What role does smell play in the taste of food?
Can you change your eating habits simply by altering the smell of your food?
You've probably heard about diet programs that are based on sprinkling scented crystals on your food or sniffing scented inhalers. These diets have become popular, largely because they offer the promise of "effortless" weight loss. But, do they actually work? Can simply changing the way your food smells make a difference in the amount you eat? The short answer is, we don't really know, but it's unlikely.
Like all good "stories," there is a kernel of truth at the core of these programs. This makes them seem believable at first, but when you dig a bit deeper, there's not much research to back up the claims.
