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Little is known about whether comfort eating actually functions to reduce psychological stress. In addition, the effectiveness of comfort eating may be particularly relevant in the context of depression, but no study has tested whether comfort eating processes might depend on severity of depressive symptomology. This study tested 1) whether greater comfort eating statistically buffers the relationship between adverse life events and perceived psychological stress at age 18-19, and 2) whether potential stress-buffering effects may differ by level of depressive symptoms. These relationships were examined in the NHLBI Growth and Health Study, comprising 2379 young adult women. Participants self-reported experiences with adverse life events, their perceived psychological stress, and whether they tended to eat more while experiencing certain negative emotions. As hypothesized, the relationship between adverse life events and perceived stress depended on comfort eating status (p = .033). The effect of adverse events on perceived stress was attenuated among comfort eaters compared to non-comfort eaters (p = .004), but this buffering effect was not shown in participants with an elevated level of depressive symptoms. In conclusion, among young adult women without high depressive symptoms, comfort eaters may experience reduced perceived stress compared to those who do not engage in this behavior. Intervention researchers should also consider the possible benefits of comfort eating.

Laboratory research has found that individuals will consume more calories and make unhealthy food choices when in the presence of an overweight individual, sometimes even regardless of what that individual is eating. This study expanded these laboratory paradigms to the field to examine how weight salience influences eating in the real world. More specifically, we tested the threshold of the effect of weight salience of food choice to see if a more subtle weight cue (e.g., images) would be sufficient to affect food choice. Attendees (N = 262) at Obesity Week 2013, a weight-salient environment, viewed slideshows containing an image of an overweight individual, an image of a thin individual, or no image (text only), and then selected from complimentary snacks. Results of ordinal logistic regression analysis showed that participants who viewed the image of the overweight individual had higher odds of selecting the higher calorie snack compared to those who viewed the image of the thin individual (OR = 1.77, 95% CI = [1.04, 3.04]), or no image (OR = 2.42, 95% CI = [1.29, 4.54]). Perceiver BMI category did not moderate the influence of image on food choice, as these results occurred regardless of participant BMI. These findings suggest that in the context of societal weight salience, weight-related cues alone may promote unhealthy eating in the general public.