When you walk near restaurants with open areas in the summer, feeling the delicious smell barbecue or hamburgers, then you don’t even realize that you can… gain weight.
An experiment conducted by scientists at the University of California at Berkeley showed that the sense of smell seriously affects the brain's «decision» to store fat in the body or burn it.
True, so far the experiment was carried out only on mice, but researchers say that its results are quite applicable to people.
So, scientists Andrew Dillin and Selina Rierastudied groups of mice: normal mice and those whose sense of smell was temporarily blocked — and eventually saw a direct connection between the presence of a sense of smell and how quickly the mice gained weight.
All mice ate the same, but those that smelled fatty foods, gainedthe greatest weight. In contrast, initially obese mice whose sense of smell was blocked lost weight, although they were not on a diet.
“The study shows that external influences, such as smell, can influence brain functions related to metabolism,” says Selina Riera. “Perhaps in the future, people who struggle with obesity could temporarily block their sense of smell to burn calories faster.”
But, of course, there arerisks. Firstly, people without a sense of smell quickly become depressed because they lose the pleasure of eating. Secondly, mice without a sense of smell showed a significant increase in the hormone norepinephrine, a stress response from the nervous system that can lead to a heart attack.
“The elimination of the sense of smell in humans is, «It's certainly a radical step, but it could be an alternative for those who are struggling with obesity and are considering gastric banding or reduction,» adds Dillin.
But, according to the scientist, to use this method, It is important to know exactly how many olfactory neurons need to be destroyed and how often, because once the sense of smell returns, the weight may also return. Research in this area will continue.
