Eating chips improves your mood: Study

A study claims that eating chips improves a person`s mood and makes one happy.

London: Having chips might be considered bad for health for its high carb content, but a new study claims that it improves a person`s mood and makes him calmer and more cheerful.

The researchers presume that the mood-swing could be either due to the carbohydrates in chips, or simply because the taste and smell are associated with happy times, such as seaside holidays. For the study, commissioned by the Potato Council and carried out by Aston University in Birmingham, 60 persons were shown a five-minute film which graphically depicted the fall-out of the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima at the end of the Second World War. After the movie, half of them were given a magazine to take their mind off the film, while the other half were given a plate of chips. They were also asked to fill in a questionnaire before and after the film and after finishing the chips or reading. Mike Green, from Aston University, said: "The psychological data showed that participants who were feeling down felt better after eating chips. "In fact, calmness was restored after 20 minutes. "It may be down to the biological effects of the nutritional components on brain chemistry or simply a pleasurable sensation, triggered by the way chips taste," Green was quoted as saying to the media. PTI