How our psyche influences our nutrition

A feast for your eyes

A few years ago, test participants in a study at the University of Illinois were asked to eat a bowl of soup. Afterwards they judged the soup according to flavour and satiation factor. What participants didn’t know was that half of the bowls were connected to an invisible hose at the bottom of the plate, through which the soup was constantly being refilled. The participants with the rigged plates ate approximately 73% more soup, yet did not feel any more satiated than the other group.

This experiment proves the proverbial statement, that a feast for your eyes is just as necessary as good taste in the eating process – your eyes are equally as involved. Our bodies not only send signals of having consumed nutrition through our digestive system, visual stimuli also contributes to our brain’s understanding of what and how much we have consumed. In another study, researchers tried to deceive the eye, as participants were given plates in various sizes and colors, yet all with the same amount of food. The results were always the same: the larger a portion appeared, the more filling it was. A person trying to lose weight should therefore always use small plates for serving, as the amount of food will always appear to be more. Flatware with high color contrasts to the meal also have a positive effect on satiation.

Colors and lighting conditions can influence our perception of nutrition as well. Bright colors indicate freshness – which is greatly used in the food industry. A piece of meat at a supermarket will seem far more appealing, fresher and juicier, if it is presented in pink lighting. We also often associate certain colors with tastes. Red can represent sweetness, while yellow or green can signify tartness. These expectations alone can influence our taste buds. Test participants who are given a flavorless yoghurt with a red tint have often stated to be eating a strawberry or cherry yoghurt.

Taste decides

Our affection and dislike towards certain foods is strongly connected to their flavors. Although our taste senses are formed through learning processes, today scientists presume that genes play a large role in the way we perceive flavors. Genes are responsible for how strongly we taste certain flavors and, therefore, what we like to eat. The personal interpretation of a flavor is deeply anchored in our subconscious. We differentiate between five flavors: tart, bitter, sweet, salty and umami. Poisonous or spoiled goods are often bitter or tart, while a sweet flavor represents something high in energy. Umami, the Japanese word for ‘tasty’, is produced through glutamic acid, which is naturally found in protein-rich nutrients. The food industry uses this effect and adds monosodium glutamate to foods that should taste especially savory.

From early on, the differentiation between tart, bitter and sweet has been essential for humans to survive. Newborns and children have a natural dislike towards foods that are tart or bitter, whereas sweet foods, as well as flavors that are high in protein and fat, appear tasty. Why we are so attracted to chocolate and chips, and which evolutionary psychological mechanisms are responsible for this strong affection, will be unveiled in the second part of this article, which will be released on December 28, 2016.

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