聞高脂肪食物氣味 或能抑制你的食慾大綱

Looking for a way to satisfy those high-calorie meal cravings? A new study finds sniffing a burger or a pizza for two minutes can stop cravings for junk food.

你是否在尋找一種能夠滿足自己對高熱量餐食渴求的方法？一項新研究發現，對漢堡或披薩聞上兩分鐘即可消除人們對垃圾食品的渴求。

The study says the scent of food itself can directly satisfy your cravings because the brain doesn't realize the difference in the source of sensory pleasure.

研究指出，食物本身的氣味能夠直接滿足人的需求，因爲大腦無法區分感官愉悅的來源。

"Ambient scent can be a powerful tool to resist cravings for indulgent foods," said Dipayan Biswas, a marketing professor at the University of South Florida College of Business.

南佛羅里達大學商學院營銷學教授迪帕揚·比斯瓦斯表示：“周遭氣味可成爲抵禦人們渴望縱情大吃的強有力的工具。”

"In fact, subtle sensory stimuli like scents can be more effective in influencing children's and adult's food choices."

“事實上，氣味等輕微感官刺激在影響兒童和成年人食物選擇方面會更加有效。”

Imagine how this could work in a school canteen or a supermarket: kids or customers could be nudged towards the fresh fruit section after two minutes of taking in the sweet aroma of baked cookies.

想象一下學校食堂或者超市會出現怎樣的效果：學生們或者顧客們在享受兩分鐘烘烤餅乾的香甜氣味之後，就會到新鮮水果區選擇食物。

That's just one example but you can see the possibilities. As Biswas says, it might be a better bet than trying to be too regimental at meal times.

這僅僅是一個例子，但你在現實生活中會看到該情況發生的可能性。就像比斯瓦斯所說的那樣，這可能是比吃飯時間進行“嚴格管制”更好的一種方法。

Using a scent nebulisers at a school canteen and a supermarket -- discreetly disseminating smells like apples, strawberries, pizzas and cookies -- researchers found smells of the more unhealthy foods (pizzas and cookies) made it more likely participants would pick a healthy food.

通過在學校食堂和超市使用氣味噴霧器--小心翼翼地散發出蘋果、草莓、披薩和餅乾的味道--研究人員發現散發出更不健康食物（披薩和餅乾）的氣味會讓參與者更有可能選擇健康食品。

At the school canteen in the US, for example, where around 900 kids arrived for lunch, the number of unhealthy items picked fell to 21.43 percent with a pizza smell. That's compared with 36.96 percent for an apple smell and 36.54 percent for no smell at all.

例如，在美國的學校食堂，大約有900名學生前來吃午餐，選擇披薩氣味不健康食物的學生比例下降21.43%。相比之下，選擇蘋果氣味食物的學生佔36.96%，根本聞不到蘋果氣味的學生佔36.54%。

Follow up lab tests matched the original findings, while also showing that a quick sniff of a scent had the opposite effect: those who only smelled cookies briefly were about twice as likely to pick an unhealthy food option as those who experienced the smell for more than two minutes.

接下來的實驗室測試與最初發現相符合，同時也表明快速嗅聞食物氣味會起到反作用：那些短暫嗅聞餅乾氣味的測試者，選擇不健康食物的概率是聞餅乾氣味超過兩分鐘的測試者的兩倍。

Using a series of surveys, the study showed that the study participants who were better at recognising the smells were also more likely to be affected by them. It's almost as if a quick smell of something tasty and indulgent primes the brain to taste it, whereas a longer smell is as good as eating it.

通過一系列調查，科學家研究發現，在識別氣味方面做得更好的參與者更有可能受到氣味的影響。這就像是一種快速聞到某種美味食物，放縱大腦卻體驗它，然而聞了較長時間之後，就效果就如同吃過該食物一樣。

Ultimately, the brain may not be differentiating the source of the sensory pleasure, according to the researchers. For now that's just a hypothesis about what's going on in the brain, but it tallies with previous research that our different senses can influence each other and that the senses of taste and smell are closely linked.

最終，依據研究人員的說法，大腦可能不會區分感官愉悅的來源。目前，這僅是一個關於大腦活動的假設，但它與之前研究相一致，即我們不同的感官可以相互影響，味覺和嗅覺是緊密相連的。

"We propose that this occurs because scents related to an indulgent food satisfy the reward circuitry in the brain, which in turn reduces the urge for actual consumption of indulgent foods," write the researchers.

研究人員寫道：“我們認爲之所以會出現這種情況，是因爲與放縱食物相關的氣味滿足了大腦中的獎賞機制，而獎賞機制反過來又減少了人們實際食用放任食物的衝動。”

One way the study authors suggest their work could be used is in getting kids to make better choices at meal times at school -- a few minutes of pizza or cookie smells in the queue could have a more positive effects than a long line of posters telling them about the benefits of healthy eating, perhaps.

研究作者認爲，通過這項研究可探索一種方法，讓孩子們在學校用餐時間選擇健康食物，例如：讓他們聞幾分鐘披薩或者餅乾的氣味，也許這比觀看多幅健康飲食海報的效果更好。

And this is an area of science that companies are already exploring – which is why you might notice the smell of something sweet on your next flight.

這正是一些公司正在探索的科學領域，這也是爲什麼你在下一次飛行旅程中注意美味甜食氣味的原因。

"In essence, if reward structures and areas representing craving in the brain can be satisfied with olfactory inputs instead of actual gustatory consumption of unhealthy foods, this can help with fighting food urges," concludes the team.

研究小組總結稱：“從本質上講，如果大腦中代表渴望的獎賞機制和相應區域能夠被嗅聞氣味所滿足，而不是被吞食不健康食物的實際味覺所滿足，那麼這將有助於人們抵抗對食物的渴望。”