That there is a connection between food and mood is a well-established fact by now. The Mood & Mind trend has evolved rapidly and – thanks to the advance of scientific research – it is increasingly clear how regular foods of all kinds, and specific nutrients, can play a role in better mood, stress levels, sleep and more.

But what science tells us is good for our mood and what consumers consider to be mood-boosting foods are not always the same. And some foods can be great for our mood but less good for our health.

In a partnership between publication The New Consumer and investment firm Coefficient Capital, a survey was done to find out how big is the overlap was between healthy foods and ‘happy’ foods in the minds of consumers. The survey, by market research firm Toluna, asked over 1,000 US consumers to rate 96 food and drink items according to two criteria: How healthy they consider them, and how happy it makes them feel to consume them. Food items included ranged from caviar and kale to pickles and protein bars, while beverages included soda, wine and smoothies.

The results were plotted on a chart with two axes – one ranging from “very healthy” to “very unhealthy” and the other ranging from “very happy” to “very unhappy”. This created a matrix that the researchers call the Consumer Trends Food Feelings Matrix. This led to an interesting graph. Here are some of the findings:

1. Most of the food and drink products included in the survey makes consumers at least a little bit happy to consume. Only five options ended up on the “unhappy” side of the divide: diet soda, plant-based meat substitutebburger, non-alcoholic beer, non-alcoholic canned cocktail and caviar.  

2. The foods that scored the highest on the happiness scale are traditional feel-good foods: chocolate, steak, pizza and ice cream. Grapes and scrambled eggs also scored highly for happiness.

3. Grapes is the overall winner on both parameters, with the highest total score for both happiness and healthfulness. This is followed by blueberries and broccoli.

4. Looking at what foods and drinks consumers consider to be the least healthy, the top five were soda, pastries, diet soda, potato chips and the oddly specific vodka & Red Bull.

5. Meat scored higher among men on both healthfulness and happiness – male participants tended to rate both steak and beef jerky as healthier and better for their mood than women did. Both genders did rate steak as somewhat healthy, while beef jerky was rated healthy by men and unhealthy by women.

6. For women, the equivalent here was cottage cheese and salad – women were more likely than men to rate these foods as healthy and ‘happy’.

Read more about the survey and see the full data visualisation here: https://newconsumer.com/2025/05/consumer-trends-food-feelings-healthy-happy/