Fans of losing teams like to say that their favorite team is killing them. They may be right.

A study in the academic journal Psychological Science found that fans of losing teams consume more calories the day after games than fans of teams that win.

Yes, losing can make fatter fans.

Professor Pierre Chandon of the INSEAD business school, who conducted the study with the doctoral student Yann Cornil, looked at food consumption in NFL cities the day after games. He found that the day after a loss, fans tend to gorge themselves.

As Chandon put it:

“One day after a defeat, Americans eat 16 percent more saturated fat, and 10 percent more calories. But on the day after a victory of their favorite team, then it’s the opposite. They eat more healthily. They eat 9 percent less saturated fat, and 5 percent fewer calories. There was no effect in cities without a team or with a team that didn’t play.”

This holds true not only for NFL teams, as the duo found similar results when looking at French soccer teams and their fans.

Of course the study, which is titled “From Fan to Fat? Vicarious Losing Increases Unhealthy Eating, but Self-Affirmation Is an Effective Remedy,” doesn’t mean that those same fans who pig out after losses can’t rebound and eat healthier the following day.

But over the course of many seasons of failure, these days of eating poorly can add up. I guess what I’m trying to say is that maybe Raiders fans want to check in with a cardiologist.

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(Thanks to Chicago Tribune for sharing.)