A recent social media trend has inspired people to pop a piece of sour candy into their mouth for a quick fix to anxiety and panic attacks. But does the mouth-puckering taste actually do anything for your mental health?
The logic behind this trend is that a sour taste, if potent enough, can distract you from thoughts that cause anxiety — chances are, you’ll start to focus more on the intense sourness overrunning your taste buds. While sour candy isn’t necessarily a cure-all for anxiety, it may work as a temporary distraction from negative thoughts.
From the Mouth to the Brain
When you consume something sour, whether it’s a piece of candy or a citrus fruit, chemical substances from the food or drink come into contact with taste receptor cells in the mouth.
This interaction sends a message to the brain, specifically to a structure called the gustatory cortex, which processes taste. The gustatory cortex allows us to perceive the five basic tastes: salty, sour, bitter, sweet, and umami. It’s what makes us desire certain foods, like those high in natural sugars that fulfill important energy requirements, while also avoiding others that are unripe or spoiled, according to the University of Oregon.
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Grounding Yourself With Sour Candy
So what does this mean for your mental health? If you’re ever dwelling on thoughts that make you anxious, eating sour candy could work to your advantage as a grounding technique. This means that your brain will stay focused on the present, diverting your attention from distressing feelings.
According to Utah State University Extension Professor Eva Timothy, the best way to approach this sour candy strategy is to pay attention to lingering flavors on your tongue, and the taste and smell. Rather than trying to cram down the candy right away, it’s more effective to keep that sour flavor in your mouth for as long as you can to concentrate on the taste.
There are plenty of other grounding techniques that make use of the five senses. The University of New Hampshire points to the “5-4-3-2-1” game as a strong example. The idea is to name five things you can see in your surroundings, four things you can feel, three things you can hear, two things you can smell, and one thing you can taste. By keeping yourself preoccupied with these tasks, anxiety-inducing thoughts may start to subside.
Sour Tastes For Taking Risks
Certain sour foods can also impact your brain in other ways. Sour foods were found to promote risk-taking in a 2018 Scientific Reports study, for instance.
In this study, researchers had participants ingest one of the five basic tastes before performing a Balloon Analogue Risk Test (BART), in which they would try to inflate a virtual balloon as much as they could, achieving a higher reward as the balloon got larger. However, if the balloon were pumped too much, it would potentially explode, getting rid of the reward.
Participants who ingested sour foods ended up clicking more than others to inflate the balloon, showing that they were more likely to take on a greater risk of popping the balloon to maximize their potential reward.
Based on these results, the researchers learned that there might be implications for risk-averse people (like people with anxiety or depression) to add sour foods to their diet. They noted that the risks taken don’t have to be as extreme as jumping out of a plane, for example. Rather, hypothetically, sour taste could encourage simple, everyday self-improvement behaviors like deciding to talk to a stranger or leave the house.
This article is not offering medical advice and should be used for informational purposes only.
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