I scream you scream we all scream for ice cream for good science

This topic submitted by Craig West, Andy Bennett, Rachel Stern, Willi Lempert ( chemicalwill@hotmail.com ) on 12/16/03 .

Natural Systems 1 Syllabus---Western Program---Miami University

Craig West
Andy Bennett
Rachel Stern
Willi Lempert

N.S. Lab Proposal
I scream you scream we all scream for good science

Question:

Will girls eat significantly more frozen yogurt as it gets cooler and the days get shorter?

Hypothesis:

Our lab group will study ice cream eating habits in girls at the Alexander Dining Hall at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. We are interested in discovering if there is a correlation with the amount of ice cream, more specifically the frozen yogurt available in the dining hall, consumed by girls within the time period of 5:45 p.m. to 6:15 p.m. on weekdays in correlation to temperature and length of day. As the days get shorter and our bodies attempt to put on Òwinter weightÓ we hypothesize that the girls will eat more ice cream, either as a defense mechanism against the cold or as a stress reliever due to depression that occurs during the winter months. We also think that the stresses of workload in the college student subjects will affect the food choices they make, as classes and homework tend to intensify toward the end of the semester. This added stress might cause them to seek out comfort foods or foods that provide them with energy. Our hypothesis is that as the days shorten girls will eat more ice cream and also as the temperature drops, ice cream consumption will increase.
The reason for this hypothesis stems from a variety of reasons. First, during the winter months, it is common that humans crave more fattening food and carbohydrates in order to put on weight as a sort of defense mechanism against the cold. Another reason could be the factors associated with seasonal depression in which people afflicted with this seek out the fat rich carbohydrates during the colder, winter days. To study these factors we have chosen to study any correlation between ice cream consumption and the length of day, which will shorten as the temperature drops, looking for an increase in the number of women choosing to eat the frozen yogurt as these days shorten.
The alternative hypothesis is that frozen yogurt consumption will go down during the winter months, as people would rather have the cold treat when weather is warm in order to cool themselves off. There are studies out there that show an opposing stance and present data suggesting the popularity of ice cream in summer months over winter months. But, here at Miami, using variables that are strictly limited to college age females, we hypothesize other results.

Introduction:

Have you ever wondered why it is you crave sugar-rich, carbohydrate Ðloaded foods once the winter weather starts? Well, so do we. When our bodies crave these foods at this time, is it a reaction to the cold in an attempt to pack on Òwinter weightÓ or is the reason rooted in a type of stress mechanism or depression symptom? The possibility of a correlation between season and eating habits is of concern to many, as it affects diet and health as well as uncovering possible psychological implications. Numerous studies have shown that seasonal affect disorder (commonly known as SAD), which causes people to feel down and lethargic during the winter months, will present itself with symptoms such as craving fatty, high calorie, and carbohydrate-rich foods. This alone reveals that our bodies react, in some cases, directly to temperature and length of day. This is where we come in.
We have chosen frozen yogurt, which we will sometimes refer to as ice cream, as our target food in our study at Miami University. Who doesnÕt like ice cream? It is a common after lunch or after dinner dessert, and the perfect variable to study easily. Here in Alexander Dining Hall, the frozen yogurt machine provides daily satisfaction to the sweet teeth of all the students that sit down to eat their meals. When winter rolls around, we hypothesize that people (we have narrowed our study to women in order to simplify the research process) will seek out comfort foods, and probably in the form of ice cream. There are numerous studies that suggest this type of comfort food dining in the colder temperatures (Eller, 1993; ÒFinding Comfort in Colder TemperaturesÓ, 2001; Coleman, 1998; ÒSpring, Summer Best Time to Change Eating Habits, 1994; ÒAdapt Food Preparation to Warmer Weather, 2001).
Also, there is a possibility of increased ice cream consumption as a function of stress relief (possibly caused by the increased work load of the college students studied) and a way to, again, find comfort in the form of high calorie, sugar filled foods (Ramsayer, 2003). Many of us notice that as our homework begins to build up and projects are due in our classes, we tend to snack on foods as we study and sit down to bigger meals at the dining halls. This is where our curiosity about ice cream comes in to play. Do female students crave and seek out ice cream when they are stressed?
A final consideration regarding the causes of possible increases in ice cream consumption is that of seasonal affect disorder (SAD). As previously stated, a symptom of SAD is an increased appetite for carbohydrates and high calorie food (ÒDepression Alternative Treatment and Food to AvoidÓ, 2002; ÒSeasonal Affective DisorderÓ, via the web; ÒSymptoms of SADÓ, 2002; Murray, 2002; Tarrier, 2002; Goel, 2003). As ÒGood Food IdeasÓ stresses, multiple forms of depression cause people to change their diets toward sugary, fatty foods, which only perpetuate their depressed state (2001). Ice cream falls directly into this category, which makes it a great variable for study. We will sit in the dining hall from 5:45 p.m. to 6:15 p.m. Monday through Thursday and note how many girls get frozen yogurt out of the machine. These totals will be compared to the length of day and temperature for each day of research.
We did come across a few articles suggesting that poor weather will deter ice cream consumption (ÒGerman Ice Cream HitÓ, 1999; ÒSwiss Ice Cream Consumption DownÓ, 2000). On the same note, there was one article that came out and directly stated that Òeating ice cream in winter has become the rage of many a youngster . . . ice cream sells better in winter in those highly packed commercial sections like . . . pedestrian malls and large department storesÓ (Yu, 2001). Could college campuses create the same atmosphere that is conducive to eating ice cream in the winter? That is what we are out to discover. We believe however, that the change in temperature will be the cause of increased ice cream consumption in girls.

