The day after a defeat for their local side, fans consume more fatty foods such as pizza, cake and cookies, and more calories overall, than on a normal day, researchers found.
In contrast, people in cities whose team win tend to eat more healthily, while the diets of those whose local team have not played a match remained unchanged.
The effects are particularly pronounced in cities with the most passionate supporters, after games between teams of a similar standard, and after an agonisingly close defeat or a convincing victory, the study showed.
Fans feel a threat to their identity after a defeat for their team and use comfort eating as a coping mechanism, while victories boost their self-control, the research on American Football supporters suggests.
Further experiments on French football fans backed up the findings, but found that the effects on eating habits could be cancelled out if fans consciously put the victory or defeat into context by thinking about other things which were important to them before eating...
