Bad news: if research from Denmark and China is to believed, listening to hard rock and heavy metal can lead to unhealthy food choices.
As per Consequence of Sound, a new study was published last month in Appetite showcasing the upsetting findings. 215 cross-cultural participants were involved from the above countries. They were presented with a wide range of food choices, both healthy and unhealthy options, and different soundtracks.
Before the study was conducted, a survey was taken to determine what would be classes as a “healthy” or “unhealthy” song, with heavy metal and hard rock unsurprisingly being counted as the latter.
Participants in the study were presented with two versions of the same song: the “healthy” one consisted of slower tempos and major keys while the “unhealthy” one featured heavy guitars, a faster tempo and minor notes.
Sound effects were also added underneath, city noise being added to the “unhealthy” soundtrack and gentle ocean waves to the “healthy” soundtrack.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the participants who listened to the “healthy” song tended to go for healthier foods, with those who listened to the “unhealthy” version going for less healthy foods.
The study, then, found a “causal relationship between healthy sounds and healthy food choice.” Certain sounds, not unlike tastes, were found to be either bitter or sweet, according to Danni Peng-Li, a doctoral student in the department of food science at Aarhus University and the study’s lead author.
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“Usually, when we think about food, we think about the taste, the aroma, and, or course, the sight of it,” he told The Academic Times. “But sound has been, I would say, underrated (as a topic of research).”
As Consequence points out, some newspapers like The Daily Star got typically overly-excited, leading with the aggravating headline ‘Metal Makes Us All Heavy’.
The study essentially highlights that the more overwhelming audible experience of a genre like heavy metal makes it harder to focus on other things, in this case choosing between food choices. In this way, going for an easier “unhealthy” option seemed more suitable under the circumstances.
So we wouldn’t worry too much – keep playing Metallica and eat whatever you want.
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