Lost your appetite? Eat in front of a mirror! Watching ourselves munching makes food taste better and causes us to consume more

  • Eating in front of an image of ourselves munching down has the same impact
  • Previous research has shown eating with company makes food more enjoyable
  • Researchers believe the findings could particularly benefit lonely elderly people 
  • Enjoying food improves quality of life; eating alone is associated with depression

By ALEXANDRA THOMPSON HEALTH REPORTER FOR MAILONLINE

Published: | Updated:

Eating in front of a mirror makes food taste significantly better and increases the amount we consume, new research reveals.

Munching down in front of an image of ourselves eating has the same impact, a study found.

This may draw on previous research that demonstrated eating with company makes food significantly more enjoyable than having a meal alone.

Researchers believe their findings could particularly benefit elderly people, who frequently eat alone. 

Lead author Ryuzaburo Nakata from Nagoya University in Japan, said: 'Our findings suggest a possible approach to improving the appeal of food, and quality of life, for older people who do not have company when they eat — for example, those who have suffered loss or are far away from their loved ones.'

Eating in front of a mirror makes food taste significantly better and causes us to consume more

Eating in front of a mirror makes food taste significantly better and causes us to consume more

WANT TO LOSE WEIGHT? EAT OFF A RED PLATE 

Eating less may be as simple as changing the colour of your plates, an expert said back in April.

Red plates are thought to trigger a danger signal that reduces the amount we eat.

While white plates make food taste sweeter, allowing you to enjoy your dessert just as much but with less sugar.

Back in 2011 researchers from the University of Valencia asked 51 participants to eat the same strawberry mousse off a white and black plate, alternating the order of which plate was used first.

The results revealed that eating the mousse off a white plate made it taste seven per cent sweeter, 13 per cent more flavourful and nine per cent more enjoyable than the black plate. 

Dr Charles Spence, professor of experimental psychology at the University of Oxford, told MailOnline: 'White plates generally have a contrasting colour to the food, so people are better able to judge the colour of the food itself rather than being influenced by the background.'

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How the study was carried out  

Researchers from Nagoya University asked 16 healthy people with an average age of 68 to eat salt or caramel-flavoured popcorn in front of a mirror or a blank wall.

This was repeated in 16 healthy participants with an average age of 21.  

In a second stage of the study, 12 healthy elderly participants ate caramel-flavoured popcorn in front of an image of themselves eating soybeans or in front of a blank wall. 

All participants completed a questionnaire that rated their enjoyment of the popcorn after they had finished eating.

Key findings  

Results, published in the journal Physiology & Behavior, revealed that both elderly and younger adults who ate the popcorn in front of a mirror rated it as significantly better quality and more enjoyable.

Eating in front of a mirror also made the younger group of people eat significantly more.

Those who ate popcorn in front of an image of themselves eating also rated it as significantly nicer and ate more.

Previous research has shown eating with company makes food taste better, as well as causing people to eat more of it, than eating alone. 

Previous research has shown food is more enjoyable when we have a meal with company

Previous research has shown food is more enjoyable when we have a meal with company

How the research can be used 

The researchers believe their findings could particularly benefit older people, who frequently eat alone. 

Mr Nakata said: 'Studies have shown that for older adults, enjoying food is associated with quality of life, and frequently eating alone is associated with depression and loss of appetite.

'Our findings therefore suggest a possible approach to improving the appeal of food, and quality of life, for older people who do not have company when they eat — for example, those who have suffered loss or are far away from their loved ones.'  

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