The Nutrition Facts of Comfort Foods in the United States: Results from the Census-Matched Eating in America Study

Background/Objectives: Comfort foods are perceived as energy dense and highly palatable, yet little empirical research documenting the veracity of such perceptions exists.

Methods

We analyzed comfort foods for nutrient content, hyperpalatability, ultra-processing, and by demographic factors, hypothesizing poor nutritional profiles (higher fat, sugar, sodium, ultra-processing) and demographic differences in preferences. US census-matched respondents (N = 1760) self-identifying as comfort eaters listed their top three “comfort foods” through an online survey assessing comfort eating behavior and demographics (age, gender, US residence region). Trained raters abstracted nutrient contents for nominated foods using public reference databases and compared them against established nutritional recommendations (percent daily values [%DV]). We categorized foods by hyperpalatability and Nova classifications. Summary statistics were calculated overall and by demographic group. Two-sample t- and one-way ANOVA tests evaluated nutritional and demographic group differences.