The “Crunch Effect” can help you eat less.
Being conscious of the sound your food makes in your mouth could help you eat less, a new study finds.
The researchers found that when people could not hear their own eating noises, they ate more.
A different study in the series found that even thinking about the sounds made while eating was enough to reduce consumption.
Dr Ryan Elder, one of the study’s authors, said:
“When you mask the sound of consumption, like when you watch TV while eating, you take away one of those senses and it may cause you to eat more than you would normally.
The effects many not seem huge–one less pretzel–but over the course of a week, month, or year, it could really add up.”
The study may help explain why mindfulness can help people eat less.
Mindfulness helps concentrate the mind on the sensory experience of eating.
https://www.spring.org.uk/2015/10/people-who-think-like-this-have-less-belly-fat.php
Dr Gina Mohr, the study’s co-author, said:
“For the most part, consumers and researchers have overlooked food sound as an important sensory cue in the eating experience.
Dr Elder agrees:
“Sound is typically labeled as the forgotten food sense.
But if people are more focused on the sound the food makes, it could reduce consumption.”
The study was published in the journal Food Quality and Preference. (Elder & Mohr, 2016).
Chewing image from Shutterstock
