Does a Vikings' loss lead to fans' weight gain?

Christopher Gates headed straight for the soft drinks when the Vikings lost to the Chicago Bears last Sunday with just 10 seconds left in the game.

"My biggest vice is sugar, and specifically pop," said Gates, a blogger for the Daily Norseman fan site who spends "my autumn Sunday afternoons living and dying with this football team." When the Vikings lose, he drowns his sorrows in a neon green river of Mountain Dew.

NFL fans seem to know instinctively that junk food is a balm that helps take the sting out of defeat. The idea that fans eat more calories and more fat when their team tanks is a theory many scientists and researchers have advanced over the years. Now that notion is bolstered by recent French research on eating by football and soccer fans. The way the team loses is also a factor: A close loss results in even more fat and calorie consumption than a blowout.

Pass the nachos and chicken wings, please.

The change in eating patterns is the result of the intersection of two powerful forces: the emotional connection fans have with their teams and the effect food has on emotions.

Foods high in carbohydrates and fats — so-called comfort foods — make us feel better, said Lesley Scibora, an assistant professor in the Health and Human Performance Department at the University of St. Thomas.

"Think of what comfort foods generally are," she said. "They're high-carbohydrate foods: mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, breads, pastas. And it's those foods, after we eat them, that increase serotonin levels in the brain, which is a natural but very powerful brain chemical that is a natural mood regulator."

"We identify as 'self' or 'other,' " he said. In short, everyone is either part of our group or part of some other group, a designation that dovetails perfectly with sports. "It's the Minnesota Vikings — this is us — and they, the Kansas City Chiefs or whatever, are the other," he said.

Put the two factors together and the outcome shows up at the waistline: When "we" (collectively) lose, we (individually) turn to comfort food to assuage the disappointment.

Whether the Vikings win or lose, Dave Garza gets together with friends to analyze the game over food. But instead of eating out of depression, after a win, "I eat because I'm happy and jubilant."

That likely means he's eating healthier, according to the research by the French business school, INSEAD (Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires). When their teams win, fans tend to eat less fat and fewer calories than normal.

The researchers approached the topic from a marketing standpoint. "But it raises some interesting things to think about" in terms of nutrition, said Megan Thomas, a registered dietitian at Hennepin County Medical Center. "I'm interested to see if this is researched further."

The eating habits of fans of both the winners and losers are the same before and during games. The change takes place when the game ends, the study found. Compared with their normal consumption levels, fans of losing teams increase their intake of saturated fats by 16 percent and calories by 10 percent, while the winning team's fans cut fat consumption by 9 percent and eat 5 percent fewer calories.

The effect lasts about a day. Whether their team wins or loses on Sunday, most fans are back to their normal diets by Tuesday.

Although the research focused on football and soccer, the findings likely are universal, Veltri said. "I think it will apply to any athletic team as long as we are personally connected to it," he said.

He also thinks the relevance of the game might indeed by a factor, pointing out that Vikings fans still mourn Gary Anderson's missed field goal in the 1998 championship game that cost the team a trip to the Super Bowl.

"Some of those losses stick with you," he said.

"When our moods are low, we tend to eat foods that make us feel better," Scibora said.

As for why a victory will result in healthier eating, the research points to a fan's self-image. "Supporters tend to perceive their team's successes and failures as their own, which has a measurable effect on their self-regulation abilities," researchers wrote. "This [is] consistent with results from studies showing that vicarious sports victories improve the self-esteem and perceived self-worth of supporters."

Assuming that the Vikings aren't likely to go undefeated the rest of the season, what can fans do to offset the urge for comfort food after a loss? Recognizing these adverse effects is a good start, Thomas said.

"For most people, this is subconscious," she said. "Once you're aware of it, you can have a coping strategy. You can have carrot sticks ready to go. Or, for me, I like to do something physical, like go for a run. We can't stop the emotional connection [to the team]. That's the reason we're watching in the first place. But we can be aware that it's happening."

Scibora said that eating vegetables and whole grains would be a better option and accomplish the same goal.

Scott Asplund, who bills himself as a Vikings superfan named Skolt, said he's never thought much about his postgame eating habits. "But it's probably true," he conceded about turning to junk food after a loss.

"For me, it's ice cream," he said, pausing before adding with a laugh, "I'm not a skinny guy."