Influence of stress on snack consumption in middle school girls

ABSTRACT

Stress has been known to change dietary behaviors and food intakes in individuals. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of stress level on the frequency and the amount of snack consumption. The high stress group (HS) showed significantly higher frequency of consumption for bread, chips, cookies, ramyeon, and frozen snacks (p<0.05) compared to low stress group (LS) with higher frequency of snack consumption (p<0.01), and increased intakes of energy, carbohydrates, and sodium from snacks (p<0.01) than LS. As the stress level became higher, the proportions of students with irregular meals, overeating, and night snacking increased (p<0.01). Also, 33.0% of the subjects answered that they consumed an increased amount of snacks when they were feeling stressed. Our results indicated that stress has negative influence on snack consumption in middle school girls.