Fat people could have their sense of smell ERASED in a bid to help them lose weight
Mice with no sense of smell were skinnier than those still able to smell - despite both being fed the SAME high-fat diet
MORBIDLY obese people could have their sense of smell zapped in a bid to help them lose weight.
It comes as scientists discovered your nose could play a surprising role in how you pile on the pounds.
But not in the way you might think!
While you might think your sense of smell just encourages you to gorge on delicious-smelling junk food, new findings suggests another theory.
Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley believe your sense of smell could actually control your metabolism - and how your body stores fat.
Tests in mice showed rodents with no sense of smell were skinnier than those who could still smell.
While mice with an enhanced sense of smell got even fatter.
But, and this was the surprising finding, the two sets of mice were fed the SAME high-fat diet.
The researchers believe the smell of food could play a role in how our bodies process calories.
If you can't smell, your body may burn off the food and calories, rather than store it.
Andrew Dillin, a professor of molecular and cell biology, said though drastic, it might be beneficial for morbidly obese people to have their sense of smell erased for a period of time.
It could prove a viable alternative to stomach stapling ops or gastric band surgery.
He said: "For that small group of people, you could wipe out their smell for maybe six months and then let the olfactory neurons grow back, after they've got their metabolic program rewired."
Mice, like humans, were found to be more sensitive to smell when they are hungry.
So the lack of smell could trick them into thinking they have already eaten.
The body's instinct is to store energy in case of famine, when food can't be found.
Meanwhile, when food is sourced the body kick starts and burns off the energy.
Scientists used gene therapy to temporarily destroy the sense of smell in obese mice.
If we can validate this in humans, perhaps we can actually make a drug that doesn't interfere with smell but still blocks that metabolic circuitry
Professor Andrew Dillin
These mice, as well as being fat, had developed a glucose intolerance, which can lead to type 2 diabetes.
The researchers noted the rodents sympathetic nervous system, which is known to increase fat burning, sped up.
As well as losing weight the obese mice developed normal glucose tolerance again.
Prof Dillin said: "Sensory systems play a role in metabolism.
"Weight gain isn't purely a measure of the calories taken in; it's also related to how those calories are perceived.
"If we can validate this in humans, perhaps we can actually make a drug that doesn't interfere with smell but still blocks that metabolic circuitry. That would be amazing."
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Co-author Céline Riera, of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said: "This paper is one of the first studies that really shows if we manipulate olfactory inputs we can actually alter how the brain perceives energy balance, and how the brain regulates energy balance.
"People with eating disorders sometimes have a hard time controlling how much food they are eating and they have a lot of cravings.
"We think olfactory neurons are very important for controlling pleasure of food and if we have a way to modulate this pathway, we might be able to block cravings in these people and help them with managing their food intake."
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