TY - JOUR AB - Purpose In spite of the importance of food intake in weight management and preventing chronic diseases, it remains difficult to predict how anxious people change their eating behaviour in exposure to bad or good moods. The purpose of the study was to investigate the interaction effect of anxiety and different moods on food intake and blood pressure in healthy women students.Design/methodology/approach A total of 82 women university students (18-30 years) participated in the study. Subjects completed a valid anxiety questionnaire at baseline to measure trait and state anxiety scores, then they were randomly divided into two groups to watch comedy and drama movies for mood induction. After watching, some snacks were presented, and then energy intake and blood pressure were measured.Findings Students who suffered from severe state anxiety, consumed more energy from food when they watched a dramatic movie (p = 0.014). Subjects who suffered from moderate level of state anxiety and watched a dramatic movie experienced more systolic and diastolic blood pressure compared with subjects who suffered from moderate state anxiety but watched the comedy (p = 0.043 and p = 0.041, for systolic and diastolic blood pressure respectively). More diastolic blood pressure was shown among students who watched the drama movie and suffered from a severe level of trait anxiety (p = 0.049).Research limitations/implications Electrocardiography and stroke volume measurement were not used.Originality/value Our findings showed blood pressure elevation in anxious people when they experienced bad feeling such as sadness, and they also consumed more energy from food. Both of these factors are related to the occurrence of chronic disorders such as cardiovascular diseases. VL - 50 IS - 2 SN - 0034-6659 DO - 10.1108/NFS-04-2019-0128 UR - https://doi.org/10.1108/NFS-04-2019-0128 AU - Jampour Leila AU - Hashemi Hadise AU - Behrouzian Forouzan AU - Jafarirad Sima PY - 2019 Y1 - 2019/01/01 TI - The interaction effect of anxiety and mood on energy intake and blood pressure in healthy women university students T2 - Nutrition & Food Science PB - Emerald Publishing Limited SP - 269 EP - 279 Y2 - 2024/05/11 ER -