When your favorite team loses a big game what do you do?
According to the New York Times, football fans that root for the losing team turn to food to ease their comfort. Although, the study did not look at weight fluctuations, teams with die-hard fans had the most obvious correlation between fatty food and defeats.
A study completed by professors at INSEAD, a business school in Paris, found football fans eat 28 percent more saturated fat after their team loses, versus the 16 percent less saturated fat after a win.
"If you're a fan, you say, 'We lost, I lost,'" said Pierre Chandon, co-author of the study and a marketing professor at INSEAD. "When people feel their identity is threatened, they compensate by eating indulgent food. It's more difficult to resist temptation. No one are broccoli after a defeat."
The association was pronounced in the eight cities known for having the most devoted fans, with Pittsburgh often ranked No. 1.
The study used the National Eating Trends database from the NPD Group, a market research firm, to extract 14-day food diaries kept during two regular football season in 2004 and 2005. The games zeroed in on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays.
Researchers studied 726 individuals over 3,151 consumption days. Those included fans from cities whose teams won and lost, and those whose teams did not play and those who were from a city without a team served as controls.
In one of the experiments that was apart of the study, researchers randomly assigned 78 French adults to write about a victory or defeat by their favorite team or athlete. The study found Mondays had the greatest division in calories and total fat consumed by winners and losers. On Tuesdays, fans' eating habits paralleled the controls groups.
Losing a game may be hard but a victory may have the opposite effect.
"Your ego is boosted, you have higher self-esteem, and it's easier to feel strong and good about yourself," Chapman said. "It's easier to delay gratification or resist temptation."
According to Times, David Sherman, a social and health psychologist and associate professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, said the results made sense. Although not a part of the study, Sherman said people would rather see themselves as good and competent.
When an individual's favorite sport team losses, many may feel like their identity has been threatened.
"They're thinking, "The Giant blew it!" he said. "The goal is to remind people of these other resources, that regardless of how your teams did, you're still a good. Capable person."
Previous studies have linked sports defeats to spikes in alcohol-related crimes, domestic violence and heart attacks. The findings of this study were published last month in the Journal Psychological Science.