Methods:

There is a soft-serve frozen yogurt machine (hereinafter referred to as the Òice cream machineÓ) in the Alexander Dining Hall. We will observe the use of the machine every night Mon-Thurs between the times of 5:45 and 6:15 PM. We have determined that this is the time during dinner in which the most girls will be getting ice cream. There are four members of our group, and each member will be responsible for observing one night a week. The observer will inconspicuously sit at a table near the ice cream machine and record how many females get ice cream from it during the half hour of observation. It is important that the observer be discrete, because if they are noticeable, it may affect the outcome of the data. A girl who sees someone lurking near the ice cream machine might be intimidated and not get ice cream when she otherwise would have. The observer will then record the high temperature for the day as well as the length of the day as reported on Òwunderground.comÓ. We will then perform t-tests and make histograms to see if there is a significant correlation between either the temperature or day length and the amount of girls who eat ice cream.
Once we collected all the data, we found the median day length and the median temperature.

We decided that anything equal to or above the median temperature was ÒwarmÓ and anything below was Òcold.Ó We decided that anything above the median day length was ÒlongÓ and anything equal to or below the median was Òshort.Ó We will used unpaired t-tests to compare number of girls vs. day length and also number of girls vs. temperature.

Results:

We decided to categorize ÒDay LengthÓ and ÒTemperatureÓ into long and short, and hot and cold respectively. This way, we were able to perform t-tests and generate p-values to determine whether there was a statistically significant difference in our data.
The p-value for unpaired t-test for number of girls vs. temperature is 0.90. There is a 90% chance that the results for number of girls vs. temperature was determined by chance alone.
The p-value for the unpaired t-test for number of girls vs. length of day is 0.37. There is a 37% chance that the results for number of girls vs. length of day was determined by chance alone. While 37% is less than 90%, neither of these results are statistically significant. We failed to reject the null hypothesis.

Conclusions:

We believe that the findings will show that a significant proportion of the girls who eat frozen yogurt will eat more as the days get shorter and colder. We hypothesize that this will be because of general depression in winter as supported by our references. It will also be because as classes become more difficult, people will be more stressed. They will in turn eat more to relieve stress as the semester nears its end. There are also other aspects of these variables which we chose not to focus on in this experiment. One of them is the difference between boys and girls in terms of eating habits and change. We chose this to keep as few variables as possible in the experiment. We also could have studied how much people get per serving and how that changes. We chose to only study the amount of servings, as this lends itself to simplicity and promotes non-opinionated data. The data we collect should clearly show if there is significant correlation. If it turns out that girls eat more in the winter, this may be because it is a food that cools and people are trying to become warmer. This is an alternate hypothesis in which we chose not to support. It is also possible that there will be no significant change meaning either people donÕt change habits, or the effects of eating fatty foods and extra stress could balance out with the desire to warm ones body.
Discussion:
None of our results were statistically significant. There was no trend which indicated that more girls ate ice cream when it was colder or when the days were shorter. We feel as though one reason for this may be because when we came up with the idea and hypothesis for this lab, we were thinking of ice cream which has a lot of fat in it. Fat keeps you warm. It turns out that what we were testing was non-fat frozen yogurt, which means that the reason we thought people would eat more was non-existent. We thought that the Òplacebo effectÓ might come into play; people might get frozen yogurt thinking it was ice cream, which is indeed fattening. We also thought that people would get frozen yogurt as a comfort food as finals approached. This also turned out to not be true. This information leads someone to believe that people do indeed eat ice cream as a comfort food because of the fat content and not the taste.
We probably underestimated the complexity of peopleÕs eating habits. We should have realized that temperature and day length, while being factors, are not the only or most important factors in determining what people do eat. One cannot determine the actions of girls based solely on the weather outside. We feel as though girls should eat more scorpions. But seriously, we feel as though it would have been more beneficial to do surveys to find out why the girls decided get ice cream instead of simply observing from a distance. What we gained in objectivity we probably lost with breadth of perspective.

