If you're one of those people who feels like you're gaining weight just walking into a restaurant or bakery, you might be right. And it is not the fact of looking at a burger or a croissant that would be in question, but the delicious smell of these two foods. In any case, this is the conclusion reached by scientists from the University of Berkeley in California. And to think that we knew it unconsciously all this time!
To test this hypothesis, they observed two groups of obese mice, only one of which had no sense of smell (a genetic manipulation). By giving them the same amount of food, they noted that those who could not smell lost weight, while those who smelled did not. Worse:the mice with the sense of smell had gained weight, especially those with the best olfactory abilities. The explanation? "This study is one of the first to show that if we genetically manipulate the sense of smell, we can modify the way the brain perceives the balance of energy and how it regulates it," explained Céline Riera, of the Cedar Medical Center. - Los Angeles Sinai. Thus, weight gain would not only be a question of calories ingested, but also a story of how these calories are perceived by the body.
If this fact is scientifically validated for humans, then research should be directed towards a new way to treat eating and weight-related disorders. To be continued!
