Food is the way to a woman's heart

It is often said that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Apparently, men should learn how to cook because that's how you win a woman too, according to a new study.

According to Daily News and Analysis India, study author, Alice Ely from the College of Arts and Sciences at the Drexel University, the brain of a woman responds better to romance while on a full stomach and regardless of dieting history, brain activation has a better response. Ely explains this may be suggestive that eating primes young women to recognize rewards other than food as it shares the same reaction to sex.

Furthermore, the study has considered if there is a difference at how the brain responds to rewards other than food if they have a higher risk of being obese or if they have a history of dieting. In this concept, the researchers have discovered that women who have dieted are more responsive to positive food factors when they have eaten than women who have never dieted in their life.

Ely shares that this could possibly be because dieters tend to look at food as a reward after all their hard work to lose weight.

Yahoo! Health News shares that the trial test has been conducted on 20 women, 10 of which have undergone dieting in the past and 10 who have not done any dieting in their life.

After eight hours of fasting and getting hungry, these women return to the lab to be tested. When shown romantic and neutral photos, like couples and a bowling ball, respectively, an fMRI scanner confirms that brain activity is similar in all participants during the hungry state. However, the brains of these women have become more active when asked to consume 500 calories. This is especially true among women who have dieted in the past.

TIME adds most experts believe the study results make a lot of sense. Traci Mann, Professor of Psychology at the University of Minnesota, explains that one gets preoccupied with thoughts of food when he or she is fasting and it will be difficult to think of other things besides the person's hunger.

Moreover, University Herald reports that the study has resulted differently as compared to other studies where people are more responsive to stimuli like food, drugs and money when they are in a hungry state.

Ely states that although the results look promising, it is still a part of a pilot study and would require more evidence to draw any final conclusions.

The study has been conducted on young, normal-weight college student of the same age. It has been published in the journal Appetite.