We are not all equal in the face of weight gain, it is a well known fact, some can eat without counting without gaining too much weight while others are constantly obliged to pay attention to what they eat in order not to gain weight.

But to make matters worse, a study conducted by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, tends to show that smelling food could also cause weight gain. This study conducted on mice consisted in giving all mice an equal amount of food, in the form of a "junk food" diet for the purposes of the experiment.

After a few weeks, the researchers found that the mice without a sense of smell had gained a maximum of 1 gram, while those with a sense of smell had doubled in size. The researchers then decided to deprive the mice that had gained weight of their sense of smell while continuing the same diet.

The result showed that the new mice deprived of their sense of smell had lost their fat.

This observation could theoretically also apply to humans and an individual deprived of his sense of smell could no longer store fat. It is because the sense of smell no longer reaches the brain that the latter no longer controls the storage of fat.

This is an encouraging discovery for the treatment of obesity and overweight, although we must be aware that in the activity of eating, the odors of food occupy a central place.

Scientifically, it is possible to conclude that if we genetically manipulate the sense of smell, it is possible to modify the way the brain perceives our energy and caloric needs, and how it regulates our needs, as explained by Céline Riera, co-author of the UC Berkeley study.