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Strategies for porcine liver valorization as a source of food ingredients.

• Elena Saguer
• Blanca Abril

Bioactive Compounds in Blueberry Fruit and Their Antidiabetic Activity

• Kanika Sharma
• V. M. Malathi
• Anu P. Abhimannue

Bioactives and Bioactivities from Food Byproducts

• Suraj Prakash
• Manoj Kumar

Quinoa and its Co-Products as Ingredients for the Development of Dairy Analogs and Hybrid Dairy Products

• Juana Fernández-López
• Angel J. Ponce-Martínez
• José A. Pérez-Alvarez

Multigrain for Low-calorie, Low-fat, and High-fiber Food

• Snehasis Chakraborty
• Volkan Arif Yilmaz
• Kaliramesh Siliveru

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Food & Function

Food nanotechnology: opportunities and challenges.

Food nanotechnology, which applies nanotechnology into food system ranging from food production to food processing, packaging, transportation, is producing tremendous opportunities for conventional food science and industry innovation and improvement. Although the great progress and rapid growth have been obtained in food nanotechnology research owing to the unique food features taken by nanotechnology, at a fundamental level, food nanotechnology is still in its intial stages and potential adverse effect of nanomaterials is still a controversial problem that gain public attention. In practical applications, food-derived nanomaterials become the mainstream and trend for food nanotechnology, expects to be a vital tool for addressing the security problem and easing public concerns. These food-derived materials enable the favourable characteristics of nanostructures to be combined with the safety, biocompatibility, and bioactivity of natural food. Very recently, diverse food-derived nanomaterials have been exploited and widely applied for multiple uses. Herein, we thoroughly summarize the fabrication, development of nanotechnology in food, as well as the recent advance of in improving food quality, revolutionizing food supply, boosting food industries based on foodborne nanomaterials. The current challenges in food nanotechnology are also discussed. We hope this review can provide a detailed reference for experts, food manufacturers and inspire researchers to participate in the development of food nanotechnology for highly efficient food industry growth.

• This article is part of the themed collection: Food & Function Review Articles 2024

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Z. Yan, S. Lin, F. Li, J. Qiang and S. Zhang, Food Funct. , 2024, Accepted Manuscript , DOI: 10.1039/D4FO02119C

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Articles on Food science

Displaying 1 - 20 of 65 articles.

Is white rice bad for me? Can I make it lower GI or healthier?

Emma Beckett , UNSW Sydney

Cheesemaking is a complex science – a food chemist explains the process from milk to mozzarella

John A. Lucey , University of Wisconsin-Madison

Retaining flavor while removing caffeine − a chemist explains the chemistry behind decaf coffee

Michael W. Crowder , Miami University

If you’re worried about inflammation, stop stressing about seed oils and focus on the basics

Lauren Ball , The University of Queensland and Emily Burch , Southern Cross University

Run out of butter or eggs? Here’s the science behind substitute ingredients

Paulomi (Polly) Burey , University of Southern Queensland

Nigeria’s popular wara cheese has a short shelf life: we’ve found a way to keep it fresh for longer

Malomo Adekunbi Adetola , Obafemi Awolowo University

How active are the microorganisms in your yogurt? We created a new tool to study probiotic activity — and made it out of cardboard

Carlos D. Garcia , Clemson University and George Chumanov , Clemson University

Nonalcoholic beer: New techniques craft flavorful brews without the buzz

Clark Da​nderson , Auburn University

How is decaf coffee made? And is it really caffeine-free ?

Rancid food smells and tastes gross − AI tools may help scientists prevent that spoilage

Carlos D. Garcia , Clemson University and Lucas de Brito Ayres , Clemson University

Calories and kilojoules: how do we know the energy content of food, and how accurate are the labels?

Lauren Ball , The University of Queensland ; Emily Burch , Southern Cross University , and Katelyn Barnes , The University of Queensland

How does ice cream work? A chemist explains why you can’t just freeze cream and expect results

Nathan Kilah , University of Tasmania

Do you need to wash rice before cooking? Here’s the science

Evangeline Mantzioris , University of South Australia

How does food get contaminated? The unsafe habits that kill more than 400,000 people a year

Antonina Mutoro , African Population and Health Research Center

Here’s why your freezer smells so bad – and what you can do about it

Enzo Palombo , Swinburne University of Technology and Rosalie Hocking , Swinburne University of Technology

Easter bunnies, cacao beans and pollinating bugs: A basket of 6 essential reads about chocolate

Maggie Villiger , The Conversation

Pancakes won’t turn you into a zombie as in HBO’s ‘The Last of Us,’ but fungi in flour have been making people sick for a long time

Sheryl Barringer , The Ohio State University

8 everyday foods you might not realise are ultra processed – and how to spot them

Sarah Dickie , Deakin University ; Julie Woods , Deakin University ; Mark Lawrence , Deakin University , and Priscila Machado , Deakin University

Nope, coffee won’t give you extra energy. It’ll just borrow a bit that you’ll pay for later

Emma Beckett , University of Newcastle

How science and innovation can strengthen global food systems

Chibuike Udenigwe , L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa

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Food Science & Nutrition

Aims and scope.

