We see it all over TV ads and Instagram, but what does all that gastroporn actually do to our brains and bodies? Well for one thing, it leads us to delicious temptation.
Other things to be concerned about when we view those delicious gastroporn images:
Food porn makes us hungrier - Research shows looking at pictures of tasty foods increases appetite, even with people who just finished a meal.
Food porn pushes us toward unhealthy food - Those recipes TV chefs make tend to be high in fat and sodium, and as appetizing as they look, the big portions set us up to think it’s okay to eat that much. The more you view, the higher your body mass index - It’s just a correlation, but it’s still a concern. Gastroporn zaps mental resources - All the “digital grazing” we do when we see images of unhealthy food could be encouraging us to make less healthy food choices. Remember they picked this food to show us because it photographs well, not because it’s more nutritious. And while not everyone is turned on by the same things, we’re all being exposed to more food images than ever.