Attractiveness linked to your breakfast choices, study suggests
The type of bread you choose to eat first thing in the morning could affect how attractive you are perceived to be, according to a new French study.
Researchers from the University of Montpellier have found that “immediate and chronic” consumption of refined carbohydrates, which are found in white bread, pastries and many cereals, can be linked to a lower level of attractiveness.
Dr Claire Berticat, evolutionary biologist and one of the study’s authors, told The Guardian: “It’s surprising to consider but our dietary choices can have rapid effects on our appearance.
“These physiological changes could subtly alter facial features, impacting how others perceive attractiveness.”
Fifty-two men and 52 women between the ages of 20 and 30 were randomly assigned a 500-calorie breakfast rich in either refined or unrefined carbohydrates.
The refined carb breakfast contained a French baguette made from industrially-milled flour with a side of jam first thing in the morning, apple or orange juice, and tea or coffee with sugar available.
Those on the unrefined carb breakfast received stoneground wholemeal bread with butter and cheese, as well as either an orange or apple and tea or coffee without sugar.
Each person had their blood sugar levels measured before and after their meal and headshots were taken under controlled lighting two hours after they had eaten.
The headshots were shown to others who were asked to estimate how old, how masculine or feminine and how attractive the participants looked.
Men and woman who had eaten the refined carbohydrate meal were assessed as being less facially attractive, the researchers said.
The team said longer-term effects of eating such foods are more complicated, adding that more studies were needed to look at “how diet effects are mediated and which other social traits could be affected by refined carbohydrate consumption”.
The research is published in science and medical journal Plos One.