Food Science & Nutrition is a peer-reviewed journal for rapid dissemination of research in all areas of food science and nutrition. The journal considers submissions of quality papers describing the results of fundamental and applied research related to all aspects of human food and nutrition, as well as interdisciplinary research that spans these two fi elds. Topics include, but are not limited to, the following areas:

• Chemistry of food and its biochemical interactions
• Food microbiology, safety, and risk assessment
• Metabolic, molecular, and genetic mechanisms in nutrition
• Safety and security analysis of global food supplies
• Food preservation, storage, and hurdle technology
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• Commentaries on controversial issues in food science and nutrition
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Food Science & Nutrition publishes original research articles, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and research methods papers, along with invited editorials and commentaries. Original research papers must report well-conducted research with conclusions supported by the data presented in the paper.

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All articles published by Food Science & Nutrition are fully open access: immediately freely available to read, download, and share. All Food Science & Nutrition articles are published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Wiley Open Access articles posted to repositories or websites are without warranty from Wiley of any kind, either express or implied, including, but not limited to, warranties of merchantability, fi tness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. To the fullest extent permitted by law Wiley disclaims all liability for any loss or damage arising out of, or in connection with, the use of or inability to use the content.

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Pepsi Co Nutrition, USA

Fuzhou University, China

Carmen Gomes

Texas A & M, USA

Dallas Hoover

University of Delaware, USA

Scott Jordan

Health Canada, Canada

Marilena Marino

Università degli Studi di Udine, Italy

Jennifer McEntire

Leavitt Partners Center for Food Safety, USA

Alexandra Oliveira

University of Alaska, USA

Stephan Rössner

Karolinska Institutet, Sweden

Sanem Soysal

Yedipete University, Turkey

Fidel Toldrá

Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos (CSIC), Spain

Kinga Topolska

University of Agriculture in Krakow, Poland

Thomas Wang

United States Department of Agriculture, USA

Johns Hopkins University, USA

Baojun (Bruce) Xu

Beijing Normal University-Hong Kong Baptist University United International College, China

Qixin Zhong

University of Tennessee, USA

Kequan (Kevin) Zhou

Wayne State University, USA

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• Effects of ultraviolet irradiation on quality and bacterial diversity of fresh-cut cabbage during storage Sijie Zhang, Risa Kuramoto, Weiguo Wu, Daisuke Hamanaka
• Trajectory plots that highlight statistically different periods among multiple foods studied using the temporal dominance of sensations method Hiroharu Natsume, Shogo Okamoto, Hikaru Nagano
• Effectiveness of partially purified Bacillus spp. bacteriocins in controlling the growth of LactoBacillus plantarum in soybean curd and Listeria monocytogenes in an edible cricket Chiraporn Ananchaipattana, Susumu Okamoto, Yasuhiro Inatsu
• Administration of cyclodextrin-ferulic acid complex significantly increases the plasma concentration of the intact form of ferulic acid in mice Sana Yamashita, Junpei Tanaka, Takanori Tsuda

Nutritional Values and Functional Properties of House Cricket ( Acheta domesticus ) and Field Cricket ( Gryllus bimaculatus )

Released on J-STAGE: September 26, 2019 | Volume 25 Issue 4 Pages 597-605

Natteewan Udomsil, Sumeth Imsoonthornruksa, Chotika Gosalawit, Mariena Ketudat-Cairns

Evaluation of the Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Activity of Rosemary Essential Oils as Gelatin Edible Film Component

Released on J-STAGE: April 26, 2019 | Volume 25 Issue 2 Pages 321-329

Walid Yeddes, Malgorzata Nowacka, Katarzyna Rybak, Islem Younes, Majdi Hammami, Moufida Saidani-Tounsi, Dorota Witrowa-Rajchert

Measurement of Water Absorption in Wheat Flour by Mixograph Test

Released on J-STAGE: December 28, 2016 | Volume 22 Issue 6 Pages 841-846

Reiko Okuda, Aya Tabara, Hideki Okusu, Masaharu Seguchi

Differences in Biological Response Modifier-like Activities According to the Strain and Maturity of Bananas

Released on J-STAGE: August 06, 2009 | Volume 15 Issue 3 Pages 275-282

Haruyo IWASAWA, Masatoshi YAMAZAKI

Accurate and Precise Viscosity Measurements of Gelatin Solutions Using a Rotational Rheometer

Released on J-STAGE: April 26, 2019 | Volume 25 Issue 2 Pages 217-226

Shunji Yunoki, Kiyoji Sugimoto, Yoshimi Ohyabu, Hiroyuki Ida, Yosuke Hiraoka

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Artificial Sweetener Erythritol Linked to Blood Clots, Study Warns

A new study suggests a commonly used sugar substitute could increase the risk of blood clots, raising concerns for heart complications

Kate Graham-Shaw

How Food Banks Prevented 1.8 Million Metric Tons of Carbon Emissions Last Year

Redistributing food to food banks before it’s tossed or wasted doesn’t just fight hunger—such efforts also fight climate change

Frida Garza, Grist

How to Know if You Have Food Poisoning, and How to Avoid It

Foodborne illnesses such as E. coli , Salmonella , Listeria and Norovirus can make you seriously sick. Here’s how to protect yourself

How the Nutrition Facts Label Has Changed Food in the U.S.

