A product that warns women that their emotions are putting them at risk of getting fat plays into all of those issues, as well as contributes to the pervasive societal attitude that women’s emotions make them irrational.
Although stress indicators have been repeatedly linked to changes in individual eating behavior, the scientific body of research on stress, gender, and obesity isn’t clear-cut. For instance, periods of particularly severe stress are more likely to lead people to eat less, not more. And stress doesn’t necessarily encourage every woman to turn to junk food. Some studies in the area suggest that the women who already have relatively healthy diets are more likely to choose healthier foods when they’re under stress, while women whose diets are already high in fat and sugar are more likely to crave those things in emotionally trying situations.
And perhaps more broadly, stress-inducing eating may not actually be a huge public health problem in the first place. Gudrun Sproesser, a German researcher who recently published a paper on the subject, told Discovery News that emotionally-driven eating isn’t necessarily a negative thing, depending on individuals’ eating patterns during less stressful times. “Stress eaters should not be considered at risk to gain weight by default,” Sproesser explained in a press release about her research. “Our results suggest the need for a dynamic view of food intake across multiple situations, positive and negative.”
Smart bras probably won’t be coming to a department store near you anytime soon. Microsoft researchers are currently figuring how to get the battery life on their device to last longer than four hours.
Article Appeared @http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/12/04/3020921/microsoft-diet-bra-women/