References:

Eller, Daryn (1993) Cold Comfort. WomenÕs Sports & Fitness, 15, p25. Retrieved Oct. 26, 2003 from
http://web2.epnet.com/citatino.asp?tb=1&_ug=dbs+0+ln+en%2Dus+sid+2422F39C%2D5É

(2002) Swiss ice cream consumption down. Eurofood Retrieved Oct. 26, 2003 from
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m0DQA/2000_June_22/63581952

(1999) German ice cream hit. Eurofood Retrieved Oct. 26, 2003 from
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m0DQA/1999_June_17/55041035/p1/article.jhtml?term=seasonal+ice+cream+consumption

(Sept. 2002) Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) Ð Holistic-online Retrieved from
http://www.holistic-online.com/hol_sad.htm

S.A.D Symptoms, -- TLC in a bottle Retrieved from
http://www.tlcinabottle.co.uk/health.depression.html

(2001) Adapt food preparation to warmer weather. USA. Retrieved Oct. 26, 2003 from
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m1272/2672_129/74572223.p1.article.hjtml?term=%22winter+eating+hatits%22

Coleman, Melissa (1998) Seasonal sweet tooth? WomenÕs Sports & Fitness, 20, p21. Retrieved Oct. 26, 2003 from
http://web2.epnet.com/citatino.asp?tb=1&_ug=dbs+0+ln+en%2Dus+sid+2422F39C%D5É

Castro, John de (1994) Spring, summer best time to change eating habits. Total Health , 16, p15. Retrieved Oct. 26, 2003 from
http://web2.epnet.com/citatino.asp?tb=1&_ug=dbs+0+ln+en%2Dus+sid+2422F39C%D5É

(2001) Finding comfort in colder temperatures. USA Today, 130, 2-7. Retrieved Oct. 26, 2003 from
http://web1.epnet.com/citation.asp?tb=1&_ug=dbs+0+ln+en%2Dus+sid+A44AE0BA%2DÉ

Yu, Liang (2001, January)
Enthusiasm for ice cream warms winter market Ð Language Tips Retrieved from
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/star/2001/0111/bz10-2.html

(2001) Cronic Depression Ð Treating and Managing
Retrieved Oct. 26, 2003 from
http://www.goodfoodideas.freeservers.com/Chronic_Depression%20_Treating_and_ManaÉ

Seasonal Affective Disorder Ð Vitacost Retrieved Oct. 26, 2003 from
http://www.vitacost.com/science/hn/Concern/Seasonal_Affective_Disorder.htm

Direct References:

Ramsayer, Kate (2003) Sweet Relief. Science News, 164, p165, Retrieved Oct. 26, 2003 from
http://web2.epnet.com/citatino.asp?tb=1&_ug=dbs+0+ln+en%2Dus+sid+2422F39C%É

McCarthy, E., Tarrier, Nicholas., Gregg, L. (2002) The nature and timing of seasonal affective symptoms and the influence of self-esteem and social support: A longitudinal prospective study. Psychological Medicine 32, 1425-1434. Retrieved Oct. 26, 2003 from
http://olc3.ohiolink.edu/bin/gate.exe?f=doc&state=m72f8.13.16

Murray, Greg; Allen, Nicholas B.; Rawlings, David; Trinder, John (2002) Seasonality and personality: A prospective investigation of Five Factor Model correlates of mood seasonality. European Journal of Personality, 16, 457-468. Retrieved Oct. 26, 2003 from
http://olc3.ohiolink.edu/bin/gate.exe?f=doc&state=m72f8q.2.6

Goel, Namni; Terman, Michael; Terman, Jiuan Su (2003) Dimensions of temperament and bright light response in seasonal affective disorder. Psychiatry Research 119, p89-97. Retrieved Oct. 26, 2003 from
http://olc3.ohiolink.edu/bin/gate.exe?f=doc&state=m72f8q.4.6

Next Article
Previous Article
Return to the Topic Menu