Study Claims Listening to Hard Rock and Heavy Metal Can Lead to Unhealthy Food Choices

A recent study by researchers in China and Denmark has claimed that listening to hard rock and heavy metal can have negative influences on your food choices. The researchers found that music that was less abrasive led to healthier diets.

The study was published in Appetite last month and involved 215 cross-cultural between China and Denmark. Each participant was presented with a spectrum of food options, from healthy to unhealthy, to pair with different sets of music.

Participants were presented with two versions of the same song: one that was more calming (jazz piano, slower tempo and major keys) and another that was more aggressive (distorted guitars, quick beats, heavy drums and minor notes). It turned out that people who listened to the calmer tunes tended to go after healthier foods; those who listened to more aggressive-sounding music opted for foods that were less healthy. The researchers discovered a “causal relationship between ‘healthy’ sounds and healthy food choices,” concluding the busy sounds of hard rock and heavy metal as saboteurs of higher brain functions that regulate decision making. One of the leading researchers Danni Peng-Li, added, “usually, when we think about food, we think about the taste, the aroma, and, or course, the sight of it, but sound has been, I would say, underrated.”

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