If you're looking for a new way to lose weight, you may want to check out your friend's latest Instagram photo of their delicious meal, as new research suggests that seeing too many photos of food can curb our appetites and make meals less enjoyable.
Researchers from Brigham Young University recruited 232 people to look at photos of food and rate them on how appealing they seemed. In one study, half of the participants looked at 60 pictures of sweet foods like cake and cookies, while the other half viewed images of salty foods like French fries, chips and pretzels. After rating each photo, the participants were given peanuts to eat, a salty food, and asked to report their enjoyment of it.
For those who had viewed nothing but salty food pictures, the participants enjoyed the post-study peanuts less, while those who had looked at nothing but sweets were more satisfied with their salty treat.
"In a way, you're becoming tired of that taste without even eating the food," study coauthor and BYU professor, Ryan Elder, said in a press release. "It's sensory boredom - you've kind of moved on. You don't want that taste experience anymore."
In other words, repeated consumption makes things less enjoyable, which may explain why your fifth bite of cake isn't as wonderful as your first.
"If you want to enjoy your food consumption experience, avoid looking at too many pictures of food," co-author Jeff Larson advised. "Even I felt a little sick to my stomach during the study after looking at all the sweet pictures we had."
However, looking at just a few photos of food may not have much of an impact, as the researchers stressed that it takes multiple viewings to trigger sensory boredom in the brain.
"You do have to look at a decent number of pictures to get these effects," Elder said. "It's not like if you look at something two or three times you'll get that satiated effect."
The findings of the latest study were published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology.
