A nose for weight loss

Can sniffing scents curb certain cravings? Let us explore the depths of the olfactory. Turning our noses up at the frauds, I give you the facts.

Before you is your favorite macaroni and cheese with ham. Yum! You are about to bite a spoonful when suddenly, grandma passes gas. She really let it rip! One whiff and you've lost your appetite. Congratulations! You have just stumbled upon one of the most natural diet and weight-loss techniques. That is, if the reports widely proliferating in the internet are to be believed.

According to some experts, weight loss has become the marked territory of the nasute, or having an acute sense of smell. One of the most prominent proponents of this is Dr. Alan Hirsch, creator of the Sensa Weight-Loss System.

“Sensa uses your senses of smell and taste to help you get more satisfaction from eating less,” he explains. These crystals are added to food and purportedly have the power to trigger the release of hormones that suppress hunger and appetite by tricking your brain into thinking you have consumed much more than you really have.

From sprinkles to sprays to skin patches
Aromachologist (coined from the terms aroma and psychologist) Dr. Rachel Herz takes a not-so-different tack. Working on the same principle of scent-brain connection, she developed Scentology, a series of fragrances that promise to alter your behavior or mood. Citrus oils dispel bad moods, peppermint encourages endurance and vanilla controls cravings for chocolate.

Dr. Herz’s work takes off from the findings of Catherine Collins and her research team at St. George’s Hospital in London. Collins’ experiment had a group of people wear vanilla-scented patches on the back of their hand, lemon-scented patches for another group, and no patches for the third group. "The aroma patch significantly reduced sweet food intake and there was greater weight loss amongst those using the vanilla patch, compared to a lemon-scented dummy or no patch. The most interesting thing we found was that the chocolate score was halved for people wearing the vanilla patch."

What Dr. Hirsch and Dr. Herz might have missed in that report was that “the patches did not affect people's appetite for boiled sweets, savory snacks or alcohol.”

The effect of a whiff of vanilla lasts only as long as the next time you smell something else, like another chocolate bar or a scoop of ice cream. You would need to be continually sniffing at the patch on the back of your hand for it to work. Since your olfactory is the easiest sense to numb, these fragrant diversions may not work for you in the long run.

Putting the nose to the test
Can you really smell yourself slim? Let’s look at the science. Odors travel up the nose to your olfactory bulb, located at the back of the bridge of your nose. Receptors in your olfactory bulb send signals to the limbic system in your brain where they are interpreted as either pleasant or offensive. The limbic system is the seat of emotional memory in the brain. That’s why the smell of hotdogs brings us back to memories of Sunday afternoons in the park; the smell of popcorn makes us think of the movies; and the perfume of a lost lover is secretly cherished.

While odors and fragrances can alter one’s emotional state, there is as yet scant evidence linking appetite regulation by the limbic system. The smell of bread wafting from a bakery is more likely to arouse hunger than cause it to abate. Some people report losing their appetites after cooking for less than an hour, having been assaulted with the smell of food. Still, some people report their appetite actually grows because of cooking their own meals.

Fact: The Nose has it
Aromatherapists agree. The sense of smell is 10,000 times more sensitive than any other of our senses and recognition of smell is immediate. Other senses like touch and taste must travel through the body via neurons and the spinal cord before reaching the brain whereas the olfactory response is immediate, extending directly to the brain. This is the only place where our central nervous system is directly exposed to the environment.

If you are like most people and tend to eat when you are stressed, you can try sniffing a few drops of lavender oil or sandalwood on your burner. The smell may just keep you from reaching for that snack. These scents will relieve stress and help you rethink your craving for extra calories. Rosemary and juniper can energize you, perfect when you’re “too tired” to go to the gym.

To be sure, certain smells may keep you from an unnecessary snack or perhaps even a binge. But your best bet for fitness is still a conscientiously applied exercise and diet regime. Get into one now!