Lonely women crave cake.
Lonely women have a hankering for cake
Boffins at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have discovered that females who consider themselves to be lonely demonstrated increased brain activity in areas associated with food cravings - particularly when shown pictures of sugary foods.
The study of 93 women found that isolated ladies reported unhealthy eating behaviours and poor mental health.
The findings could serve as a potential explanation for why people seek solace in slices of cake during difficult times.
Arpana Gupta, a UCLA researcher and senior author of the paper, said: "Researching how the brain processes loneliness and how this is related to obesity and health outcomes hasn't been done.
"These findings are interesting because it provides evidence for what we intuitively know. When people are alone or lonely, it impacts more than how they are feeling; they underreport what they eat, their desire to eat, and their cravings, especially for unhealthy foods."