Industry news
Stress and food habit link studied
Posted Tue, 08 Jun 2010
A major five-year study will examine the effects of workplace stress on eating habits, it has been revealed.
The research, to be conducted by scientists at the University of Aberdeen's Rowett Institute, will look into the reasons behind food addiction and try to determine the link between shift working and people's food habits.
The team plans to recruit 450 volunteers from the neighbouring area for the study, which is part of a Europe-wide project on ascertaining the causes of over-eating.
Professor Julian Mercer, head of obesity research at the institute, hailed the project calling it "extremely prestigious".
"The obesity epidemic is driven by our over-consumption of food. There are a number of issues that need to be looked at, including work culture and its effect on food consumption as well as the different attributes of food that make it hard to restrict your intake.
"Ideally if we had the information it could allow producers to design food that is still palatable but doesn't have the properties that could make you over-consume. Imagine a bar of chocolate that was just as rewarding to eat but which didn't make you feel you have to have the whole block," he said.
Copyright © Press Association 2010
Rowett Institute