Acute memory of food aromas make fat people eat more, says study.
AB Wire
NEW YORK: An Indian American researcher at Yale University, Dr. Barkha Patel, has discovered in a new study that fat people have more developed olfactory senses, they can smell food better than others, and their memory of smell of food is much more acute than others.
The study also pinpoints the reasons why fat people have a tough time shedding unwanted pounds, as fat people with their acute memory of food and its aromas make them crave for food more, and consume it to satiate their hunger pangs.
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Although overeating and little to no exercise are mostly to blame for the obesity epidemic, many experts believe that other factors are also at play. These could include the sense of smell, reported World Food News.
Patel’s study found that when it comes to everyday scents, those who are overweight have less sensitive noses than their leaner friends. Her study suggest that our ability to smell what we eat may affect how much we consume. They say their findings may go towards explaining why some people struggle to stay slim.
They also found that overweight people with a high body-mass index (BMI) are better at detecting food odors than people with a low BMI and high-BMI types are still open to temptation by pleasant aromas. As smell is key to sense of taste, it actually make it difficult for them to stop eating, even when they are full.
“These findings highlight the need for a more individualistic approach in identifying factors that may increase risk for weight gain,” Patel, who is a post-doctoral fellow in psychiatry, said.
Putting the matter into perspective, Yahoo reported that the ability to imagine odors varies greatly among people, ranging from people who can easily imagine the delicate, sweet aroma of a rose bouquet to those who struggle to recall the scent of a tuna casserole.
To investigate, the researchers gave 25 people three questionnaires asking them to rate their mental-imagery abilities, including the vividness of their visual imagery, olfactory imagery and food imagery. In each question, participants were asked to first vividly imagine certain scenarios, and then rate the vividness of the image on a scale of 1 to 5, Patel said.
For instance, people might be asked to rate their ability to imagine “the fragrance of the soap or shampoo you use to wash,” she said, according to Yahoo.
As predicted, the people in the study who had higher body mass indexes (BMIs) reported more vivid mental depictions of odors and foods than people with lower BMIs, the researchers found. In fact, olfactory imagery was the best predictor of BMI out of all the measures, the researchers considered, including visual imagery and food imagery, they found.
To check the findings, the researchers repeated the experiment with 57 new participants, and got the same results. The results suggest that olfactory imagery may be linked to food cravings, the researchers said.
“Being better able to imagine odors could intensify the craving experience, which in turn would encourage food consumption,” Patel said. “However, if the ability to imagine odors was disrupted by something like a walk, for example, perhaps cravings would diminish, and we wouldn’t feel the need to eat.”
The finding may help researchers develop weight-loss programs better tailored for individuals, she said. However, in future studies, scientists should assess people’s imagery ability directly, instead of relying on self-reported measures, Patel said.
Patel will present the research on July 10 at the annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior, a society that researches the science of eating and drinking behaviors.