2023-06-26 16:38:08
Eating is known to be more than just food intake. An intense taste makes it a pleasure for many people. It is well known that the industry resorts to all sorts of tricks to make their products particularly attractive and tasty. Flavors are therefore added to many foods, especially highly processed ones. Before they are allowed to be used in food, the substances are tested by the European Food Safety Authority for their harmlessness to health and only then are they approved.
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Nutritionist Mathias Fasshauer still considers aromas to be a problem. “We have a lot of evidence from research that aromas promote the development of obesity,” says Fasshauer, who, as a professor of human nutrition at the University of Gießen, has been researching the subject for a long time. Whether the aromas are chemically generated or come from natural sources such as plants or microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi is irrelevant.
To person
Nutritionist Mathias Fasshauer © Rolf K. Wegst
Mathias Fasshauer is Professor of Human Nutrition at the University of Gießen. There, the nutritionist researches, among other things, the influence of nutrients on metabolic diseases such as obesity and glucose metabolism disorders.
In the knowledge blog of the Neatic program, he and his team regularly clear up myths about sugar, flavors and the like and give tips for natural nutrition.
Although there have not yet been any corresponding studies on humans, animal experiments have repeatedly confirmed the thesis. “Manufacturers of flavored feedstuffs even advertise their products explicitly with a stronger increase in weight of the fattening animals,” says Fasshauer.
But how can flavorings that hardly contribute to a food’s calorie count cause humans and animals to gain weight? Fasshauer identified two mechanisms as the main explanation for this. On the one hand, flavors promoted so-called hedonic eating, i.e. overeating for joy. “This is mainly due to the fact that flavorings give many foods a super delicious taste that would not be possible without these additives,” says Fasshauer.
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On the other hand, the aromas caused confusion in the body. “Normally, the body learns to associate the taste of a food with the nutrients it contains,” says Fasshauer. So he knows roughly how much energy to expect and which enzymes are needed to process the food. If flavorings are added to food, it no longer works. “Experts then speak of a disruption in the taste-nutrient association.” Flavors therefore make it difficult for the body to assess how many nutrients it is actually getting from a meal. “The result is that you tend to eat more to prevent a possible deficiency.”
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