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Chicken Soup for the Soul：Comfort Food Fights Loneliness Mashed potatoes， macaroni and cheese， may be bad for your arteries. 1 according to a study in Psychological Science， theyre good for your heart and 2 .The study focuses on comfort food and how it makes people feel. For me 3 ,food has always played a big role in my family, says Jordan Troisi, a graduate student at the University of Buffalo, and lead author on the study.The study came out of the research program of his co-author Shira Gabriel.It has 4 non-human things that may affect human emotions.Some people reduce loneliness by bonding with their 5 TV show, building virtual relationships with a pop song singer or looking at pictures of loved ones.Troisi and Gabriel wondered if comfort food could have the same effect 6 making people think of their nearest and dearest. In one experiment, in order to make 7 feel lonely, the researchers had them write for six minutes about a fight with someone close to them.Others were given an emotionally neutral writing assignment. Then, some people in each 8 wrote about the experience of eating a comfort food and others wrote about eating a new food. 9 ,the researchers had participants 10 questions about their levels of loneliness. Writing about a fight with a close person made people feel lonely.But people who were generally 11 in their relationships would feel less lonely by writing about a comfort food.We have found that comfort foods are consistently associated with those close to us.says Troisi.Thinking about or consuming these foods later then serves as a reminder of those close others.In 12 essays on comfort food， many people wrote about the 13 of eating food with family and friends. In another experiment， 14 chicken soup in the lab made people think more about relationships， but only if they considered chicken soup to be a comfort food.This was a question they had been asked long before the experiment， along with many other questions， so they wouldnt remember it. Throughout everyones daily lives they experience stress， often associated with our 15 with others， Troisi says.Comfort food Can be an easy remedy for loneliness. | 
