• May 5, 2024

People may have such deep-seated negative ideas about who hasobesity, that your sense of smell is altered to the degree of perception smells unpleasant just by seeing them, is affirmed in a new investigation.

The results of the study of University of California reveal that participants who were shown images of individuals with obesity , while evaluating the smell of some substances, they indicated that they emit a bad smell, even though they are in fact odorless.

A powerful perception

The researchers conducted two studies in which they showed the participants two sets of people, some with overweight and others of normal weight.

As they saw each image, The experts  they were asked to smell a container of lotion dyed with different artificial colors and evaluate the to Rome .

Each container contained the same substance, which was actually free of fragrance .

The results of the experiment reveal that when images of people with obesity appeared on the screen, the participants gave worse grades to the samples of odor . And they were even worse if they in turn were also obese.

In contrast, if the photos were of people thin and strong, the qualifications for the substances were evaluated as more pleasant .

Our findings suggest that people may have negative opinions of those who suffer from obesity, who are sufficiently ingrained to cross over to olfactory perceptions, even if they are not aware of it, "says Andrew Ward, co-author.

Question of stigmas

For its partAngela Incollingo Rodríguez , author of the study, states that the bias against people with obesity It can really affect these in different aspects of your life.

This undermines people's motivation to exercise and diet. "Stigma is a barrier to life changes that help you lose weight," he adds.

Mexico is the country with moreobesity in the world. According to the Health Secretary , from January to November 2014, 323 thousand 110 new cases of this disease were diagnosed.

Video Medicine: The Powers of Perception & Image | Reggie Brown | TEDxOakland (May 2024).