Instagramers beware: The next time you’re out for dinner, rethink your choice to share your delicious gourmet meal via Instagram or other social media sites.
And if you want to make sure you fully savor the meal, avoid looking at photos of that type of food beforehand.
According to a study from Brigham Young University, Utah, looking at too many pictures of a certain food can actually reduce its delicious taste and make it less enjoyable to eat. This is linked to a behavior in the brain where mental stimulation (looking at photos) leads to a physical sensory stimulation that is much like eating the food you’re seeing.
Basically, when we look at photos of say, fish and chips over and over before we eat it, our senses become ‘bored’. The photos ruin your appetite by making you feel like you’ve already experienced eating the fish and chips before.
It’s like the feeling you get when you’ve eaten one-too-many pieces of chocolate mud cake, except you haven’t eaten a thing.
This sensation is measured in levels of satiation, a scientific term for the ‘drop in enjoyment with repeated consumption’. Consumption, in this case can just be viewing a photo of food, not actually eating a food.
In the university study, 232 people were divided into two groups. Group 1 was repeatedly exposed to photographs of salty foods while Group 2 was repeatedly exposed to photos of sweet foods. Both groups were then asked to eat peanuts.
Group 1, who viewed images of chips, pretzels and French fries reported that they enjoyed the peanuts less, while Group 2, who had looked at cake, truffles and chocolates, enjoyed the peanuts more.
But it’s not all bad news. The pictures need to be viewed a significant number of times before the satiated effect kicks in, so if you catch a glimpse of the odd ‘food porn’ photo, your appetite won’t be completely ruined.
This article originally appeared on News.com.au.