2017-08-06 11:08:12
It is often said that we begin to eat through our eyes or through smell. However, probably no one thinks that you can get fat by eating with your eyes or just taking in the delicious aromas of a well-prepared dish. The smell of a good meal, of course, is not going to make us fat. Or if?
A group of American and German researchers have discovered that the sense of smell, at least in mice, itself plays a very important role in regulating body weight and the development of obesity.
The scientists observed that the mice that had been made to lose their sense of smell by genetic manipulation methods also lost weight, about 16% of the body weight they had before losing this sense. As a first hypothesis to explain this observation, the researchers proposed that the no-olfactory mice ate less than the normal ones. However, when they measured the calories that both animals ingested, they found that there was no difference. There were also no differences in the amount of nutrients absorbed by the intestine, nor in the amount of excrement produced. Therefore, the weight loss associated with loss of smell had to be due to other causes.
Interestingly, the weight loss occurred even when the mice were force-fed a high-fat diet, making them obese. In this case, once obese, treatment with diphtheria toxin to make them lose their sense of smell led to a weight loss of one third of their initial weight, which is truly enormous. For a person, it would mean going from weighing 100 kilos to weighing only 67.
If loss of smell leads to weight loss, could higher than normal sense of smell lead to weight gain, even obesity? To verify this, the scientists generated a mouse with a super sense of smell, also through genetic manipulation. These mice gained weight and developed metabolic diseases such as insulin resistance, that is, they became type two diabetics.
These studies may allow the development of strategies based on the manipulation of smell to combat obesity or control appetite. Perhaps a slimming perfume, instead of intoxicating, is the next thing we find ourselves, for sale in pharmacies.
More information on Jorge Laborda’s blog: It smells that it feeds, and fattens
Referencia: Riera et al., The Sense of Smell Impacts Metabolic Health and Obesity, Cell Metabolism (2017),
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