Food: Unpacking Comfort Eating: Beyond Pleasure to Coping and Cognition

Why it is the topic trending: The Deeper Psychology of Food Choices

• Growing Mental Health Awareness: As societal understanding and open discussion around mental well-being increase, the psychological underpinnings of daily behaviors like eating habits become a focal point. Comfort eating is often linked to coping mechanisms for stress, anxiety, or boredom.

• Disconnect Between Belief and Behavior: The study's surprising finding that people believe they eat comfort food for pleasure or reward, but actually eat it more frequently to alleviate boredom or enhance cognitive performance, challenges conventional wisdom and sparks new conversations.

• Impact on Public Health: Given rising concerns about obesity and diet-related illnesses, understanding the true drivers of comfort eating is crucial for developing more effective public health interventions and healthy eating strategies.

• Relevance for Food Industry: For brands, unlocking the true psychological triggers behind comfort eating provides valuable insights into how to market products responsibly and how consumer behavior is more complex than simple hedonic pleasure.

• Personal Relatability: Comfort eating is a common human experience. Many individuals can relate to turning to food when feeling emotional or stressed, making the topic inherently interesting and personally relevant.

Overview: The Unseen Drivers of Comfort Eating Beyond Simple Pleasure

A new study delves into the psychological reasons behind comfort eating, revealing a significant disconnect between what people believe motivates their comfort food consumption and the actual drivers of its frequency. While many expect comfort food to be pleasurable or rewarding, the research indicates that the more frequent instances of comfort eating are more strongly linked to desires to alleviate boredom, manage negative emotions, and even enhance cognitive performance. This suggests that comfort eating often serves as a coping mechanism for emotional or cognitive demands, rather than solely a pursuit of hedonic pleasure, offering a more nuanced understanding of this pervasive behavior.

Detailed findings: Beyond Reward to Coping Mechanisms

• Misconception of Primary Motivation: The study found that most participants believed they ate comfort food for pleasure, reward, or general positive feelings, with these expectations being highly endorsed.

• Actual Drivers of Frequency: However, statistical analysis revealed that the frequency of comfort eating was weakly or not at all associated with expectations of pleasure or reward. Instead, it was most consistently predicted by expectations of:

  • Alleviating Boredom: This was the strongest predictor of increased comfort eating frequency across all comfort foods.

  • Enhancing Cognitive Competence: Eating to improve focus or performance correlated with more frequent consumption of primary comfort foods.

  • Managing Negative Affect (Emotions): This also showed a predictive relationship with some aspects of comfort eating frequency.

• Coping Mechanism: The findings suggest that comfort eating is often an attempt to cope with emotional or cognitive demands, such as feeling bored, stressed, or needing to focus, rather than primarily seeking a pleasurable reward.

• Short-Lived Benefits: While comfort foods can provide a temporary mood boost, the article notes that the emotional benefit may be short-lived, and other foods might offer similar effects.

• Physiological Links: The article also briefly mentions physiological underpinnings, such as the potential for increased serotonin (mood-elevating chemical from tryptophan in chicken) and reduced activity in neural pathways related to chronic stress.

• Gender Differences (Inference): Although not the study's direct focus, an earlier point mentions women tend to ponder problems to manage feelings while men bury emotions, potentially implying different emotional triggers for comfort eating.

Key success factors of product (trend): Addressing Latent Psychological Needs

• Perceived Efficacy in Coping: The "success" of comfort foods stems from their perceived ability to alleviate boredom, enhance focus, or soothe negative emotions, even if the actual effect is complex and short-lived.

• Strong Emotional Associations: Comfort foods often have deep-seated emotional connections, frequently tied to childhood memories or significant positive experiences, creating an anticipation of comfort and well-being.

• Sensory Palatability: Foods high in sugar, fat, and salt are "hyper-palatable," triggering the brain's reward system (dopamine spike), which provides immediate, albeit temporary, pleasure and distraction.

• Accessibility and Familiarity: Being readily available and familiar, comfort foods offer an easy and immediate solution when individuals feel the urge to cope with internal states.

• Cultural Reinforcement: Societal norms and marketing often reinforce the idea of certain foods as "comforting," further solidifying their role in emotional regulation.

Key Takeaway: Comfort eating is not just about indulgence; it's a complex coping strategy primarily driven by the subconscious desire to alleviate boredom, manage negative emotions, or boost cognitive function, often masking underlying psychological needs.

