Shopping when hungry is not good for health

For hungry customers, high calorie foods may be more attractive than normal.

Calories are the amount of energy in food when consumed. Knowing how much calories in food will help people balance the intake of energy into the body compared to energy consumption.

The science group invited 68 people to the lab, who would not eat or drink for 5 hours before taking a serious study. Next, half of the participants were given the choice of wheat crackers, the other half did not eat anything.

Do not shop when you're hungry. (Photo: Monkeybusiness / Dreamstime)

Both groups then went to buy food in a store of high calorie foods like candy, meat and low calorie foods like fruits and vegetables, Livescience reported.

The results showed that, on average, hungry people bought 57 percent of high-calorie products, while the group that had been eating before buying only bought 39 percent of high-calorie products out of the total amount of purchased goods.

In a second experiment, led by Brian Wansink at Cornell University, people analyzed the purchase status of 82 people in a real grocery store. The team compared products purchased by customers between 1 and 4 pm (after lunch, when people are less hungry) and customers shop between 4 and 7 pm (when People are often hungry.

Accordingly, shoppers between 4 and 7 pm buy less calorie products than shoppers from 1 to 4 pm (buy 8 out of 10 low calorie products).

Scientists recommend that people should choose carefully when buying food. Avoid buying food while you're hungry, instead, choose to shop in a less hungry state.