Almost all packaged food sold in the U.S. for the past three decades has sported a Nutrition Facts label, with major consequences for the food system

Xaq Frohlich, The Conversation US

Lab-Grown Meat Is Getting Closer to Tasting Like Real Beef

Cultured meat that tastes and smells more appetizing could enhance public perception of artificial steaks

Helena Kudiabor, Nature magazine

How Technology Made the S’more Possible

The gooey, chocolatey s’more couldn’t have been popularized without the technological advances of the Industrial Revolution, which brought cheap sweets to the masses

Jeffrey Miller, The Conversation US

Popcorn, the Ultimate Snack, May Have Truly Ancient Origins

Popcorn might be more than 6,000 years old, an anthropologist explains

Sean Rafferty, The Conversation US

Snacking on Cicadas Can Be Sustainable and Delicious

Make the best of the “double brood” of cicadas with insect kimchi and tempura-fried bugs.

Rachel Feltman, Anaissa Ruiz Tejada

What Is Pasteurization, and How Does It Keep Milk Safe?

The pasteurization process was invented in the 1860s and continues to keep people safe from a range of foodborne illnesses

Kerry E. Kaylegian, The Conversation US

Florida’s Beef with Lab-Grown Meat Is Evidence-Free

Lobbyists’ and politicians’ campaigns against lab-grown meat appeal to emotion, not logic and reason

Allison Parshall

‘Opportunity Crops’ Could Boost Nutrition across Africa

Cary Fowler, the U.S. State Department’s leading figure on global hunger, explains a new way to improve nutritious food supply

Richard Schiffman

Snake Steak Could Be a Climate-Friendly Source of Protein

Pythons turn their food into meat pretty efficiently, a study finds, making them an intriguing alternative to climate-unfriendly cows

Meghan Bartels

Food Science

What Does Human Flesh Taste Like? The Answer Depends on Who You Ask

Cannibals have weighed in with different opinions. Some say it tastes like pork, while others say like veal—and still others say like nothing else

Rachel Nuwer ; Updated by Rudy Molinek

Updated: August 26, 2024 | Originally Published: February 3, 2014

Why Are Fishermen Braving Dangerous Waters to Harvest Bizarre-Looking Sea Creatures? They're Delicious

Gooseneck barnacles are tasty, but expensive, given the skill and guts it takes to gather them from slick rocks slammed by waves

Jessica Kelly

August 15, 2024

Your Microwave Is Teeming With Bacteria, Study Suggests

Researchers found thriving communities of microbes in microwave ovens used in home kitchens, shared spaces and laboratories

August 8, 2024

You Can Now Visit France's First-Ever Cheese Museum

The Musée du Fromage in Paris hosts tastings and teaches visitors about traditional cheesemaking practices

Julia Binswanger

July 12, 2024

Singapore Approves 16 Insect Species for Human Consumption

The move comes amid broader efforts to improve food security and diversify food sources

July 11, 2024

Did the Extinction of the Dinosaurs Pave the Way for Grapes?

Newly discovered fossils in South America hint at the evolution and proliferation of grapes around the world

July 8, 2024

Keeping the Spirit of Maine’s Wild Blueberry Harvest Alive

In the far reaches of New England, an unusual convergence of farmworkers renews an ancient and increasingly threatened agricultural practice

Text by Kate Olson Photographs by Greta Rybus

July/August 2024

This Man Brewed Beer Using 3,000-Year-Old Yeast and a Recipe From an Ancient Egyptian Papyrus

Utah homebrewer Dylan McDonnell created his 'Sinai Sour' in his backyard

June 20, 2024

How Americans Got Hooked on Counting Calories More Than a Century Ago

A food history writer and an influential podcast host tell us how our thinking about health and body weight has—and hasn’t—evolved ever since Dr. Lulu Hunt Peters took the nation by storm

Chris Klimek

May 30, 2024

Family Members Infected With Parasitic Worms After Eating Undercooked Bear Meat at Reunion

Six people developed symptoms of roundworm infection after consuming grilled black bear meat and vegetables in July 2022, and all have since recovered

May 29, 2024

Inside the Wild Ways Many Creatures Make Milk

Mammals aren’t the only animals that provide nutritious secretions for their young

Riley Black

May 13, 2024

Roman-Era Ship Was Carrying Jugs Full of Fish Sauce When It Sank 1,700 Years Ago

Discovered in the summer of 2019, the Ses Fontanelles wreck likely ran aground sometime during the fourth century

May 7, 2024

An Ancient Maya Practice Could Be the Key to Growing Vegetables on Mars

Researchers are exploring whether intercropping—a technique of growing different types of plants in close proximity to one another—could be the secret to agriculture on the Red Planet

May 6, 2024

The Contentious History of the Pop-Tart

In the 1960s, two cereal giants raced to develop a toaster pastry

Gregory Wakeman

May 3, 2024

The English Farmers Who Harvest Rhubarb by Candlelight

The secret to the world’s sweetest rhubarb? Sealed sheds, total darkness and a little old-fashioned flair

Corey Buhay

April 16, 2024

An American-Made Sake Movement Is Underway

In the last decade, a truly homegrown effort has bubbled up in the United States

Shana Clarke

April 2, 2024

Can A.I. Make Beer Taste Better? Scientists Test a Model That Recommends New Flavors

Researchers spent three years developing a machine learning model that can predict how good beer will taste based on its chemical composition—and make suggestions for how to improve it

March 28, 2024

Python Meat Could Be a Sustainable, Nutritious Food Source, Scientists Say

The snakes may be some of the most resource-efficient animals to farm on the planet, a new study suggests

March 18, 2024

Your Ten-Step Guide to Cooking the Perfect Pasta, Including How to Salt the Water

