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Do Food Porn pictures lead to more overweight?
Whether on Facebook, Instagram or in the various TV cooking programs: Everywhere images of delicious food are presented, which lavishly decorated the viewer often mouth water. But this is precisely where the hook lies: the media flood of pictures literally seduces people to eat - and could therefore, according to a recent study, possibly promote overweight.
Spectators can admire decorated plates everywhere and every day
"Kitchen battle", "the cooking professionals" or "the perfect dinner": Who turns on the TV, does not have to search long until he meets one of the numerous cooking shows of Tim Mälzer, Jamie Oliver and Co. This is usually about good food, but equally important is that this is done accordingly. Accordingly, the spectator can admire numerous elaborately decorated plates on which the food is "deliciously draped" for biting.
Tasty tasty: Great food enticed to excessive consumption. Image: Thomas Francois - fotolia The same applies to the social networks in which every day thousands of photos from restaurants or the local kitchen are posted and enthusiastically commented by other users. Colloquially, the trend of stylish food photography is now referred to as "food porn", the Berlin Food Week awarded this year even for the first time the "Food Porn Awards".
Images could trigger supposed hunger
But the flood of pictures of appetizing food also has a downside. For, as Oxford University scientists have now discovered, they seem to increase the risk of getting fat because the onlooker can not easily resist. "The regular viewing of such photos may cause more hunger than would be good for us," said the scientists in an article in the journal "Brain and Cognition". Thus, for some time, not only the taste would be in the foreground. Instead, it is becoming increasingly important how the dish is draped on the plate.
So far, the food industry has been considered responsible for rising excess weight
Could the pictures really have something to do with the fact that more and more people are too fat? Frequently, the food industry is blamed for the growing overweight in the population, as too many unhealthy foods are brought to market, the researchers write. But the question was whether other reasons could not play a role. Above all, the scientists were interested in whether the increase in images of delicious food in the media could unintentionally aggravate the desire for food - what the researchers call "visual hunger".
"There is a risk that the growing burden of beautifully presented food pictures could be detrimental," the researchers said. In addition, the increasing number of cooking programs would make food "glorified" - without addressing the health or environmental issues that food consumption would bring to scale. But the public presentation of food does not necessarily have to be negative, the researchers emphasize. For appealing pictures of vegetables could increase the desire for healthy children, for example.
The photos showcase your own lifestyle
But what makes people actually publish their food on Facebook, Instagram and other social platforms? This question was also asked by Professor Eva Barlosius of the University of Hannover, who has already published the book "Sociology of Food". In their opinion, it is the concern of the users to use the photos to present their lifestyle and to demonstrate that they can afford "good food", reports "Die Welt". For the Canadian psychiatrist Valerie Taylor, the images could even point to a serious disorder. As the world continues to report, Taylor assumes that in exceptional cases there are people who would only deal with food. (No)