The eye eats with you – Why a look of disgust at the table acts like an appetite suppressant – Knowledge




The eye eats with you – Why a look of disgust at the table acts like an appetite suppressant – Knowledge – SRF























Skip to content

Some elements on SRF.ch only work with JavaScript activated.


  1. To know

  2. Person

  3. Current article




Contents

A British broccoli study shows that if you grimace while eating vegetables, you spoil the appetite of the person you are eating.

A bad mood hits your stomach. Even if you are actually in good spirits. All you have to do is look at someone’s grimaced face and your appetite will disappear. At least when eating broccoli.

A British team studied the contagious effects of broccoli aversions. They played video clips of people eating raw broccoli to two hundred women – with a smile, a neutral expression, or a look of disgust.

Why only female test subjects?


Open the box
Close the box

The team of researchers from the British University of Aniston deliberately only worked with females in this study. The scientists wanted to avoid any distortions. Eating behavior in particular is strongly influenced by gender. Women react differently to role models. This is evident, for example, from the fact that many more women are affected by eating disorders than men. However, men are also becoming more and more likely to suffer from eating disorders.

The result: videos of people with disgusted facial expressions made the test subjects less interested in eating broccoli. Happy broccoli eaters, on the other hand, did not increase appetite.

You can fool children


Open the box
Close the box

While the majority of adult women in the current study found the broccoli eaters’ smiles to be fake, this does not apply to children. You can still be fooled. So the result of a previous study the same lab at Aston University. If adults showed a positive facial expression while eating broccoli, the children would eat it. While eating, mind you. When the children watched happy vegetable eaters, they ended up munching on twice as much broccoli as usual.

Previous research suggested the opposite: behavior is more likely to be imitated if it has positive consequences. Things are obviously different when it comes to food. The researchers conclude from the unexpected results that disgust has a protective effect in connection with food. Realizing that a substance is potentially harmful can save lives.


  1. To know

  2. Person

  3. Current article


Scroll left


Scroll right



source site-72