Dieters advised to avoid pictures of food
The mere sight of appetising food can lead men to abandon their healthy diet plans, new research suggests.Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry found that the sight of food stimulates the appetite, raising the level of a hormone called ghrelin in the blood.
Men who were shown images of delicious food tended to have higher concentrations of ghrelin in their blood than those who saw pictures of non-edible objects.
The hormone controls eating behaviour and food metabolism, potentially leading people to scupper their chances of weight loss.
Petra Schussler, from the Max Planck Institute, commented: "The findings of our study demonstrate, for the first time, that the release of ghrelin into the blood for the regulation of food consumption is also controlled by external factors."
Ms Schussler explained that the brain processes these visual stimuli, triggering the physical processes that control our perception of appetite.
"This mechanism could prompt us to eat a piece of cake just two hours after breakfast," she added.
