WASHINGTON — Studies have shown that images can affect appetite-related brain activity, but what impact does sound have?
Sally Squires, who writes the Lean Plate Club™ blog, said two new studies suggest that certain sounds and noises can impact how much and what people eat.
“In one this makes a lot of sense because we know that if you watch a lot of TV and you’re looking at images of food and commercials and all these kind of things, we know that people tend to eat a bit more,” Squires said. “So it makes sense that not just the messages and the pictures, but also the sounds might impact what and how much you eat.”
One study of a 174 university students in Germany asked them to watch a popular movie with their favorite snack while wearing headphones.
“They thought the headphones would actually make people eat more,” Squires said. “But they found it had no affect on men whatsoever, but on women it actually made them eat 10 percent fewer snacks, which added up to about 100 calories less.”
Another team of researchers from Georgia Tech, the University of Alabama and Vanderbilt looked specifically at whether or not pitches had an affect on appetite.
The researchers asked subjects to eat frozen yogurt while listening to a radio commercial for a new restaurant. Researchers found people ate more if there was a low pitch background or announcer than when there was a high pitch background or announcer.
But it’s not just music or background noise that can affect your appetite, sometimes conversation can too.
“We know that if you’re with friends and family, and you’re talking and having a really great time, you do tend to eat a bit more,” Squires said. “All these things factor in, but it does seem if you want to eat a bit less, for women in particular, you might put on headphones if you’re watching something. Otherwise, just kind of pay attention to what the background sounds are.”