Following these pieces of advice from chefs will ensure tastier, more nutritional noodles for all

Shaylyn Esposito ; Updated by Sonja Anderson

Updated: March 11, 2024 | Originally Published: October 8, 2013

These French Cheeses Are at Risk of Extinction

A lack of microbial diversity could eventually spell the end of cheeses like Camembert

March 7, 2024

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• Published: 06 December 2017

Healthy food choices are happy food choices: Evidence from a real life sample using smartphone based assessments

• Deborah R. Wahl 1   na1 ,
• Karoline Villinger 1   na1 ,
• Laura M. König   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-3655-8842 1 ,
• Katrin Ziesemer 1 ,
• Harald T. Schupp 1 &
• Britta Renner 1  

Scientific Reports volume  7 , Article number:  17069 ( 2017 ) Cite this article

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• Health sciences
• Human behaviour

Research suggests that “healthy” food choices such as eating fruits and vegetables have not only physical but also mental health benefits and might be a long-term investment in future well-being. This view contrasts with the belief that high-caloric foods taste better, make us happy, and alleviate a negative mood. To provide a more comprehensive assessment of food choice and well-being, we investigated in-the-moment eating happiness by assessing complete, real life dietary behaviour across eight days using smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment. Three main findings emerged: First, of 14 different main food categories, vegetables consumption contributed the largest share to eating happiness measured across eight days. Second, sweets on average provided comparable induced eating happiness to “healthy” food choices such as fruits or vegetables. Third, dinner elicited comparable eating happiness to snacking. These findings are discussed within the “food as health” and “food as well-being” perspectives on eating behaviour.

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Interindividual variability in appetitive sensations and relationships between appetitive sensations and energy intake

Introduction.

When it comes to eating, researchers, the media, and policy makers mainly focus on negative aspects of eating behaviour, like restricting certain foods, counting calories, and dieting. Likewise, health intervention efforts, including primary prevention campaigns, typically encourage consumers to trade off the expected enjoyment of hedonic and comfort foods against health benefits 1 . However, research has shown that diets and restrained eating are often counterproductive and may even enhance the risk of long-term weight gain and eating disorders 2 , 3 . A promising new perspective entails a shift from food as pure nourishment towards a more positive and well-being centred perspective of human eating behaviour 1 , 4 , 5 . In this context, Block et al . 4 have advocated a paradigm shift from “food as health” to “food as well-being” (p. 848).

Supporting this perspective of “food as well-being”, recent research suggests that “healthy” food choices, such as eating more fruits and vegetables, have not only physical but also mental health benefits 6 , 7 and might be a long-term investment in future well-being 8 . For example, in a nationally representative panel survey of over 12,000 adults from Australia, Mujcic and Oswald 8 showed that fruit and vegetable consumption predicted increases in happiness, life satisfaction, and well-being over two years. Similarly, using lagged analyses, White and colleagues 9 showed that fruit and vegetable consumption predicted improvements in positive affect on the subsequent day but not vice versa. Also, cross-sectional evidence reported by Blanchflower et al . 10 shows that eating fruits and vegetables is positively associated with well-being after adjusting for demographic variables including age, sex, or race 11 . Of note, previous research includes a wide range of time lags between actual eating occasion and well-being assessment, ranging from 24 hours 9 , 12 to 14 days 6 , to 24 months 8 . Thus, the findings support the notion that fruit and vegetable consumption has beneficial effects on different indicators of well-being, such as happiness or general life satisfaction, across a broad range of time spans.

The contention that healthy food choices such as a higher fruit and vegetable consumption is associated with greater happiness and well-being clearly contrasts with the common belief that in particular high-fat, high-sugar, or high-caloric foods taste better and make us happy while we are eating them. When it comes to eating, people usually have a spontaneous “unhealthy = tasty” association 13 and assume that chocolate is a better mood booster than an apple. According to this in-the-moment well-being perspective, consumers have to trade off the expected enjoyment of eating against the health costs of eating unhealthy foods 1 , 4 .

A wealth of research shows that the experience of negative emotions and stress leads to increased consumption in a substantial number of individuals (“emotional eating”) of unhealthy food (“comfort food”) 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 . However, this research stream focuses on emotional eating to “smooth” unpleasant experiences in response to stress or negative mood states, and the mood-boosting effect of eating is typically not assessed 18 . One of the few studies testing the effectiveness of comfort food in improving mood showed that the consumption of “unhealthy” comfort food had a mood boosting effect after a negative mood induction but not to a greater extent than non-comfort or neutral food 19 . Hence, even though people may believe that snacking on “unhealthy” foods like ice cream or chocolate provides greater pleasure and psychological benefits, the consumption of “unhealthy” foods might not actually be more psychologically beneficial than other foods.

However, both streams of research have either focused on a single food category (fruit and vegetable consumption), a single type of meal (snacking), or a single eating occasion (after negative/neutral mood induction). Accordingly, it is unknown whether the boosting effect of eating is specific to certain types of food choices and categories or whether eating has a more general boosting effect that is observable after the consumption of both “healthy” and “unhealthy” foods and across eating occasions. Accordingly, in the present study, we investigated the psychological benefits of eating that varied by food categories and meal types by assessing complete dietary behaviour across eight days in real life.

