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The weekly newsletter for Fed2 by ibgamesEARTHDATE: February 21, 2010
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REAL LIFE NEWS: CHIPS CHEER YOU UPby HazedNow here's a science story I really agree with. Chips cheer you up (that's English chips, or what Americans call fries). Scientists at Aston University's School of Life and Health Sciences in the UK said that if you're feeling a bit miserable, then a nice bag of chips will sort you out. The team showed 60 adults a short film on the aftermath of the Hiroshima bomb - guaranteed to make the participants feel down in the dumps. Half were then given chips to eat; the other half I assume got nothing, although perhaps a proper control would have been to give them a nice boring salad. The chip-eaters reported a 10% increase in calmness and 13% in cheerfulness, and an 8% decrease in anxiety after downing the food. Dr Mike Green, who led the team, said, "The consumption of chips clearly improved respondents’ mood. The psychological data showed that participants who were feeling down felt better after eating chips. In fact, calmness was restored within twenty minutes." So what makes chips such cheerful food? They don't know. Green speculated, "There are a number of possible nutritional and psychological mechanisms which could explain the mood changes after eating chips. It may be down to the biological effects of nutritional components on brain chemistry, or simply a pleasurable oro-stimulatory sensation, triggered by the way chips taste." You probably won't be surprised to learn that the research was commissioned by The Potato Council. You can read more about the research on the beautifully named Love Chips website. |
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