Main trend: The Psychosomatic Connection in Food Consumption

Description of the trend: Food as a Psycho-Emotional Regulation Tool

The Food as a Psycho-Emotional Regulation Tool is a critical trend highlighting the sophisticated and often subconscious ways individuals utilize food to manage their emotional states, cognitive demands, and internal discomforts beyond mere physical hunger. This trend recognizes that food consumption is frequently driven by a desire to alleviate negative affect (stress, sadness), combat boredom, or even enhance mental performance (e.g., during cognitive tasks). It shifts the perception of eating from a purely physiological or hedonic act to a complex behavioral response to psychological triggers, revealing that comfort foods are often sought for their perceived functional benefits in emotional and cognitive self-regulation.

What is consumer motivation: Seeking Emotional and Cognitive Regulation

• Escape from Boredom: A primary motivation is to fill a void or provide stimulation when experiencing boredom, using food as a distraction or an activity.

• Emotion Management: Consumers turn to comfort food to suppress or soothe negative emotions like stress, anxiety, sadness, anger, or loneliness, seeking temporary relief.

• Cognitive Enhancement/Coping: There's a motivation to use food to aid focus, concentration, or energy levels, especially during demanding mental tasks or academic pressure.

• Self-Soothing and Security: Food can provide a sense of comfort, warmth, and security, often linked to positive childhood memories or nurturing experiences.

• Reward and Pleasure (Secondary): While people perceive this as primary, the study suggests it's a secondary, short-term motivation, as the initial pleasure can lead to guilt, negating long-term benefit.

What is motivation beyond the trend: The Fundamental Drive for Internal Balance and Well-being

• Homeostasis and Self-Regulation: Beyond the immediate trend, the underlying motivation is the fundamental human drive to maintain internal psychological and physiological balance (homeostasis) and to regulate uncomfortable internal states.

• Coping Mechanisms: Comfort eating is one manifestation of a broader human need for coping mechanisms to deal with life's stressors, emotional challenges, and cognitive demands when healthier strategies might be lacking.

• Learned Associations: People often develop deep-seated, often unconscious, associations between certain foods and feelings of comfort or relief, stemming from childhood experiences or repeated conditioning.

• Brain Reward System Activation: The biological wiring of the brain's reward system means that palatable foods can provide quick hits of dopamine, reinforcing the behavior as a seemingly effective solution for emotional distress or boredom.

• Avoidance of Discomfort: At a deeper level, comfort eating can be motivated by an aversion to facing or processing difficult emotions, serving as a temporary escape or distraction from uncomfortable realities.

Description of consumers article is referring.

Consumer Summary: The article refers to general adult consumers who engage in comfort eating, suggesting it's a widespread behavior rooted in complex psychological factors. These consumers, regardless of demographics, often perceive their comfort eating as a search for pleasure or reward, yet are more frequently driven by underlying needs to alleviate boredom, manage negative emotions, or enhance cognitive function. They are individuals seeking quick, accessible ways to regulate their internal states, even if these methods offer only temporary relief and sometimes lead to guilt.

• Who are them:

  • Individuals experiencing boredom: A significant segment, possibly those with less stimulating environments or lacking alternative coping strategies for idle time.

  • Individuals facing negative emotions: Those dealing with stress, anxiety, sadness, loneliness, or anger who use food as a self-soothing mechanism.

  • Individuals under cognitive stress: Students before exams, professionals facing demanding tasks, or anyone seeking a perceived boost in focus or energy.

  • Anyone with learned associations: Individuals for whom specific foods trigger feelings of comfort due to past experiences (e.g., childhood memories).

• What kind of products they like:

  • Hyper-palatable foods: Foods high in sugar, fat, and salt (e.g., chocolate, fried chicken, ice cream, pasta, pizza).

  • Foods with nostalgic associations: Dishes linked to childhood, family, or positive past events.

  • Convenient and accessible options: Foods that can be readily obtained and consumed quickly.

• What is their age?: Not specified, but comfort eating is a widespread phenomenon. The mention of students implies young adults, while childhood associations suggest all adult age groups who carry those learned behaviors.

• What is their gender?: The article notes gender differences in coping with problems (women pondering, men burying emotions), implying both genders engage in comfort eating, but potentially with different emotional triggers or approaches.