Furthermore, previous research on the impact of eating on well-being tended to rely on retrospective assessments such as food frequency questionnaires 8 , 10 and written food diaries 9 . Such retrospective self-report methods rely on the challenging task of accurately estimating average intake or remembering individual eating episodes and may lead to under-reporting food intake, particularly unhealthy food choices such as snacks 7 , 20 . To avoid memory and bias problems in the present study we used ecological momentary assessment (EMA) 21 to obtain ecologically valid and comprehensive real life data on eating behaviour and happiness as experienced in-the-moment.

In the present study, we examined the eating happiness and satisfaction experienced in-the-moment, in real time and in real life, using a smartphone based EMA approach. Specifically, healthy participants were asked to record each eating occasion, including main meals and snacks, for eight consecutive days and rate how tasty their meal/snack was, how much they enjoyed it, and how pleased they were with their meal/snack immediately after each eating episode. This intense recording of every eating episode allows assessing eating behaviour on the level of different meal types and food categories to compare experienced eating happiness across meals and categories. Following the two different research streams, we expected on a food category level that not only “unhealthy” foods like sweets would be associated with high experienced eating happiness but also “healthy” food choices such as fruits and vegetables. On a meal type level, we hypothesised that the happiness of meals differs as a function of meal type. According to previous contention, snacking in particular should be accompanied by greater happiness.

Eating episodes

Overall, during the study period, a total of 1,044 completed eating episodes were reported (see also Table  1 ). On average, participants rated their eating happiness with M  = 77.59 which suggests that overall eating occasions were generally positive. However, experienced eating happiness also varied considerably between eating occasions as indicated by a range from 7.00 to 100.00 and a standard deviation of SD  = 16.41.

Food categories and experienced eating happiness

All eating episodes were categorised according to their food category based on the German Nutrient Database (German: Bundeslebensmittelschlüssel), which covers the average nutritional values of approximately 10,000 foods available on the German market and is a validated standard instrument for the assessment of nutritional surveys in Germany. As shown in Table  1 , eating happiness differed significantly across all 14 food categories, F (13, 2131) = 1.78, p  = 0.04. On average, experienced eating happiness varied from 71.82 ( SD  = 18.65) for fish to 83.62 ( SD  = 11.61) for meat substitutes. Post hoc analysis, however, did not yield significant differences in experienced eating happiness between food categories, p  ≥ 0.22. Hence, on average, “unhealthy” food choices such as sweets ( M  = 78.93, SD  = 15.27) did not differ in experienced happiness from “healthy” food choices such as fruits ( M  = 78.29, SD  = 16.13) or vegetables ( M  = 77.57, SD  = 17.17). In addition, an intraclass correlation (ICC) of ρ = 0.22 for happiness indicated that less than a quarter of the observed variation in experienced eating happiness was due to differences between food categories, while 78% of the variation was due to differences within food categories.

However, as Figure  1 (left side) depicts, consumption frequency differed greatly across food categories. Frequently consumed food categories encompassed vegetables which were consumed at 38% of all eating occasions ( n  = 400), followed by dairy products with 35% ( n  = 366), and sweets with 34% ( n  = 356). Conversely, rarely consumed food categories included meat substitutes, which were consumed in 2.2% of all eating occasions ( n  = 23), salty extras (1.5%, n  = 16), and pastries (1.3%, n  = 14).

Left side: Average experienced eating happiness (colour intensity: darker colours indicate greater happiness) and consumption frequency (size of the cycle) for the 14 food categories. Right side: Absolute share of the 14 food categories in total experienced eating happiness.

Amount of experienced eating happiness by food category

To account for the frequency of consumption, we calculated and scaled the absolute experienced eating happiness according to the total sum score. As shown in Figure  1 (right side), vegetables contributed the biggest share to the total happiness followed by sweets, dairy products, and bread. Clustering food categories shows that fruits and vegetables accounted for nearly one quarter of total eating happiness score and thus, contributed to a large part of eating related happiness. Grain products such as bread, pasta, and cereals, which are main sources of carbohydrates including starch and fibre, were the second main source for eating happiness. However, “unhealthy” snacks including sweets, salty extras, and pastries represented the third biggest source of eating related happiness.

Experienced eating happiness by meal type

To further elucidate the contribution of snacks to eating happiness, analysis on the meal type level was conducted. Experienced in-the-moment eating happiness significantly varied by meal type consumed, F (4, 1039) = 11.75, p  < 0.001. Frequencies of meal type consumption ranged from snacks being the most frequently logged meal type ( n  = 332; see also Table  1 ) to afternoon tea being the least logged meal type ( n  = 27). Figure  2 illustrates the wide dispersion within as well as between different meal types. Afternoon tea ( M  = 82.41, SD  = 15.26), dinner ( M  = 81.47, SD  = 14.73), and snacks ( M  = 79.45, SD  = 14.94) showed eating happiness values above the grand mean, whereas breakfast ( M  = 74.28, SD  = 16.35) and lunch ( M  = 73.09, SD  = 18.99) were below the eating happiness mean. Comparisons between meal types showed that eating happiness for snacks was significantly higher than for lunch t (533) = −4.44, p  = 0.001, d  = −0.38 and breakfast, t (567) = −3.78, p  = 0.001, d  = −0.33. However, this was also true for dinner, which induced greater eating happiness than lunch t (446) = −5.48, p  < 0.001, d  = −0.50 and breakfast, t (480) = −4.90, p  < 0.001, d  = −0.46. Finally, eating happiness for afternoon tea was greater than for lunch t (228) = −2.83, p  = 0.047, d  = −0.50. All other comparisons did not reach significance, t  ≤ 2.49, p  ≥ 0.093.

