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New research has found that the human sense of smell is heightened when we are hungry. The study was conducted at the University of Sussex and published in the journal Nature Neuroscience. The findings suggest that when our bodies need food, our sense of smell becomes more sensitive as a way to help us locate and identify sources of food.
The study involved a group of participants who were asked to rate the intensity of a range of smells while they were both hungry and full. The results showed that the participants rated smells as more intense when they were hungry compared to when they were full. This change in perception of smell intensity was found to be correlated with the levels of specific peptides that are known to regulate hunger in the body.
The lead author of the study, Dr. Carla Recker, explained that their research provides evidence that the sense of smell is heightened when we are hungry, which could have implications for understanding how our bodies regulate food intake. “Our findings suggest that the physiological state of hunger has a direct influence on the sensitivity of the olfactory system,” Dr. Recker said.
The study also found that the increased sensitivity to smells when hungry is not just a matter of perceiving smells as stronger, but also being able to discriminate between similar smells more effectively. This means that when we are hungry, we may be better at distinguishing between different types of food based on their smell alone.
Dr. Recker and her team believe that this heightened sense of smell when hungry could be a survival mechanism that has evolved over time to help humans find food more efficiently. By making us more sensitive to food-related smells when we are hungry, our bodies could be enhancing our ability to locate and identify potential sources of food in our environment.
These findings shed light on the complex interplay between our senses, hunger levels, and food intake regulation. Understanding how our sense of smell is influenced by our hunger can provide valuable insights into the mechanisms that drive our eating behavior and may have implications for strategies to manage appetite and food cravings. Further research in this area could lead to new ways of supporting healthy eating habits and addressing issues related to appetite control and food intake.