French men need sex and women need chocolate, study finds

Hands off: nurses and healthcare workers are more likely to delve into boxes of chocolates this winter (Getty Images )

The surest route to happiness is sex for French men, a poll has found, whereas women were more likely to feel content after eating chocolate.

While the French rate sex and food equally as catalysts of well-being, giving both a score of 7.1 on a scale of 0 to 10, men rate sex at 7.5 while women gave it a less convincing 6.7.

Chocolate, cheese and foie gras, top the league table of happiness-procuring victuals, the Harris Interactive poll found.

Women proved more likely to cite chocolate or strawberries and men more often plumped for meatier options like foie gras and steak.

Asked to choose between cutting back on sex or cutting back on food, female poll respondents were more willing to do without the former than men, according to Harris Interactive, which surveyed 1,000 adults on March 18-20.

"One last thing we should highlight is that for 72 percent of French people it's worse to have a partner who's bad in bed than bad in the kitchen," the polling agency said.