Feeling Moody? New App Tells You What Food You Need

Have you ever wished that someone could just look at you and know exactly what food would improve your mood? We’ve all had those days when a tub of ice cream or a bar of chocolate would really go a long way to cheering us up, but all too often, people miss the signs you’re giving them.

This could all change, though, as a new app has been developed that could ensure the food that suits your mood isn’t far away, reports the Sunday Telegraph. Scientists at Oxford University have come up with an app that monitors your facial expressions to tell how you’re feeling and suggest what food could help you feel better.

The team at Oxford joined forces with Just Eat, the food delivery service, to launch the new app that could help make sure you get the right comfort food. The app is set to be trialled this weekend (Saturday, December 3rd) ahead of it being rolled out toward the end of the year.

It works by scanning your face and looking for tell-tale signs of certain moods, such as frown lines and downturned lips. These physical expressions can often display feelings that someone might be ignoring as they get on with the day, so the app picks up on them and aims to make an individual feel better with personalised food selection.

Professor Charles Spence, an experimental scientist who has been working on the project, said: “Face mapping can provide a more accurate and objective assessment of a person’s mood or emotional state than they can,” said Prof Spence.

“Often people are not able to say how they are feeling or just don’t feel they want to. After all, we might know that we are in a bad mood, but not know why.

“There is a growing body of evidence that demonstrates that your mood has a significant impact on your taste and smell – it can deaden or liven the effect of both – a reverse of this is also believed to be true, that food can have a number of effects on your mood.”

Not only can the app tell if you’re sad or upset, it can also detect other feelings like happiness, fear, anger, surprise and disgust. Once it has worked out how you’re feeling, it suggests a few different food choices that could help balance your mood.

The food selections are based on what your body needs when you’re feeling certain things – which means chocolate isn’t the go-to selection. The sample menu could also help you work out what your body needs when you’re feeling a certain way, so you can start to pick up on your own moods more.

While the app doesn’t make your chosen snack appear in front of you, you can always screenshot it to prove to your other half that they definitely need to buy you that packet of biscuits.