• What is their income?: Not specified; comfort eating is not income-dependent, as it relates to fundamental psychological needs and responses to stress or boredom.

• What is their lifestyle:

  • Busy and stressful: Individuals who experience high levels of stress from work, relationships, or daily hassles.

  • Sedentary or less stimulating: Those who might experience frequent boredom.

  • Emotionally challenged: Individuals who may struggle with healthy emotional regulation.

  • Reward-seeking: Those who use food as a primary reward system.

• What are their shopping preferences in the category article is referring to (Food/Snacks):

  • Impulsive purchases: Often driven by sudden emotional urges rather than planned hunger.

  • Familiar and convenient options: Gravitate towards readily available, well-known comfort foods.

  • High-calorie, high-palatability: Prefer foods that offer an immediate sensory and reward hit.

  • Little regard for nutritional value: Healthiness is often secondary to the immediate emotional or cognitive benefit.

• Are they low, occasional or frequent category shoppers: Their frequency depends on the intensity and frequency of their emotional/cognitive triggers. Some may be occasional comfort eaters, while others might be frequent, bordering on disordered eating patterns.

• What are their general shopping preferences-how they shop products, shopping motivations):

  • Emotional drivers: Purchases often stem from internal emotional states rather than external marketing or physical hunger.

  • Quick gratification: Seek immediate satisfaction and relief.

  • Habitual choices: Often gravitate towards established "go-to" comfort foods.

  • Less price-sensitive (in the moment): The urgent need for comfort may override strict budget considerations for these specific purchases.

Conclusions: The Multifaceted Nature of Comfort Eating Requires Nuanced Approaches

The study's revelations about the psychological drivers of comfort eating underscore its complex and often subconscious nature. It is less about a simple pursuit of pleasure and more about a sophisticated, albeit sometimes maladaptive, coping mechanism for boredom, negative emotions, and cognitive demands. This multifaceted understanding necessitates a shift in how comfort eating is viewed, moving beyond mere indulgence to recognize it as a deeply rooted behavioral response to internal states. Effective interventions for healthier eating, therefore, must address these underlying psychological triggers rather than solely focusing on caloric intake or taste preferences.

Implications for brands: Responsible Messaging and Beyond-Taste Solutions

• Rethink Marketing Narratives: Brands should move beyond solely positioning comfort food as a "reward" or "pleasure" and consider how their messaging subtly taps into coping mechanisms like alleviating boredom or stress.

• Detail: This implies a responsibility to be mindful of encouraging potentially unhealthy coping. Instead of "treat yourself because you deserve it," perhaps focus on sensory experience or shared moments that offer genuine connection rather than solitary emotional eating.

• Innovate Beyond Hedonism: Develop products that align with the true drivers of comfort eating, such as those that offer satisfying textures for boredom relief or mood-balancing ingredients for stress, without being solely high-sugar/fat.

• Detail: This could mean functional foods designed for focus or relaxation, or snack formats that provide sensory engagement to alleviate boredom, offering healthier alternatives within the "comfort" paradigm.

• Promote Mindful Consumption: Brands have an opportunity to encourage more mindful eating behaviors, helping consumers recognize their true motivations for eating.

• Detail: This could involve packaging cues that prompt reflection ("Are you hungry, or just bored?"), or marketing content that suggests pairing comfort foods with other coping strategies like relaxation techniques.

• Leverage Nostalgia Responsibly: While nostalgia is a powerful trigger, brands should use it to foster positive connections and memories, rather than implicitly linking it to maladaptive coping strategies.

• Detail: Focus on shared family moments or traditional recipes that evoke warmth and togetherness, rather than solitary consumption.

• Consider "Purpose-Driven" Comfort Foods: Explore developing comfort food alternatives that offer genuine benefits beyond temporary emotional soothing, such as those with specific nutrients for cognitive function or mood support.

• Detail: For instance, foods high in tryptophan (precursor to serotonin) or with complex carbohydrates for sustained energy could be positioned as "comforting for the mind."

Implication for society: A Call for Greater Emotional Literacy and Healthier Coping

• Increased Awareness of Behavioral Psychology: Society gains a deeper understanding of how psychological states profoundly influence seemingly simple behaviors like eating, leading to more nuanced conversations about well-being.

• Shift in Public Health Strategies: Public health initiatives will need to evolve beyond calorie counting to incorporate psychological interventions, stress management, and alternative coping strategies to address comfort eating effectively.

