Watch what you eat.
First it was the juice cleanse, then keto, then Whole30. Now it’s the social diet, where you consume content — and not much else.
Researchers in the UK and upstate New York shared findings this week that simply viewing food content online is enough to curb real-life cravings for some dieters.
It’s a process called “cross-modal satiation,” wherein one mode of stimulation overpowers another. In this case, the visual “diminishes desire” for the gustatory.
It’s like Wonkavision, only you can’t reach into your phone and grab the chocolate bar — and, per this new study, you might not even want to. The voyeuristic thrill of seeing someone else eat is satiating enough.
Across two continents and two universities, the researchers conducted three experiments to test their hypotheses. In total, 840 adults — some dieters and some not, all between the ages of 19 and 77 — participated.
For one experiment, participants were shown videos of junk food next to clips of healthy foods. Dieters were more likely to feast their eyes on the pizza, burgers and chips than on the salads, yogurt and smoothies, and watched 50% longer than the non-dieters, on average.
For another experiment, the researchers played social media-length videos for the participants featuring high- and low-calorie chocolate desserts.
The dieting cohort lingered on the high-calorie video for 30% longer than the non-dieting group — but when they were later offered a bowl of real chocolates, the dieters ate notably less.
Dr. Esther Kang, Lecturer in Marketing at the University of Bristol and a lead author of the study, told Phys.org that by looking at the indulgent dessert for longer, “the dieters clearly embraced this form of ‘digital foraging,’” or searching for and consuming food imagery online.
“Furthermore, contrary to what might be expected, when given the chance to really have some chocolate, they exercised much more self-control than the non-dieters.”
Whereas weight-loss hopefuls of yore were once told that suppressing thoughts of food would suppress their appetite, previous research shows similar behavior tends to intensify desire.
In the end, channeling junk food cravings into digital foraging practices proved to be a potent appetite suppressant.
The study’s authors know it all seems a bit contradictory.
For one, the meteoric rise of food media — from social influencers to cooking competition shows and “mukbang” superstars with millions of YouTube subscribers — has coincided with a global obesity epidemic.
More than 40% of Americans are obese, and half the country’s population is on a diet. Pharmaceutical companies are scrambling to create drugs that slash a person’s bodyweight in record time, and the weight-loss industry as a whole is worth an estimated $257 billion annually, per the study.
So while it might seem that our obsession with food media has in some very real way contributed to our collective habit of overindulgence, these researchers posit that, with some foresight, the opposite could someday be true.
Perhaps virtual spaces could be “deliberately designed,” they wrote, to regulate cravings, decrease compulsive overeating and help people stay healthier.
Kang said she knows it sounds “counterintuitive.”
But “in today’s digital environment, where food content is highly accessible, this type of visual engagement may offer a simple and non-invasive way to support dietary goals.”
