Why eating upright can be dangerous for you

The researchers found that spending more time standing up and eating for a few minutes was synonymous with physical stress and dumb taste buds.

The study, published in the Journal of Consumer Research, reveals that posture has an impact on the perception of taste, foods having better taste when sitting.

The researchers specifically studied how the vestibular sense, responsible for balance, posture and spatial orientation, interacts with the taste sensory system, which has an impact on taste and flavor .

"This finding suggests that parents could make healthy, unpleasant-tasting foods seem more acceptable to reluctant children by making them eat upright (rather than sitting), and in the same spirit, it may be beneficial to stay upright. when consuming pharmaceutical products with unpleasant tastes, "said the study's lead author, Dipayan Biswas, a professor at the University of South Florida in the United States.

The research team discovered that the force of gravity pushes blood to the lower parts of the body, forcing the heart to work harder to raise blood up the body, which speeds up the heart rate.

This activates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and leads to increased concentrations of cortisol, a stress hormone.

This chain reaction reduces sensory sensitivity, which affects the taste badessment of foods and beverages, the perception of food temperature and the overall volume of consumption.

According to one study, when people feel discomfort, foods that normally taste good do not seem so palatable.

The research team confirmed their hypothesis by asking 350 participants to rate the taste of a pita chip. Those who stood up gave him a less favorable rating than those who sat on a padded chair.

They expanded the study by inducing additional stress and asked participants to try fruit snacks while carrying a bag. The participants sitting and standing both reported that the extra weight made the taste of the food even worse.