Study Shows Viewers Eat More During Sad Movies

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Feeling blue? You should eat some popcorn.

A new study from the Cornell Food and Brand Lab shows that movie-goers watching tear-jerkers ate up to 55 percent more popcorn than those watching other genres.

In one example, viewers of the tragedy "Love Story" ate 28 percent more than those watching the comedy "Sweet Home Alabama."

A similar study comparing "Solaris" (a sad movie) and "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" (more upbeat) yielded more drastic results. "Solaris" viewers consumed 55 percent more.

"With action movies, people seem to eat to the pace of the movie," said Aner Tal, Ph.D. Cornell researcher and study co-author. "But movies can also generate emotional eating, and people may eat to compensate for sadness."

How was the research conducted? Dumpster diving. Researchers analyzed discarded popcorn at seven cities across the US.

But it's not ALL bad news.

"Sad movies also lead people to eat more of any healthy food that's in front of them," says lead author Cornell Professor Brian Wansink. "It's a quick and mindless way of getting more fruit or veggies into your diet."

And for those who simply can't resist a buttery snack -- or don't realize how much they're eating?

"Keep snacks out of arms reach, ideally leave them in the kitchen and only bring to the couch what you intend to eat.  It's easier to become slim by design than slim by willpower."

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