What’s the Quickest Way to a Woman’s Heart?

We’ve heard the age-old saying; that the quickest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. But did you know that the theory also applies to women? Science has evidence of this claim.

According to recent studies and brain scans, women are more receptive to romance after eating, thus, food is also a way to a woman’s heart.

How is a Full Stomach the Fastest Way to a Woman’s Heart?

When women are full, they may be more responsive to romance. According to a new brain-scan study published in the journal Appetite, this is the case. The author, Alice Ely, a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California, San Diego, had previously investigated how women’s brains responded to images of fatty foods on an empty and full stomach and discovered that hunger and dieting history influenced brain activity patterns.

She wanted to determine if a woman’s hunger affected another highly gratifying stimulation, romance, and food.

Ely and her team enlisted the help of 20 young ladies of average weight. Half of the people had tried to lose weight at least twice before, while the other half had never tried. The women fasted for eight hours before arriving at the lab hungry. The women were placed in an fMRI scanner and shown romantic and neutral visuals, such as a pair holding hands, and neutral imagery, such as a bowling ball.

According to the researchers, the two groups of women had identical degrees of activity. They then consumed 500 calories of a meal replacement drink before returning to the scanner to view similar images on an empty stomach.

They were more responsive to romantic cues. Instead of being anxious and annoyed and irritable when you’re hungry, once we’re sated, then we can get on to better things.

Alice Ely, University of California

Traci Mann, a professor in the psychology department at the University of Minnesota and a dieting researcher who was not involved with the study, says that the results make sense.

When you’re fasting, you’re entirely preoccupied and focused with thoughts of food. It seems to me it would be hard for them to be drawn away from thinking about food to thinking about other things.

Traci Mann, Professor of Psychology, University of Minnesota

(Source: Time)

The Science Behind the Claim

The post-meal brain activity in reaction to romantic cues was particularly prominent in young women who had previously reported dieting. Other research has found that when dieters are given food as a reward, their brains respond more strongly.

Which suggests that they’re still kind of motivated to eat even once they’re nutritionally full. But what we’re seeing is that’s kind of true for stuff beyond just food.

Alice Ely, University of California

Ely also expounds on the issue saying that;

There’s some evidence that people who are more impulsive or more reward-sensitive tend to eat more in certain situations, but there haven’t been too many imaging studies looking at this population and looking across different kinds of stimuli. This is merely a pilot study involving a small sample of women of similar ages. Much more research is needed before any conclusions can be drawn. It’s all very hypothetical.

Alice Ely, University of California

While the study is in its early stages, it’s still fascinating and a surprising finding and an excellent reason to take a crush out to dinner. (Source: Time)