Science proves: only smelling is fat

Research has shown that, without eating, the smell of food puts you at risk of "obesity".

You often complain that why you eat so little and still can't lose weight, even if you feel "sniffing" or "inhaling food" is fat .

These ideas are just funny sayings, but recent research by scientists at the University of California (USA) has proved that just sniffing your food is enough to make you fat .

As long as you sniff the food, it's enough to make you fat.

This is the result of cell and molecular biology professor - Andrew Dillin and colleagues. Accordingly, experts explain that smell helps people choose and evaluate food; The smell will increase before meals and tend to decrease later.

However, the physiological role of the sense of smell is sometimes not fully understood. Therefore, the team experimented on the mouse model of olfactory defects, considering the balance between food consumption and their energy consumption.

Previously, many people believed that rancid mice did not gain weight because they did not eat much. But the truth is that rats have lost their sense of smell and mice often eat as much as they do.

The smell will increase before meals and tend to decrease later.

Specifically, in two mice that consumed the same high-fat diet, then one individual would be affected to lose the sense of smell.

The weight of the mouse from here also changes, decreasing by about 1/3 - reaching 25 - 33gr. In contrast, healthy olfactory rats retain their normal weight - 60gr. This shows that, without smelling food will not gain weight, while people who smell a lot of food smell will be more obese.

In addition, the team used a virus that could kill olfactory neurons in a second group of mouse models - and unexpectedly, the results were similar to the first test.

Dillin said: "For this group of mice, we have removed their sense of smell for about 6 months and then let neurons grow again, and monitor their metabolism." .

Experts recognize that increased energy consumption and increased fat burning ability are a consequence of sympathetic neuronal activity.

This system helps the body control the "fight or run" response with cases that are considered dangerous or react to extreme temperatures.

People who smell a lot of food smell are more likely to be obese.

At this time, the body releases adrenaline and activates "brown fat burning program". According to experts, the loss of smell has increased the activity of the sympathetic nervous system, so it is invisible to burn brown fat faster, turning white fat into brown fat.

On the negative side, the loss of olfactory ability is accompanied by an increase in the amount of adrenaline hormone - the hormone that expresses tension associated with the sympathetic nervous system. In humans, the sustained increase in this hormone can lead to heart attacks.

New research is published in the journal Cell Metabolism.