Experienced eating happiness per meal type. Small dots represent single eating events, big circles indicate average eating happiness, and the horizontal line indicates the grand mean. Boxes indicate the middle 50% (interquartile range) and median (darker/lighter shade). The whiskers above and below represent 1.5 of the interquartile range.

Control Analyses

In order to test for a potential confounding effect between experienced eating happiness, food categories, and meal type, additional control analyses within meal types were conducted. Comparing experienced eating happiness for dinner and lunch suggested that dinner did not trigger a happiness spill-over effect specific to vegetables since the foods consumed at dinner were generally associated with greater happiness than those consumed at other eating occasions (Supplementary Table  S1 ). Moreover, the relative frequency of vegetables consumed at dinner (73%, n  = 180 out of 245) and at lunch were comparable (69%, n  = 140 out of 203), indicating that the observed happiness-vegetables link does not seem to be mainly a meal type confounding effect.

Since the present study focuses on “food effects” (Level 1) rather than “person effects” (Level 2), we analysed the data at the food item level. However, participants who were generally overall happier with their eating could have inflated the observed happiness scores for certain food categories. In order to account for person-level effects, happiness scores were person-mean centred and thereby adjusted for mean level differences in happiness. The person-mean centred happiness scores ( M cwc ) represent the difference between the individual’s average happiness score (across all single in-the-moment happiness scores per food category) and the single happiness scores of the individual within the respective food category. The centred scores indicate whether the single in-the-moment happiness score was above (indicated by positive values) or below (indicated by negative values) the individual person-mean. As Table  1 depicts, the control analyses with centred values yielded highly similar results. Vegetables were again associated on average with more happiness than other food categories (although people might differ in their general eating happiness). An additional conducted ANOVA with person-centred happiness values as dependent variables and food categories as independent variables provided also a highly similar pattern of results. Replicating the previously reported analysis, eating happiness differed significantly across all 14 food categories, F (13, 2129) = 1.94, p  = 0.023, and post hoc analysis did not yield significant differences in experienced eating happiness between food categories, p  ≥ 0.14. Moreover, fruits and vegetables were associated with high happiness values, and “unhealthy” food choices such as sweets did not differ in experienced happiness from “healthy” food choices such as fruits or vegetables. The only difference between the previous and control analysis was that vegetables ( M cwc  = 1.16, SD  = 15.14) gained slightly in importance for eating-related happiness, whereas fruits ( M cwc  = −0.65, SD  = 13.21), salty extras ( M cwc  = −0.07, SD  = 8.01), and pastries ( M cwc  = −2.39, SD  = 18.26) became slightly less important.

This study is the first, to our knowledge, that investigated in-the-moment experienced eating happiness in real time and real life using EMA based self-report and imagery covering the complete diversity of food intake. The present results add to and extend previous findings by suggesting that fruit and vegetable consumption has immediate beneficial psychological effects. Overall, of 14 different main food categories, vegetables consumption contributed the largest share to eating happiness measured across eight days. Thus, in addition to the investment in future well-being indicated by previous research 8 , “healthy” food choices seem to be an investment in the in-the moment well-being.

Importantly, although many cultures convey the belief that eating certain foods has a greater hedonic and mood boosting effect, the present results suggest that this might not reflect actual in-the-moment experiences accurately. Even though people often have a spontaneous “unhealthy = tasty” intuition 13 , thus indicating that a stronger happiness boosting effect of “unhealthy” food is to be expected, the induced eating happiness of sweets did not differ on average from “healthy” food choices such as fruits or vegetables. This was also true for other stereotypically “unhealthy” foods such as pastries and salty extras, which did not show the expected greater boosting effect on happiness. Moreover, analyses on the meal type level support this notion, since snacks, despite their overall positive effect, were not the most psychologically beneficial meal type, i.e., dinner had a comparable “happiness” signature to snacking. Taken together, “healthy choices” seem to be also “happy choices” and at least comparable to or even higher in their hedonic value as compared to stereotypical “unhealthy” food choices.

In general, eating happiness was high, which concurs with previous research from field studies with generally healthy participants. De Castro, Bellisle, and Dalix 22 examined weekly food diaries from 54 French subjects and found that most of the meals were rated as appealing. Also, the observed differences in average eating happiness for the 14 different food categories, albeit statistically significant, were comparable small. One could argue that this simply indicates that participants avoided selecting bad food 22 . Alternatively, this might suggest that the type of food or food categories are less decisive for experienced eating happiness than often assumed. This relates to recent findings in the field of comfort and emotional eating. Many people believe that specific types of food have greater comforting value. Also in research, the foods eaten as response to negative emotional strain, are typically characterised as being high-caloric because such foods are assumed to provide immediate psycho-physical benefits 18 . However, comparing different food types did not provide evidence for the notion that they differed in their provided comfort; rather, eating in general led to significant improvements in mood 19 . This is mirrored in the present findings. Comparing the eating happiness of “healthy” food choices such as fruits and vegetables to that of “unhealthy” food choices such as sweets shows remarkably similar patterns as, on average, they were associated with high eating happiness and their range of experiences ranged from very negative to very positive.

