Smelling food can cause weight gain, claims a study

For those trying hard to lose weight, they know how they sometimes curb their cravings by taking a whiff of their favourite food.

We know that our favourite food will sabotage our weight loss goals and so we try to inhale its intoxicating flavour to satisfy our cravings.

It does not feel wrong in any way. After all, what can happen by smelling a dish lying in front of you, right? ‘

Turns out, even this presumably harmless act can tend to sabotage your weight loss goal. Surprised!

The link

As per a study carried out by the researchers of UC Berkeley, merely sniffing food before eating may lead to weight gain. The study published in the Journal Cell Metabolism suggests that our body’s sense of smell may be linked with the body’s fat-storing or burning process.

The researchers concluded this after carrying out a lab test on a group of mice. They divided the mice in the lab into three separate groups- a control group, a group with mice with a temporarily disabled sense of smell and a group with super smelling ability. All of them were fed a high-fat diet for a fixed period of time. In the end, it was observed that mice that could not smell the food hardly gained any weight as compared to the ones with the superior sense of smell — even though they were fed the exact same diet. Not only this, to get a clearer picture,when the sense of smell of the group of mice that gained the most weight was disabled it was found that they lost all the weight, even after eating the fattening foods.

How smell plays with your mind

Craving for some particular food is linked with emotional hunger. The smell of delicious food can increase our craving and lure you into eating the food even when you never planned to have it at first. This often deviates people from their goal and they end up indulging in unhealthy treats or overeating.

The limitation

The sense of smell from the very beginning has been linked with food cravings. But this is the first time it has been considered bad for weight loss. This study might have established the link between the smell of your favourite food and weight gain, but we must not forget that it was carried out on mice and when it comes to humans it might have some limitations. So, we cannot rely on it completely. More research is needed in this area to confirm the result. Till that time all we could say is be careful of what you eat and stay away from unhealthy foods.