Noise makes us eat junk

It is bad news for women who work in a loud office or live near a building site.

Scientists have discovered that loud noises such as roadworks or even the person opposite you talking loudly can cause frantic cravings for junk food.

Popcorn, chocolate and crisps are the favoured snacks of females under stress. However, men seem to be immune to the phenomenon.

Professor Laura Klein of Penn State University in America, who carried out the research, said: "We saw people stabbing chunks of cheese with the pretzels and making sandwiches out of potato chips with a piece of cheese between them. I couldn't believe the behaviour I was seeing. It was really funny."

In the experiments, a group of men and women were asked to solve maths problems. In order to frustrate them, they were only allowed to view each one for 10 seconds.

While the volunteers worked on the problems, a loudspeaker would blast recorded office noise, such as phones ringing and people talking very loudly and at unpredictable intervals.

A separate group of volunteers did the same test with no noise.

Each participant was then left alone in a room while a tray of snacks was brought in. Researchers found the women exposed to noise quit the test early to attack the snack tray.

Nutritionist Natalie Savona warned that snacking is often triggered by several factors, not just noise. "We snack for different reasons. It can be comfort eating, or if we are stressed we can eat because our body needs more fuel. Every person, regardless of sex, deals with stress very differently," she said.