This raises the question of why the idea that we can eat indulgent food to compensate for life’s mishaps is so prevailing. In an innovative experimental study, Adriaanse, Prinsen, de Witt Huberts, de Ridder, and Evers 23 led participants believe that they overate. Those who characterised themselves as emotional eaters falsely attributed their over-consumption to negative emotions, demonstrating a “confabulation”-effect. This indicates that people might have restricted self-knowledge and that recalled eating episodes suffer from systematic recall biases 24 . Moreover, Boelsma, Brink, Stafleu, and Hendriks 25 examined postprandial subjective wellness and objective parameters (e.g., ghrelin, insulin, glucose) after standardised breakfast intakes and did not find direct correlations. This suggests that the impact of different food categories on wellness might not be directly related to biological effects but rather due to conditioning as food is often paired with other positive experienced situations (e.g., social interactions) or to placebo effects 18 . Moreover, experimental and field studies indicate that not only negative, but also positive, emotions trigger eating 15 , 26 . One may speculate that selective attention might contribute to the “myth” of comfort food 19 in that people attend to the consumption effect of “comfort” food in negative situation but neglect the effect in positive ones.

The present data also show that eating behaviour in the real world is a complex behaviour with many different aspects. People make more than 200 food decisions a day 27 which poses a great challenge for the measurement of eating behaviour. Studies often assess specific food categories such as fruit and vegetable consumption using Food Frequency Questionnaires, which has clear advantages in terms of cost-effectiveness. However, focusing on selective aspects of eating and food choices might provide only a selective part of the picture 15 , 17 , 22 . It is important to note that focusing solely on the “unhealthy” food choices such as sweets would have led to the conclusion that they have a high “indulgent” value. To be able to draw conclusions about which foods make people happy, the relation of different food categories needs to be considered. The more comprehensive view, considering the whole dietary behaviour across eating occasions, reveals that “healthy” food choices actually contributed the biggest share to the total experienced eating happiness. Thus, for a more comprehensive understanding of how eating behaviours are regulated, more complete and sensitive measures of the behaviour are necessary. Developments in mobile technologies hold great promise for feasible dietary assessment based on image-assisted methods 28 .

As fruits and vegetables evoked high in-the-moment happiness experiences, one could speculate that these cumulate and have spill-over effects on subsequent general well-being, including life satisfaction across time. Combing in-the-moment measures with longitudinal perspectives might be a promising avenue for future studies for understanding the pathways from eating certain food types to subjective well-being. In the literature different pathways are discussed, including physiological and biochemical aspects of specific food elements or nutrients 7 .

The present EMA based data also revealed that eating happiness varied greatly within the 14 food categories and meal types. As within food category variance represented more than two third of the total observed variance, happiness varied according to nutritional characteristics and meal type; however, a myriad of factors present in the natural environment can affect each and every meal. Thus, widening the “nourishment” perspective by including how much, when, where, how long, and with whom people eat might tell us more about experienced eating happiness. Again, mobile, in-the-moment assessment opens the possibility of assessing the behavioural signature of eating in real life. Moreover, individual factors such as eating motives, habitual eating styles, convenience, and social norms are likely to contribute to eating happiness variance 5 , 29 .

A key strength of this study is that it was the first to examine experienced eating happiness in non-clinical participants using EMA technology and imagery to assess food intake. Despite this strength, there are some limitations to this study that affect the interpretation of the results. In the present study, eating happiness was examined on a food based level. This neglects differences on the individual level and might be examined in future multilevel studies. Furthermore, as a main aim of this study was to assess real life eating behaviour, the “natural” observation level is the meal, the psychological/ecological unit of eating 30 , rather than food categories or nutrients. Therefore, we cannot exclude that specific food categories may have had a comparably higher impact on the experienced happiness of the whole meal. Sample size and therefore Type I and Type II error rates are of concern. Although the total number of observations was higher than in previous studies (see for example, Boushey et al . 28 for a review), the number of participants was small but comparable to previous studies in this field 20 , 31 , 32 , 33 . Small sample sizes can increase error rates because the number of persons is more decisive than the number of nested observations 34 . Specially, nested data can seriously increase Type I error rates, which is rather unlikely to be the case in the present study. Concerning Type II error rates, Aarts et al . 35 illustrated for lower ICCs that adding extra observations per participant also increases power, particularly in the lower observation range. Considering the ICC and the number of observations per participant, one could argue that the power in the present study is likely to be sufficient to render the observed null-differences meaningful. Finally, the predominately white and well-educated sample does limit the degree to which the results can be generalised to the wider community; these results warrant replication with a more representative sample.

Despite these limitations, we think that our study has implications for both theory and practice. The cumulative evidence of psychological benefits from healthy food choices might offer new perspectives for health promotion and public-policy programs 8 . Making people aware of the “healthy = happy” association supported by empirical evidence provides a distinct and novel perspective to the prevailing “unhealthy = tasty” folk intuition and could foster eating choices that increase both in-the-moment happiness and future well-being. Furthermore, the present research lends support to the advocated paradigm shift from “food as health” to “food as well-being” which entails a supporting and encouraging rather constraining and limiting view on eating behaviour.

The study conformed with the Declaration of Helsinki. All study protocols were approved by University of Konstanz’s Institutional Review Board and were conducted in accordance with guidelines and regulations. Upon arrival, all participants signed a written informed consent.

