Study Reveals That Fat People Have a Higher Ability to Smell Food
A study by Yale University showed a heightened ability to imagine odors
was linked to food cravings and in turn to higher body weight.
By Onnaedo Okafo:
Scientists have found that the
sense of smell is stronger and more vivid than fat people, something
that could be responsible for their weight gain.
A study by Yale University showed a heightened ability to imagine odors was linked to food cravings and in turn to higher body weight.
The
ability to vividly imagine the smell of popcorn, freshly baked biscuits
and even non-food odors was found to be greater in obese adults.
According
to the research group, most people can imagine the view of a favorite
location or sing a song to themselves, but struggle to imagine smells
associated with our favorite foods.
The researchers based their study on Kavanagh's Elaborated Intrusion Theory of Desire,
which proposes that creating vivid mental images stimulates and
maintains food cravings triggered by the thought, smell and sight of
food.
In the study, participants completed a
series of questionnaires that asked them to imagine both visual and
odour cues and then to subsequently rate the vividness of the cues.
It
was found that people with a higher body mass index (BMI) reported
greater ability to vividly imagine food and non-food odours.
According to study lead author Dr Barkha Patel, "these
findings highlight the need for a more individualistic approach in
identifying factors that may increase risk for weight gain."
Also, senior author Dr Dana Small, a Professor of Psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine in the US, called for "future work to assess imagery ability directly rather than relying upon self-report measures."
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