According to research published in ‘JAMA’, going grocery shopping on an empty stomach may actually result in more high-calorie food purchases. Researchers at Cornell University undertook a two-part study. The first part, conducted in a lab, involved 68 participants who were instructed not to eat for five hours prior to the study. Some of these participants were given crackers before going grocery shopping, while the others were not. Researchers found that although the number of food items that both groups bought was the same, the group that was not given crackers bought more high-calorie foods from the store.
In the second part of the study, 82 participants went grocery shopping during times when they were thought to be hungry (between 4 to 7pm), and during times they were thought to be full right after lunch (from 1 to 4pm). Those participants shopping from 4 to 7pm bought more high-calorie food items as compared to the ones shopping between 1 and 4pm.
Researchers say that these findings show that hunger leads to more fattening food choices. Planning your grocery-shopping on a full stomach would be a good idea!