Research

Macro partitioning

Emotional eating is associated with the consumption of energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods (sugary and high-fat snacks), contributing to weight gain.

Emotional eaters tend to choose high-fat, sugary snacks when stressed. To mitigate weight gain, be aware that your food choices under stress are likely to be energy-dense. Planning healthier snacks or strategies to manage stress directly can reduce the intake of these specific food types.

ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
Emotional eaters are more prone to greater consumption of sugary and high-fat foods, eat in response to stressors, and snack more frequently compared to non-emotional eaters
Antonios Dakanalis et al. · Nutrients · 2023

Why this rating

Supported by cross-sectional and cohort studies, but causality is difficult to establish due to self-reporting.

Source

The Association of Emotional Eating with Overweight/Obesity, Depression, Anxiety/Stress, and Dietary Patterns: A Review of the Current Clinical Evidence

Antonios Dakanalis et al. · Nutrients · 2023

DOI 10.3390/nu15051173

narrative_reviewCited 377×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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