Tasty images of appetizing but high-calorie foods magnified by elaborate photos would fuel our cravings for eat without hunger, thus making us fat. This phenomenon, food porn has been deciphered by researchers at the University of Oxford in England.
Charles Spence, a specialist in multisensory perceptions related to food, conducted a meta-analysis of dozens of studies on the impact of food images on the brain and the psychological and physiological responses that follow.
“Food porn is not safe,” retorts Charles Spence, professor of experimental psychology at the University of Oxford in England.
The conclusions of his study showed that when the eyes rest on an image of food, the brain is excited in such a way that we notice a 25% increase in blood flow. “Different areas are activated: regions of the prefrontal cortex associated with taste and smell, the reward system in the orbitofrontal cortex – aimed at the satisfaction of basic needs like eating, drinking and reproduction – and, strangely, mechanisms related to decision-making and self-control”, explains the researcher.
“Concretely, all kinds of thoughts jostle in the brain, explains Charles Spence. We start evaluating the food. We imagine their taste, their smell, their texture. Then, we say to ourselves that we would really like to taste it, but at the same time, we hold back. Presumably it’s because of the healthy weight race. »
“Such images consumed repeatedly could exacerbate our desire to eat, even in the absence of hunger, cause us to eat more than necessary and, ultimately, make us growsays Charles Spence
Promote a balanced diet
The researcher has already begun to favor thebalanced diet with his famous experience of Kandinsky’s plate: a salad arranged in such a way as to faithfully reproduce a work of the Russian painter seemed better according to the participants of the study, who were also ready to pay more to eat this dish.
“Perhaps in the future my research will lead me to find ways to divert food porn by presenting healthy food in a more attractive way,” concludes the professor.
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