A “sweet” new study has found that simply smelling some chocolate could lead to more reps without the workout feeling tougher to complete, and while this news sounds like a bizarre work of Willy Wonka style fiction, scientists suggest that food aromas may increase our level of motivation, because of our relationship with eating.
“Exposing moderately trained men to chocolate odors right before and between sets of resistance exercise significantly increased their overall training volume without increasing their perceived exertion,” said Dr. Mohamed Nashrudin bin Naharudin, who was a senior author on the study published in Frontiers. “Seeing a substantial increase in repetitions without the athletes feeling like they were exerting themselves any harder is a fascinating psychobiological outcome.”
How was the study carried out?
A small sample of 23 men, in their 20s, were split into three groups. 15 minutes before exercise, the subjects were given repeated exposure as follows:
- Group 1:Smelled liquified dark chocolate (90% cocoa)
- Group 2:Smelled liquified milk chocolate (60% cocoa)
- Group 3: Smelled water only
Notably, all of the participants went without food for 10-hours-plus before performing leg extensions during the trial.
What were the results?
Despite the significant amount of time with no food, and the effort put into their leg extensions, the group that smelled dark chocolate reported lower hunger levels, less desire to eat, and greater feelings of fullness after the gym session. Milk chocolate came on top as the favorite aroma, but it didn’t appease the appetite.
As for the effect on performance, both chocolate aromas improved the number of reps, but dark chocolate came out on top again. “Sniffing a 90% dark chocolate odor added about 18 more repetitions to participants’ leg extensions, while a 60% milk chocolate odor added about nine repetitions compared to the water control,” said Dr. Mohamed Nashrudin bin Naharudin.”
But why does dark chocolate churn out more reps and make us feel fuller? The experts theorize that the way we learn to process certain smells from an early age influences our responses as we navigate the world. “The dark chocolate scent serves as a learned cue for a rich, bitter, and highly satiating food, which essentially tricks the system into an anticipatory state of fullness,” said Dr. Mohamed Nashrudin bin Naharudin. “Conversely, the sweeter milk chocolate scent acts more like a hedonic reward cue, enhancing training volume by creating a highly pleasant sensory environment rather than by shifting basic metabolic hunger signals.”
While the study sample was admittedly small, researchers now hope that a larger project where blood, hormone levels, and brain activity is closely monitored could provide more clues as to which aromas elevate our performance, and why.
