A new study from researchers at Drexel University offers some advice to support you taking your girl to dinner tonight. Women are more likely to feel romantic on a full stomach, they’ve learned.
The study, published in the online journal Appetite, sounds like a blast – doctors fed women and showed them “romantic pictures,” then measured their levels of brain activation. Women with a history of dieting, who are the most at risk for future obesity, also had the strongest reward reaction to the food. They also had stronger reactions to “highly palatable” food like chocolate cake, as opposed to “neutral foods” like carrots. Hmm, chocolate makes women feel more romantic than carrots? Thank you, academia.
Women with a history of dieting have previously been proven to respond “more dramatically” to food. This study supports those findings, as well as a “shared neurocircuitry for food and sex.” If you’re not a calorie counter, don’t worry – women who had never dieted were also feeling the romantic vibes after their chocolate cake.