• Reduced Stigma Around Emotional Eating: By recognizing comfort eating as a coping mechanism rather than a lack of willpower, society can foster more empathetic approaches to addressing disordered eating behaviors.

Implications for consumers: Self-Awareness and Empowered Choices

• Enhanced Self-Awareness: Consumers gain valuable insight into their own eating patterns, allowing them to identify the true psychological triggers behind their comfort eating, rather than just the surface-level desires.

• Opportunity for Healthier Coping: This understanding empowers individuals to seek healthier, more sustainable coping mechanisms for boredom, stress, or cognitive demands, rather than relying solely on food.

• Greater Control Over Eating Habits: By identifying underlying motivations, consumers can make more conscious and intentional food choices, leading to improved dietary habits and overall well-being.

Summary of Trends:

• Core Consumer Trend: The Internal Regulation Drive. Consumers are increasingly using food, often subconsciously, as a primary tool to manage internal psychological states such as boredom, negative emotions, and cognitive load.

• Core Consumer Sub Trend: The Expectation-Reality Discrepancy. Consumers often misattribute their primary motivation for comfort eating, believing it's for pleasure, while the underlying drivers are frequently related to emotional or cognitive coping.

• Core Social Trend: The Mental Health Integration into Lifestyle Choices. Society is increasingly recognizing the profound link between mental well-being and daily lifestyle behaviors, including eating patterns, fostering a more holistic view of health.

• Social Drive: The Search for Immediate Gratification and Distraction. In a fast-paced, often overwhelming world, there's a pervasive human drive to seek quick and accessible forms of immediate gratification or distraction to alleviate discomfort.

• Core Trend: Food as a Psycho-Emotional Regulation Tool. This central trend emphasizes that food consumption is frequently driven by a need to regulate emotions, cognitive states, and boredom, rather than solely physical hunger.

• Core Strategy: Insights-Driven Behavioral Intervention. For health and wellness, the core strategy involves leveraging deep psychological insights into eating behaviors to design more effective interventions that address underlying motivations rather than just symptoms.

• Core Industry Trend: Functional Food for Mental Well-being. The food industry is moving towards developing and marketing products that offer perceived or actual functional benefits for mental states, beyond basic nutrition or traditional comfort.

• Core Consumer Motivation: The Desire for Internal Homeostasis. The underlying consumer motivation is the fundamental human drive to achieve and maintain psychological balance and comfort, leading them to seek out readily available coping mechanisms.

Strategic Recommendations for brands to follow in 2025: Mindful Marketing & Wellness-Oriented Innovation

• Develop "Beyond Pleasure" Messaging: Brands should craft marketing campaigns that acknowledge the deeper reasons for comfort eating, subtly positioning products as part of a balanced approach to well-being, rather than just indulgent treats.

• Detail: Instead of simply "indulge," messaging could focus on moments of pause, self-care, or even cognitive support, encouraging mindful consumption. For example, promoting a healthy snack for a "brain boost" or a calming tea for "winding down."

• Innovate with Functional Ingredients for Mood/Cognition: Invest in R&D for comfort food alternatives that incorporate ingredients known for their potential mood-enhancing, stress-reducing, or cognitive-boosting properties.

• Detail: This could include snacks with adaptogens, prebiotics for gut-brain axis health, specific amino acids like tryptophan, or sustained-release energy sources to address the underlying drivers of comfort eating.

• Emphasize Sensory & Experiential Engagement for Boredom Relief: Create products that offer multi-sensory experiences (e.g., unique textures, intriguing flavors) and marketing that promotes engaging rituals around consumption to combat boredom.

• Detail: Consider innovative packaging that encourages slower consumption, or pairing products with activities (e.g., a "meditation snack" or a "study break bite") that provide a distraction beyond just eating.

• Partner with Wellness Platforms & Experts: Collaborate with mental health professionals, nutritionists, or wellness apps to offer integrated solutions that combine mindful eating with broader coping strategies.

• Detail: This positions the brand as a holistic partner in well-being, offering resources and guidance beyond just selling food, building deeper consumer trust and loyalty.

• Responsible Portrayal of Emotional Moments: When depicting emotional consumption, ensure scenarios show healthy coping or balanced indulgence, avoiding the glorification of solitary, reactive comfort eating.

