Don’t you love all those delicious-smelling fragrances? You know, the ones that you would eat if they were actually edible? Some of the latest research suggests that yummy-smelling lotions could actually trigger our hunger for real food.

A 2011 study involved college students using a chocolate-praline scented lotion or an unscented lotion, and the study team tracked how many chocolate chip cookies the students ate afterward. The subjects who used chocolate lotion eat more chocolate chip cookies than the students who had unscented lotion. But an interesting observation, this effect only worked if the chocolate lotion had a clear label on the bottle.

“Senses are malleable and depend on the context. So labeling may have helped them recognize the smell that they might not have otherwise been able to identify,” says Jonah Berger, Ph.D.

When asked if the use of citrus lotion could increase the want to eat fruit, he responded, “Certainly. Smells can trigger all sorts of related behavior, including consumption.”

Interesting…Do you tend to crave the food with the same scent as your lotion?

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