People who are overweight may be able to shed pounds by seasoning their food with special flavour enhancers that make them feel fuller faster, say researchers from the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago.
In this new report, 2,436 overweight or obese adults volunteered to use calorie-free flavour crystals on the food they ate. The flavours included salty tastes like cheese, onion and ranch dressing and sweet tastes like cocoa, spearmint, and banana.
After six months of using the flavour crystals, the study participants lost an average of 30 pounds while those who used crystals that were not flavoured lost an average of only two pounds.
The researchers say the flavour crystals enhanced both the taste and the smell of food, leading people to feel as though they've had enough to eat.
The smell of food appears to play a role in how much people eat. "When you cook spaghetti all day long, at the end of the day, you don't feel like eating spaghetti, because you've smelled it all day long", said the study author.
This is the first study to use flavour crystals as a weight loss aid by enhancing the taste and smell of food. The long-term effects of this type of weight loss aid have not been determined.
Weight loss can be achieved without over-stimulating your senses by substituting high-fat foods with lower fat choices - vegetables, fruits, whole grains and lean meats - in your everyday meals.
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