#olfactorynerve

Smelling Your Food Makes You Fat 👃🏼

by Sherine Inee Tena

“If you can’t smell your food, you may burn it rather than store it.” - UC Berkeley

"Sensory systems play a role in metabolism," says one of the researchers, Andrew Dillin.

"Weight gain isn't purely a measure of the calories taken in; it's also related to how those calories are perceived."

The researchers form University of California Berkeley used mice to test if the sense of smell can impact weight gain.

They study the link between a sense of smell and metabolism.

Being able to smell food before eating can increase weight gain independently of how much fat is in it, according to a new study carried out on mice.

Mice fed the same high-fat diet showed big differences in weight gain depending on whether or not their sense of smell had been temporarily switched off.

Loss of adult olfactory neurons protects against diet-induced obesity

Loss of smell after obesity also reduces fat mass and insulin resistance

Loss of IGF1 receptors in olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) improves olfaction

Loss of IGF1R in OSNs increases adiposity and insulin resistance

"People with eating disorders sometimes have a hard time controlling how much food they are eating and they have a lot of cravings," says Riera.

"We think olfactory neurons are very important for controlling pleasure of food and if we have a way to modulate this pathway, we might be able to block cravings in these people and help them with managing their food intake."

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