Smelling Dark Chocolate May Suppress Your Appetite

Chocolate to slim down? It sounds too good to be true. After all, everything that tastes great causes weight gain - or so it seems. Not according to a study carried out in Denmark. They found that eating dark chocolate - or even smelling its enticing aroma suppresses appetite and reduces the risk of overeating. Sounds sweet, now doesn't it?

Eating Dark Chocolate to Suppress Your Appetite

Researchers in Denmark gave a group of young women 30 grams of melted dark chocolate to eat - or to smell. As you might expect, the women who ate the dark chocolate felt less hungry, but more surprisingly, even the women who smelled the dark chocolate aroma had less of an appetite. When they measured levels of a hormone called ghrelin that stimulates appetite, these chocolate-sniffing women had lower levels of this hormone that causes you to eat. If this study holds true, even the smell of dark chocolate can suppress your appetite.

To Suppress Your Appetite and Lose Weight, Choose Your Chocolate Well

It's not surprising that chocolate is an appetite suppressant, but it's more surprising that smelling it puts a damper on hunger. Why would this be?

No one knows for sure, but taste is intimately linked with smell. You've probably noticed how tasteless food is when you have a cold, and you can't smell. Saturating your sensory receptors with stimuli whether through taste or smell may activate hormones that turn off appetite. It may be possible to "trick" the brain into believing it's fed using certain food odors. Along with chocolate, peppermint and banana are two scents that suppress appetite according to some sources. More research is needed in this area.

How to Use Chocolate to Suppress Your Appetite

Keep a little dark chocolate handy and take a whiff when you feel the urge to snack. If that doesn't do the trick, treat yourself to a square, but choose your chocolate wisely. Look for dark chocolate with at least 70% cocoa content that's also low in sugar. When you do take a bite, you'll get the most health benefits from dark chocolate containing high quantities of cocoa. Dark chocolate is rich in natural flavonoids that help to lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke.

Another option? Make healthy hot cocoa when your appetite gives you a poke. Use low-fat or almond milk and cocoa powder and a natural calorie-free sweetener such as Stevia if you're trying to lose weight. Drink it slowly to suppress your appetite.

Dark chocolate - it's good to eat and to smell - and both may suppress your appetite. Keep some high-quality dark chocolate around the house as a treat and as a tasty appetite suppressant.

References:

Regulatory Peptides. 2010. "Appetite Suppression Through Smelling of Dark Chocolate Correlates with Changes in Ghrelin in Young Women"