According To A New Study, The Smell Of Food Could Make You Gain Weight!!

#1

As if it wasn't already hard enough trying to avoid piling on the pounds just by living, scientists go and land this one on us: apparently you can put weight on by smelling food. SMELLING FOOD. What are we supposed to do, then? Walk around with cotton wool shoved up our noses? Give us a break.

#2

A recent study published last week by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley proves this fact. Among all the weird facts that exist, this one surely tops the list. You may want to take a detour on your way home to avoid any bakeries or pizza places, as part of your weight loss regime.

#3

The Cutexplains that new research published in Cell Metabolism found “the body’s sense of smell seems tied to its decision to store fat instead of burn it off,” meaning there’s yet another factor at play when it comes to gaining and losing weight.

To prove this hypothesis, researchers tested three groups of mice – one group had a compromised sense of smell, one had an absent sense of smell, and one had a fully functioning sense of smell. All three groups were put on a “high-fat Burger King Diet” (don’t try this at home) and the only group to pile on the pounds was – yep – you guessed it, the “super-smellers”.

These mice just about doubled in size on the diet, while the mice with a compromised olfactory system put on just 10 per cent more of their body weight.

What’s more is that when these mice – with a fully functioning sense of smell – had this sense shut down, they started to drop weight. Crazy, right?

According to the paper, “the data presented here shows that even relatively short-term loss of smell improves metabolic health and weight loss, despite the negative consequences of being on a [high-fat diet].”

#4

What’s going on? According to the researchers, the smell of food may affect how our bodies respond to calories. People who can’t smell their food might burn the calories, while people who can smell their food might store them.

“Weight gain isn’t purely a measure of the calories taken in; it’s also related to how those calories are perceived,” senior author Andrew Dillin, professor of molecular and cell biology, said in a statement. “If we can validate this in humans, perhaps we can actually make a drug that doesn’t interfere with smell but still blocks that metabolic circuitry. That would be amazing.”

#5

The article concludes that, “People struggling with obesity could have their sense of smell wiped out or temporarily reduced to help them control cravings and burn calories and fat faster.” Although losing your sense of smell is not only discouraging but also makes it impossible to relish the overall experience of consuming food because, come on, if you can’t smell your food, it takes away the core essence of it.

It could further be noted that there are disadvantages and risks involved with disabling your sense of smell. An increase in hormone noradrenaline was observed in the mice in the study, when their noses were temporarily shut off which leads to an increased risk of getting a heart attack. Additionally, half the deliciousness of food is attributed to the way it smells. Riera reports to SFGate, “People that don’t have a sense of smell can get depressed, because the sense of smell is very important for behaviour. They lose all pleasure of eating.”

#6

Still, before you start crossing the street to avoid the ever-alluring aroma of cheesey pizzas and whopper burgers (please, do not do that) a couple of things to remember:

Our sense of smell is incredibly important – it’s linked with happiness, memories, and can warn us if what we’re about to eat has passed its used-by date. Plus, it’s responsible for part of the joy of eating, as the researchers stipulate.

Losing our sense of smell, according to the researchers, is linked with the increase of noradrenaline, which is linked with heart attacks.

This was a test on mice and hasn’t been tested on humans (though the researchers think the findings might correlate.)

You won’t gain weight from smelling something alone. (And, vice versa, you won’t lose weight from avoiding the smell of something, either. Sorry.)

#7

Humans who lose their sense of smell due to various factors like age, injury or diseases often tend to lose weight, the cause however has been unclear because loss of smelling sense may lead to depression, which itself can cause loss of appetite. The new study that was published in journal Cell Metabolism revealed that the loss of smell itself plays a role, suggesting possible interventions for those who have lost their smell and those having trouble shredding pounds.