Buzz
It would indeed be a bizarre world if merely sniffing food could make you gain weight. However, recent obesity research suggests that this might happen—but only for a specific type of mouse, not humans.
The headline: UC Berkeley Study Claims Smelling Food Can Lead to Weight Gain (SFGate)
The story: This research dives deep into the science of metabolism and how various signals in the body (specifically a mouse's body) may trigger fat storage.
The exact signals are still unclear. UC Berkeley researchers speculated that both the smell and taste of food could play a role. We know our sense of smell is heightened when we're hungry and diminished when we're full. They hypothesized that this might be a reciprocal relationship.
They conducted a series of experiments with mice having varying abilities to smell: some had a strong sense, others a weak one, and some had their sense of smell temporarily blocked. The results showed that the better a mouse's sense of smell, the more weight it gained and kept, even without overeating. Specifically:
Blocking the sense of smell in obese mice led to weight loss.
Mice with a normal sense of smell gained weight faster than those with no smell, even when consuming the same amount of high-fat food.
Mice with an enhanced sense of smell gained weight even quicker than those with a normal sense of smell.
Clearly, there are some important factors to consider. Mice are not humans, which is a major distinction. Many treatments for obesity in mice have not been effective for humans.
Many treatments for obesity in mice have not been effective for humans.
Additionally, the mice with either an extremely good or non-existent sense of smell were mutants with more complex traits than just a loss of smell. It’s possible they had a predisposition to obesity—or not—for reasons unrelated to their sense of smell. The researchers also noted that there exists a particular mouse strain, not used in this experiment, that has a poor sense of smell and tends to be lean.
The takeaway: This study is fascinating if you're into the nitty-gritty of metabolism, but that’s about the extent of it. The researchers are hopeful that one day they’ll find a way to block the signals triggered by smells, without affecting a person’s ability to smell. We’ll keep you updated if that ever becomes a reality.
