Taste and smell go hand in hand. If you smell something delicious, chances are it will encourage your appetite for that food. The opposite is also true. If we smell something revolting, appetite usually goes down.
Smelling vanilla may actually help calm dessert cravings. This sweet scent has a calming effect on the part of the brain where cravings live, which can help curb your appetite. The study was done in St. George Hospital in London, and researchers found those who wore vanilla-scented patches lost more weight than those wearing no patch or a lemon patch. Researchers believe the sweet smell of vanilla helped appease the need for something sweet, and participants who smelled vanilla were less likely to overeat sweets.
So if sweets are your guilty pleasure, getting a vanilla-scented air freshener or candle could help you resist the temptation.
