The Science Behind Why We Overeat

The world wants you to eat. Here’s how to spot and stymie all the external cues that make you hungry, and if weight loss is your goal, shave off a few kilos.

- Hanna Marton

From the smell of freshly baked cookies at the supermarket entrance to the sound of a colleague opening a bag of chips, the temptation to eat is everywhere. And the amount we eat is influenced by a list of factors longer than the list of complaints directed to Trump’s office. We eat more when dining with friends, when a restaurant is furnished red and when chocolate is round and not square (who knew?).

You don’t even need to leave your house to prime your salivary glands for scoffing. Just viewing food is enough. In 2015, “food” was the second-most searched term on the net after “pornography”,says Professor Charles Spence, author of Gastrophysics: The New Science of Eating ($32.99, Penguin). “Fact is, the food manufacturing industry wants you to eat more,” continues Professor Spence, who as head of the Crossmodal Research Laboratory at Oxford University, is the go-to researcher for big brands wanting to know how to make their products look, smell, taste and even sound more appealing.

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