Chips can lighten even the bleakest of moods

Chips can lighten even the bleakest of moods, making us calmer and more cheerful, researchers say

They may not be the best food from a nutritional point of view. But when it comes to lifting our spirits, it seems chips are unbeatable.

They can lighten even the bleakest of moods, making us calmer and more cheerful, researchers say.

They think the effect could be down to the carbohydrates that chips contain, or because the taste and smell remind us of happy times, such as childhood holidays by the beach.

Chipper: The carbohydrates that chips contain, or because the taste and smell remind us of happy times, such as childhood holidays by the beach

Dr Mike Green, an expert on the psychology linked to food, asked 60 men and women to watch a five-minute film which graphically depicted the devastation wrought by the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.

Half were then given a magazine to read to take their mind off things, while the others were told to eat a plate of chips.

All filled in mood questionnaires before and after watching the video and again after finishing their chips or reading.

Dr Green, of Birmingham's Aston University, said: 'The psychological data showed that participants who were feeling down felt better after eating chips.

'In fact, calmness was restored after 20 minutes.'

'It may be down to the biological effects of the nutritional components on brain chemistry or simple a pleasurable sensation, triggered by the way chips taste.' Previous research has shown that carbohydrates can lift mood.This study, which perhaps unsurprisingly was commissioned by the Potato Council, used chips bought from a fish and chip shop. It is not known if oven chips have the same effect.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1251018/Why-chips-make-feel-chipper.html?ITO=1490#ixzz0fbShloVl