Smell Perception Sharper in Obese People

Smell Perception Sharper in Obese People – A new study done by UK researchers found that obese people are more sensitive to food smells, and that could play a role in their higher intake of food.

Lead author Lorenzo Stafford, a senior lecturer at the Center for Comparative and Evolutionary Psychology at the University of Portsmouth in England, and his team studied the role of olfaction, or sense of smell in eating behavior. They selected 40 university students for the study and divided them into two groups based on their weight.

The participants were asked to smell an artificial dark chocolate flavor and rate how intense it was and how pleasant. Then they were presented with diluted versions of the flavor to determine the lowest concentration they could detect.

Researchers found that the obese people were able to detect the flavor better than the non-obese group, and also rated it as more pleasant. According to Stafford, sensory cues of sight and smell can increase cravings for addictive substances and foods, such as high-calorie foods. They theorize that it’s possible that the smell of certain foods triggers cravings and makes people consume more, leading to weight-gain.

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