Couch Dining Steals The Flavor And Makes You Fat

If you are the kind of person who spends a fair amount of time preparing your evening meal to be a culinary delight then better to sit at the table, studies show that consuming your masterpiece in front of the TV will steal the flavor and make you eat more. Even the finest dish can taste bland when the TV is switched on, because it causes distractions that ruin our taste perception, say scientists.

This is also bad news for dieters as well as culinary artists. Ditching the dining table for the sofa can also lead us to eat more by removing the sense of how much we are scoffing, the researchers found.

According to Spark People 40% of Americans always or often watch TV while eating dinner.

In a series of experiments, Dutch researchers made diners carry out complicated memory tests while eating food that was either salty, sweet, or sour.

The study, published in the journal Psychological Science,  found that those who were distracted by the mental task were more likely to perceive the food as bland. Another experiment found they consumed more food in order to obtain the same taste level and were less aware of how much they ate. Distracted individuals were more likely to eat crackers that were saltier or add extra sugar to their lemonade.

Proven in other studies WebMD reports on the similar principle the diet aid Sensa is intended to work with your sense of smell, fooling your brain and stomach into thinking you're full, Hirsch says. He uses the term "sensory-specific satiety" to describe the process by which smell receptors send messages of fullness to your brain.

In conclusion: The report, by Dr Lotte van Dillen of  Leiden University and Reine van der Wal of Raboud University, concluded: ‘These results are highly relevant  in today’s society, in which multi-tasking  is common.