear to exert a more pronounced and overarching influence compared with savoury foods.

And then the study adds that according to social baseline theory, individuals lacking strong social connections may exhibit heightened vigilance for potential threats and increased reactivity, necessitating greater neural metabolic resources for adaptive functioning.

It is possible that socially isolated individuals may experience stronger cravings and consumption of foods and beverages that rapidly raise blood glucose levels.

Sweet food is also highly rewarding, with an analgesic effect that can reduce the social pain associated with social exclusion.

Those who participated in the study self-reported as Filipino (41 percent) and 55 as Mexican (59 percent) and were categorised in the 18 to 50 years age bracket. Apart from their desire to consume sweet things, the study tried to draw a connection with the subjects’ body mass index, eating patterns and mental fitness.

Although there is an agreement that more investigation needed to be conducted in the future, this study elucidates the neural mechanisms linking perceived social isolation and loneliness to obesity, eating behaviours, and mental health symptoms.

Individuals who were lonely exhibited increased body fat composition and more maladaptive eating behaviours, alongside heightened susceptibility to psychological symptoms.

Ayodele Johnson

Ayodelé is a Lagos-based journalist and the Content and Editorial Coordinator at Meiza. All around the megacity, I am steering diverse lifestyle magazine audiences with ingenious hacks and insights that spur fast, informed decisions in their busy lives.