Posted on 10/22/2017 6:44:57 PM PDT by JoeProBono
If you’ve ever said, all I have to do is smell food and I gain weight — a new study says you may be right. The delicious aroma of baked goods or the alluring smells of pizza can not only make you feel hungry, but enjoying the scent of high-calorie, high-carb foods may also expand your waistline.
A new study out of the University of California, Berkeley, and published in Cell Metabolism found that one's sense of smell is linked to weight gain. But how can that be? The study says it is possibly related to the way your body stores or burns fat.
Senior study author Andrew Dillin, professor of molecular and cell biology at UC, Berkeley, says, “Sensory systems play a role in metabolism.”
Indeed, the study links metabolism with sense of smell and appetite. The food you can’t smell gets burned off instead of stored, while food that stimulates your senses will likely get stored as fat and become added weight. “Weight gain isn’t purely a measure of the calories taken in; it’s also related to how those calories are perceived,” adds Dillin.
Researchers used mice separated into three groups — a group that had a boosted sense of smell, a group that had their sense of smell temporarily disabled, and a control group. Each of them ate the same high calorie food — a Burger King diet.
The results showed the mice with a super sense of smell gained the most weight — nearly doubling in size. The mice with a disabled sense of smell gained 10 percent of their body weight and the control group gained less than the super-smellers and more than those that couldn’t smell.
Even though it is surprising that sense of smell appears to be so closely related to how the body metabolizes food, the results of this study could be very beneficial for future weight control research.
“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,” says Dillin. “For that small group of people, you could wipe out their smell for maybe six months and then let the olfactory neurons grow back after they’ve got their metabolic program rewired.”
That is, and has been, my excuse for a few decades now.
Not My Fault (trademark pending).
I’ve been saying, quite seriously, for years now that if I simply smell food, I gain five pounds minimum.
Whatever it is that makes people fat, it’s definitely not eating too much. At least we know that.
Dumb article. Everybody knows that weight increase is caused by Global Warming.
Jimmy John’s could be sued by people struggling with their weight. Jimmy John’s offers “free smells.” Looks like they have been causing obesity.
Carbs are what do most people in.
They raise insulin levels and when insulin levels are high, when you eat more carbs and protein than your body needs to maintain itself, it stores the extra as fat.
Note to self: to lose weight, eat bland, uncooked food!
The smells I produce after I eat at Jimmy Johns...that should cause concern.
I can gain weight looking at pictures on the menu!
But did they all eat the whole thing and consume the same calorie count?
The smells in the can make you fat?
A new study out of the University of California, Berkeley, and published in Cell Metabolism found that one’s sense of smell is linked to weight gain. But how can that be? The study says it is possibly related to the way your body stores or burns fat.
Sounds straightforward to me.
But much science is measuring and confirming what seems common sense and obvious.
But did they all eat the whole thing and consume the same calorie count?
Those that were more tuned in to the smell likely ate more calories.
Some smells can not only make you fat, but can also give you a case of the hibigeebies and in extreme cases can cause rapid weight loss.
My son was just hired to empty out a house that was abandoned 4 years ago. Included fridge and freezer full of good but no electricity for a long time. He should drop a few pounds after this weekend. Weight loss began when he had to run outside to puke when he opened the fridge.
Styrofoam pellets used for packing are best to curb appetite, very filling.
So you think these stupid scientists didn’t control how much food each group of rats ate?
I think maybe you are letting what you want to believe control the data you allow into your brain. Some people don’t want to be bothered with facts that challenge their beliefs.
I’m weird: I disagree. Sometimes just the smell of delicious foods is deeply satisfying, especially when I know eating it will make me feel sick or bad in some way. I LOVE delicious smelling food and walking through a bakery doesn’t make me fat at all! My house smells like homemade apple pie right now and I won’t be eating one slice!
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