• Detail: Show scenes of shared comfort, celebratory moments, or conscious moments of self-care, rather than individuals bingeing alone in response to negative feelings.

Final Conclusion: The profound insight that comfort eating is primarily a psychological coping mechanism for boredom, negative emotions, and cognitive demands rather than mere pleasure demands that brands in 2025 adopt Mindful Marketing & Wellness-Oriented Innovation, shifting focus from simple indulgence to offering responsible, functional, and deeply understanding solutions that genuinely contribute to consumers' holistic well-being and emotional regulation.

Core Trend Detailed: The Functional Role of Food in Emotional and Cognitive Self-Regulation

The core trend of The Functional Role of Food in Emotional and Cognitive Self-Regulation describes how comfort food consumption is far more complex than simple pleasure-seeking. This trend delves into the discovery that individuals frequently turn to specific foods not merely for taste or reward, but as a deliberate (though often subconscious) strategy to manage uncomfortable internal states. These states include alleviating boredom, mitigating negative emotions like stress or sadness, and even attempting to enhance cognitive performance or focus. The research highlights a crucial disconnect: while consumers believe they seek pleasure from comfort food, the actual frequency of their consumption is driven by these deeper psychological needs for emotional and cognitive self-regulation. This redefines "comfort" from a superficial indulgence to a profound, albeit sometimes maladaptive, coping mechanism that impacts health and well-being.

Key Characteristics of the Core trend: Underlying Needs and Misattributed Motivations

• Discrepancy Between Belief and Behavior: A defining characteristic is the notable gap between consumers' perceived reasons for comfort eating (often pleasure, reward) and the actual, statistically significant drivers (alleviating boredom, managing negative affect, enhancing cognitive competence).

• Emphasis on Coping Mechanisms: Comfort food functions as an accessible, immediate coping tool for psychological discomfort, offering a temporary sense of relief or distraction from unwanted internal states.

• Beyond Hedonic Pleasure: The trend highlights that while pleasure may be a short-term outcome, it's not the primary, frequent driver of comfort eating. The underlying motivations are more functional than purely hedonic.

• Varied Psychological Triggers: Different internal states can activate comfort eating, including emotional distress (stress, sadness, anxiety), cognitive demands (need for focus, energy for tasks), and psychological emptiness (boredom).

• Physiological & Psychological Interplay: There's a recognition of the interplay between food and brain chemistry (e.g., serotonin production from certain foods) that can temporarily influence mood and stress pathways, reinforcing the coping behavior.

• Nostalgic and Familiar Associations: Comfort foods often carry strong emotional baggage, linked to childhood memories or cultural traditions, which can evoke a sense of security and familiarity that aids in self-soothing.

Market and Cultural Signals Supporting the Trend: Wellness Focus, Stress Epidemic, and Self-Optimization

• Global Mental Health Awareness: Increased public discourse and awareness around mental health issues (stress, anxiety, depression) normalize conversations about coping mechanisms, including those involving food.

• "Always-On" Culture and Stress Epidemic: Modern lifestyles characterized by constant digital connectivity, work pressure, and information overload lead to widespread chronic stress and burnout, increasing the reliance on immediate, accessible coping strategies like comfort eating.

• Rise of the "Wellness Industry": A booming wellness market, often including nutrition and mindful eating, encourages consumers to seek deeper understanding of their behaviors and look for solutions that address root causes rather than just symptoms.

• "Productivity" and "Biohacking" Trends: The pursuit of enhanced cognitive performance and energy (even from students preparing for exams as mentioned) signals a cultural drive for self-optimization, where food can be perceived as a tool for mental boost.

• Ubiquity of Instant Gratification: A societal expectation for immediate solutions and quick fixes in various aspects of life spills over into food choices, making highly palatable and accessible comfort foods attractive options for rapid emotional or cognitive "fixes."

• Guilt and Shame Around Eating: The ongoing societal struggle with diet culture and body image issues means that many consumers experience guilt or shame around comfort eating, leading to a desire for healthier, more conscious coping strategies.

How the Trend Is Changing Consumer Behavior: Mindful Consumption and Seeking Deeper Solutions

The trend of Comfort & Food profoundly alters consumer behavior by fostering a greater sense of introspection and a desire for more holistic well-being solutions. Consumers are becoming more aware that their food choices are often driven by emotional and cognitive needs rather than just physical hunger, prompting them to question why they eat what they do. This leads to an increased demand for products and services that address the underlying psychological triggers of comfort eating, shifting away from purely hedonic indulgence towards solutions that offer genuine support for mood, focus, or stress management. Consequently, consumers are more open to mindful eating practices and are actively seeking knowledge about how food impacts their mental and emotional states, ultimately striving for more balanced and intentional relationships with what they consume.

