The top seven reasons that affect appetite

When subjects were given larger portions of the same food, they ate more. The reason is that small portions of food provide people with multiple discrete stopping points, prompting them to think whether they should continue eating, which serves as a reminder for the subjects. Psychological factors have a much greater impact on people's appetite than physical factors.

NO1. Soft light increases appetite

Wansink found through research that soft lighting affects people's food consumption, mainly because soft lighting makes people feel more comfortable, thereby reducing control over meals, prolonging people's meal time, and increasing people's food intake. This may be the reason why many restaurants like to design their lighting to be softer.

In addition, many studies have shown that glaring or overly bright lighting can reduce the time people spend in restaurants, thereby affecting the amount of food they eat. Dim or warm lighting (including candlelight) generally makes people more willing to linger and enjoy dessert and additional drinks. Because in low light, people tend to have less inhibition and self-restraint, and they are more willing to consume.

Unpleasant smells affect appetite

It is well known that unpleasant smells can affect people's appetite, whether it is the smell of the surrounding environment or the smell of food, which can shorten meal time and suppress the desire to consume food. So can pleasant smells definitely increase people's appetite? Although research has not yet found out how big an impact good smells have on appetite, one thing is certain: the effect of good smells on appetite is far less than the effect of unpleasant smells on people's appetite.

Light music increases appetite

Research has found that light music can generally increase appetite and prolong meal time, thereby increasing food and beverage consumption. Especially when people enjoy their favorite music, they tend to feel comfortable and thus stay or indulge in it. The vast majority of respondents were willing to order an additional dessert or drink. Conversely, when the music or ambient noise is too loud, too fast, or uncomfortable, people will not stay in the restaurant for as long and food consumption will certainly decrease. But in some cases, fast-paced and cheerful music can also increase people's intake of food and drink because fast-paced music also makes people eat faster.

Eating more easily available food

This is one of the important factors affecting consumption. Studies in cafeterias show that people eat more ice cream if they are close to the ice cream machine, drink more milk if the milk dispenser is nearby, and drink more water if there is a pitcher at their table.

It is worth noting that a survey shows that in Chinese restaurants in the United States, obese consumers prefer to use spoons, knives and forks compared to those with normal weight, because eating with chopsticks is relatively difficult for many people. The same situation occurred in a study like this. Two groups of subjects were placed with the same chocolate, one group had it placed on their desk, and the other group had it placed two meters away from them. The results showed that the group that had the chocolate on their desk ate much more chocolate than the other group.

In addition, fat people generally like to store food in refrigerators or cabinets that are close to them, while people with normal weight or thin weight like to store food in farther places such as basements. So if you are trying to lose weight, then it is recommended that you keep all foods that cause obesity away from yourself.

Psychological factors affect appetite

Psychological factors play a very important role in the consumption of things. Studies from the laboratory have shown that when subjects are given larger portions of the same food, they eat more. The reason is that small portions of food provide people with multiple discrete stopping points, prompting them to think whether they should continue eating, which serves as a reminder to the subjects. Psychological factors have a much greater impact on people's appetite than physical factors.

Beautiful food makes you eat more

Food that is easy to see or smell can stimulate people's appetite. For example, a comparative experiment found that when candies were placed in transparent bottles, subjects consumed 46% more than when they were placed in opaque bottles. Similarly, consumption of sandwiches was higher if they were wrapped in transparent packaging than if they were not.

The reason why visible foods increase intake is that they provide a continuous trigger for consumption. Visible foods can increase hunger signals and stimulate saliva secretion. Recent psychological research shows that visible food can increase hunger, mainly because it stimulates the body to release dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with happiness and comfort. So using opaque packaging to hold food will help us diet better.

Increasing food variety will stimulate appetite

The survey found that if people were offered three flavors of yogurt, they would eat 23% more than if they were offered just one flavor. This suggests that providing a wider variety of food can also increase food consumption, and this phenomenon persists across different ages and genders.

Recently, some scholars have conducted similar experiments to prove this point. In one of their studies, they gave two groups of subjects 300 M&Ms, one group with seven colors and the other with 10 different colors. Although each color of candy tasted the same, people who had 10 colors ate 43% more than those who had 7 colors.

These studies show that if you increase variety, you can increase consumption a lot. One reason this happens is that the variety makes people feel like they may have a wider variety of foods they haven't eaten yet, or that they want to encounter more when eating. Another reason is that although people are provided with food diversity, their consumption of each type of food has not changed.

So, when we come across a wide variety of delicious foods, we must keep a clear head to avoid eating too much.