Those Whose Smell Is Sharper Gain Weight Faster

Something is obese in your smell. New research has found that fat people tend to visualise brighter images encouraged by odors. If you experience sensory fantasies, then you are bound to drool more for food, say researchers at Yale School of Medicine, according to latimes.

At the annual meeting of the Society for Ingestive Behavior, Yale researchers explained why people tend to eat more even when they are not hungry.

Those who are obese possess a keener sense of smell for their favourite foods. Recent research showed that a specific pattern of activation in the brain after the first sip or bite can help us understand who will gain weight and who will not.

Researchers at Yale's John B. Pierce Laboratory gave a number of surveys to people to imagine both visual and odor cues and rate their clarity. Those who had a higher body mass index could imagine smells related to food as well as non-food items.

While fat persons tend to have more food cravings than others, it is clear that creating bright mental images can stimulate and maintain food craving stoked by the thought, smell and sight of food.

The study's lead author and Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr. Barkha Patel, pointed out that scientists need to narrow down which factors tend to make people more prone to overeating. "These findings highlight the need for a more individualistic approach in identifying factors that may increase risk for weight gain," she said, according to sciencedaily.

They also call for "future work to assess imagery ability directly rather than relying upon self-report measures," said Dr. Dana Small, senior author and a Professor of Psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine and Deputy Director at the John B. Pierce Laboratory.