Implications Across the Ecosystem: A Mandate for Psychological Nuance in Food

• For Brands (QSR and CPGs):

  • QSR Brands: Must recognize that their "comfort" offerings are often consumed for coping, not just pleasure. They need to explore responsible menu innovations that provide perceived comfort through healthier ingredients or portion sizes, and marketing that emphasizes shared experiences or emotional uplift rather than solitary indulgence.

  • CPGs: Have a significant opportunity to develop "functional comfort foods" – products designed with ingredients that genuinely support mood, focus, or relaxation, while still delivering satisfying textures and flavors. This means transparent communication about benefits.

• For Retailers:

  • Can leverage insights into comfort eating by strategically merchandising products that cater to these emotional and cognitive needs, perhaps creating "mood-boosting" or "focus-friendly" sections. They can also offer complementary products related to self-care or stress relief alongside food items.

• For Consumers:

  • Gain deeper self-awareness about their eating habits, empowering them to make more informed choices. They have the potential to break unhealthy cycles by addressing root causes rather than just managing symptoms, leading to improved mental and physical health.

Strategic Forecast: The Rise of "Mood Food" and Personalized Behavioral Nutrition

• Ubiquitous "Mood Food" Categories: Expect a proliferation of food and beverage products explicitly marketed for their psycho-emotional benefits, beyond traditional "energy" drinks, with ingredients targeting stress, focus, sleep, or mood stabilization.

• Personalized Behavioral Nutrition Platforms: AI and wearable tech will enable highly personalized dietary recommendations based not just on caloric needs, but on an individual's emotional state, stress levels, and cognitive demands in real-time.

• Gamified Emotional Eating Management: Apps and digital platforms will emerge that help users track emotional triggers for eating, suggest alternative coping strategies, and reward healthier behaviors, turning self-regulation into an engaging challenge.

• Therapeutic Culinary Programs: Expect a rise in professionally guided programs or services that combine nutritional advice with psychological counseling, specifically designed to help individuals develop healthier relationships with food for emotional regulation.

• Mindful Eating Integration in Public Health: Public health campaigns will increasingly integrate principles of mindfulness and emotional intelligence into dietary guidelines, promoting conscious consumption and identifying non-food coping mechanisms.

Areas of innovation (implied by article): Functional Foods, Mindful Marketing, and Digital Wellness

• "Cognitive Boost" Snacks:

  • Development of snack foods and beverages explicitly designed and marketed to enhance focus, concentration, or provide sustained energy for cognitive tasks, utilizing ingredients like adaptogens, nootropics, or specific macronutrient ratios.

• Stress-Reducing Food Formulations:

  • Innovation in food science to create products with ingredients that are scientifically linked to reducing stress or promoting relaxation (e.g., magnesium-rich foods, specific teas, or gut-friendly ingredients that influence the gut-brain axis).

• "Boredom Buster" Textures & Flavors:

  • Designing foods with novel or engaging textures and complex flavor profiles that provide sensory stimulation and distraction to alleviate boredom without necessarily being high in unhealthy ingredients.

• Mindful Consumption Apps/Tools:

  • Creation of digital applications or smart packaging that guides consumers through mindful eating exercises, helps them identify emotional triggers, and suggests non-food coping alternatives, fostering greater self-awareness.

• Emotional Resilience Food Kits:

  • Curated food boxes or meal kits that combine "comforting" elements with healthy, functional ingredients, marketed as tools to support emotional well-being during stressful periods, complete with recipes and psychological tips.

Final Thought: The study on comfort eating profoundly reshapes our understanding of the Comfort & Food relationship, revealing it as a complex psychological phenomenon driven more by coping with boredom, negative emotions, and cognitive demands than simple pleasure. This mandates a transformative approach from brands towards responsible innovation and nuanced marketing, offering solutions that genuinely support consumers' holistic well-being and emotional literacy in an increasingly demanding world.

Source: https://www.news-medical.net/news/20250714/Study-reveals-the-psychological-reasons-for-comfort-eating.aspx