Snacking between meals is a key contributor to overweight and obesity. While much research treats snacking as a deliberate choice, it's often impulsive—driven by habit or emotion. Studies and healthy eating programs rarely address this. Saskia Wouters, a lecturer and researcher at the Open University, explored impulsive snacking using the Snackimpuls smartphone app.
The app prompted users with questions about mood, current situation, and eating/drinking since the last notification—10 times daily for 7 days at random intervals. This yielded nearly 15,000 reports, offering a detailed view of emotions, stress, and snacking patterns. Data was analyzed by demographics like gender, age, and education.
Findings reveal men snack less during negative moods, a pattern also seen in women. Men and young adults (20-30 years) snack more when feeling good. Those with lower to intermediate education snack habitually—stronger habits correlate with higher calorie intake.
Researchers also examined if snacking improves mood and whether nutrients play a role. Post-stressor snacking slightly reduced negative mood compared to not snacking. However, carbs amplified negative stress reactivity; more carbs since the last prompt worsened mood responses. No effects from fats or proteins. Promoting healthy eating requires addressing not just cognition, but habits and emotions too.
