Men\'s Health Malaysia - Jun 2017

WWW.MENS-HEALTH.COM.MY

PROMOTION

http://www.mens-health.com.my 39

SO YOU’RE SITTING IN A BOOTH

at a fast-food chicken joint. Maybe

you’re there because of a funny

commercial you saw on TV, or a

nostalgia-induced craving, or it’s

convenient and you’re starving. You

unwrap the crinkly paper to unveil a

squishy bun hugging a warm breast

of fried chicken. Sizzling from the

kitchen punctures the Top 40 music

playing above. The aroma of crisped

fat intensifies. You take a bite.

Hmmm. It tastes, well, kind of

sucky. It’s not nearly as juicy as the

ad made it look or as delicious as the

ones you remember. Yet you eat, and

maybe eat more of it than you should,

as if compelled by outside forces.

The truth is, those forces – from

the texture of the wrapping and the

lightness of the bun to the too-

loud pop music – are intentional.

Scientists have long known that

much of what you “taste” when

you’re eating isn’t about your palate.

A new branch of research is proving

the assumption that all of your

senses are at play when you eat.

To experience these findings

firsthand, I paid a visit to Charles

Spence, Ph.D., director of the

University of Oxford’s Crossmodal

Research Laboratory in London.

Spence, an apple-faced man

with a penchant for brightly

coloured pants, has popularised

the term “gastrophysics” to refer

to the science behind brain-belly

communication.•

How one meal can change

everything you think you

know about eating – and

overeating

Shrink Your

Gut with

Gastrophysics

Nutrition

Food &

WORDS

SUSHMA SUBRAMANIAN

PHOTOGRAPH

MAURIZIO DI IORIO

http://www.mens-health.com.my 39