Looking up at the food in the mirror significantly increases your appetite

Eating in society improves appetite and makes food tastier
Older people often eat alone and suffer from loss of appetite. Researchers have now found that food consumed by humans is considered better tasting when they eat in society, compared to people eating alone. This phenomenon is also called social relief of eating. The physicians also discovered that the same effect can be achieved in individuals when they set up a mirror while eating alone.

Researchers at Nagoya University in Japan found that if we eat alone with a mirror, it results in an increased appetite and taste experience. These effects are similar to eating food in society. The experts published a press release on the results of their study.

While tasty dishes make mouth water for most people, especially those who often eat alone sometimes suffer from loss of appetite. Especially the elderly are affected by this problem. Doctors have now discovered that eating food with a level of food alone increases appetite and improves the taste of food. (Image: Jacek Chabraszewski / fotolia.com)

Eating with a mirror leads to interesting effects
It has been known that people consume more food and, in addition, classify it as tastier when they eat in company with other people. However, it is unclear what exactly leads to this effect. Nagoya University researchers found that the same effect occurs when individuals eat together with a mirror.

What are the minimum requirements for the social relief of food?
We wanted to find out what the minimum requirement for social relief of food is, says author Ryuzaburo Nakata. Does it make a difference if another person is actually present or is it sufficient if there is information that indicates the presence of other people? The experts found that people eating alone rated their food as tastier and consumed more of it when they could look at themselves in the mirror while eating. When subjects ate in front of a monitor that showed the image of a wall, these effects could not be determined, explain the scientists.

Results are particularly relevant for the elderly
The research team initially worked with a group of older adult volunteers. Approaches to improving the enjoyment of food are particularly relevant for the elderly. Other research has already shown that many older people often eat alone. When the team repeated the experiment with young adult volunteers, they observed the same so-called social relief of eating when a mirror was present. This suggests that the observed effect is not limited to the elderly, the authors explain.

Effect is also triggered by viewing photos of the eating person
In another experiment, the scientists replaced the mirror with photos of the eating participants. They found that here, too, an increase in the appetite of the subjects was observed. Surprisingly, a static picture of a person seems to be sufficient to trigger the effect of social relief on food consumption, the researchers say.

Frequent food alone is associated with depression and loss of appetite
Previous studies have shown that for older adults, eating food is associated with increased quality of life. In contrast, frequent food alone is associated with depression and loss of appetite, says author Nobuyuki Kawai.

Eating with a mirror could improve the quality of life of many older people
Our findings suggest a possible approach to improving the appeal of food and improving the quality of life, the researchers report. This applies in particular to older people, who often eat alone. People with an appetite loss, for example, in whom the partner has already died or whose families and friends live far away, could possibly be better helped in the future. (As)