WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A new study published in Frontiers in Physiology found that smelling dark chocolate with a high cocoa content may help reduce hunger and make people feel fuller before exercise.
'We know olfaction is powerfully wired into the brain's appetite and emotion networks, but surprisingly, no study has systematically looked at the three-way interaction between smell, appetite and actual resistance exercise capacity,' said senior author Dr. Mohamed Nashrudin bin Naharudin.
The study included 23 healthy men in their early to mid-20s who exercised regularly. They were divided into three groups and asked to smell one of three samples: melted 90% dark chocolate, melted 60% milk chocolate, or water as a control. Notably, the participants had not eaten for at least 10 hours before the test.
Before exercising, participants rated how hungry they felt, how full they were, how much they wanted to eat, and whether they planned to eat soon. They then performed leg extension exercises, while researchers again measured their hunger and desire to eat after 30 seconds of smelling the assigned sample.
'Sniffing a 90% dark chocolate odor added about 18 more repetitions to participants' leg extensions, while a 60% milk chocolate odor added about nine repetitions compared with the water control,' Naharudin observed.
The results showed that smelling dark chocolate reduced hunger, lowered the desire and intention to eat, and made participants feel fuller compared with those who smelled milk chocolate or water. The study also found that smelling chocolate affected not only appetite but also exercise performance.
Researchers said the smell of dark chocolate appeared to reduce appetite mainly by making people feel less hungry and more satisfied. In contrast, participants found the milk chocolate smell more pleasant, but it did not change their hunger or appetite.
'The dark chocolate scent serves as a learned cue for a rich, bitter and highly satiating food, which essentially tricks the system into an anticipatory state of fullness,' said Naharudin. 'Conversely, the sweeter milk chocolate scent acts more like a hedonic reward cue, enhancing training volume by creating a highly pleasant sensory environment rather than by shifting basic metabolic hunger signals.'
Researchers believe these effects may be linked to learned associations with food. Smells of familiar foods can make the brain expect a meal, which may reduce feelings of hunger and increase the feeling of fullness even before eating. They added that simply smelling food may trigger some of the same physical and mental responses that happen when people eat, especially after fasting.
However, the researchers said more studies involving larger and more diverse groups of people are needed to confirm the findings.
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