Participants

Thirty-eight participants (28 females: average age = 24.47, SD  = 5.88, range = 18–48 years) from the University of Konstanz assessed their eating behaviour in close to real time and in their natural environment using an event-based ambulatory assessment method (EMA). No participant dropped out or had to be excluded. Thirty-three participants were students, with 52.6% studying psychology. As compensation, participants could choose between taking part in a lottery (4 × 25€) or receiving course credits (2 hours).

Participants were recruited through leaflets distributed at the university and postings on Facebook groups. Prior to participation, all participants gave written informed consent. Participants were invited to the laboratory for individual introductory sessions. During this first session, participants installed the application movisensXS (version 0.8.4203) on their own smartphones and downloaded the study survey (movisensXS Library v4065). In addition, they completed a short baseline questionnaire, including demographic variables like age, gender, education, and eating principles. Participants were instructed to log every eating occasion immediately before eating by using the smartphone to indicate the type of meal, take pictures of the food, and describe its main components using a free input field. Fluid intake was not assessed. Participants were asked to record their food intake on eight consecutive days. After finishing the study, participants were invited back to the laboratory for individual final interviews.

Immediately before eating participants were asked to indicate the type of meal with the following five options: breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, snack. In Germany, “afternoon tea” is called “Kaffee & Kuchen” which directly translates as “coffee & cake”. It is similar to the idea of a traditional “afternoon tea” meal in UK. Specifically, in Germany, people have “Kaffee & Kuchen” in the afternoon (between 4–5 pm) and typically coffee (or tea) is served with some cake or cookies. Dinner in Germany is a main meal with mainly savoury food.

After each meal, participants were asked to rate their meal on three dimensions. They rated (1) how much they enjoyed the meal, (2) how pleased they were with their meal, and (3) how tasty their meal was. Ratings were given on a scale of one to 100. For reliability analysis, Cronbach’s Alpha was calculated to assess the internal consistency of the three items. Overall Cronbach’s alpha was calculated with α = 0.87. In addition, the average of the 38 Cronbach’s alpha scores calculated at the person level also yielded a satisfactory value with α = 0.83 ( SD  = 0.24). Thirty-two of 38 participants showed a Cronbach’s alpha value above 0.70 (range = 0.42–0.97). An overall score of experienced happiness of eating was computed using the average of the three questions concerning the meals’ enjoyment, pleasure, and tastiness.

Analytical procedure

The food pictures and descriptions of their main components provided by the participants were subsequently coded by independent and trained raters. Following a standardised manual, additional components displayed in the picture were added to the description by the raters. All consumed foods were categorised into 14 different food categories (see Table  1 ) derived from the food classification system designed by the German Nutrition Society (DGE) and based on the existing food categories of the German Nutrient Database (Max Rubner Institut). Liquid intake and preparation method were not assessed. Therefore, fats and additional recipe ingredients were not included in further analyses, because they do not represent main elements of food intake. Further, salty extras were added to the categorisation.

No participant dropped out or had to be excluded due to high missing rates. Missing values were below 5% for all variables. The compliance rate at the meal level cannot be directly assessed since the numbers of meals and snacks can vary between as well as within persons (between days). As a rough compliance estimate, the numbers of meals that are expected from a “normative” perspective during the eight observation days can be used as a comparison standard (8 x breakfast, 8 × lunch, 8 × dinner = 24 meals). On average, the participants reported M  = 6.3 breakfasts ( SD  = 2.3), M  = 5.3 lunches ( SD  = 1.8), and M  = 6.5 dinners ( SD  = 2.0). In comparison to the “normative” expected 24 meals, these numbers indicate a good compliance (approx. 75%) with a tendency to miss six meals during the study period (approx. 25%). However, the “normative” expected 24 meals for the study period might be too high since participants might also have skipped meals (e.g. breakfast). Also, the present compliance rates are comparable to other studies. For example, Elliston et al . 36 recorded 3.3 meal/snack reports per day in an Australian adult sample and Casperson et al . 37 recorded 2.2 meal reports per day in a sample of adolescents. In the present study, on average, M  = 3.4 ( SD  = 1.35) meals or snacks were reported per day. These data indicate overall a satisfactory compliance rate and did not indicate selective reporting of certain food items.

To graphically visualise data, Tableau (version 10.1) was used and for further statistical analyses, IBM SPSS Statistics (version 24 for Windows).

Data availability

The dataset generated and analysed during the current study is available from the corresponding authors on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research within the project SmartAct (Grant 01EL1420A, granted to B.R. & H.S.). The funding source had no involvement in the study’s design; the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; the writing of the report; or the decision to submit this article for publication. We thank Gudrun Sproesser, Helge Giese, and Angela Whale for their valuable support.

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Deborah R. Wahl and Karoline Villinger contributed equally to this work.

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Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany

Deborah R. Wahl, Karoline Villinger, Laura M. König, Katrin Ziesemer, Harald T. Schupp & Britta Renner

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B.R. & H.S. developed the study concept. All authors participated in the generation of the study design. D.W., K.V., L.K. & K.Z. conducted the study, including participant recruitment and data collection, under the supervision of B.R. & H.S.; D.W. & K.V. conducted data analyses. D.W. & K.V. prepared the first manuscript draft, and B.R. & H.S. provided critical revisions. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript for submission.

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Correspondence to Deborah R. Wahl or Britta Renner .

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Wahl, D.R., Villinger, K., König, L.M. et al. Healthy food choices are happy food choices: Evidence from a real life sample using smartphone based assessments. Sci Rep 7 , 17069 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-17262-9

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-17262-9

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