WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: Why Does Hot Food Seem More Satisfying?

0:00:01.840 --> 0:00:07.440
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff,

0:00:07.520 --> 0:00:10.000
<v Speaker 1>Lauren vocal bomb here with a classic episode from the

0:00:10.000 --> 0:00:13.960
<v Speaker 1>podcast's archives. In this one, we discussed the psychology and

0:00:14.040 --> 0:00:18.840
<v Speaker 1>physiology behind a strange food phenomenon, how hot food can

0:00:18.880 --> 0:00:22.840
<v Speaker 1>seem more satisfying than cold food, even when both are

0:00:22.920 --> 0:00:28.040
<v Speaker 1>delicious and filling. Hey brain Stuff, Lauren vocal bomb here.

0:00:28.720 --> 0:00:31.720
<v Speaker 1>You know that ravenously hungry feeling you get after going swimming.

0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:33.479
<v Speaker 1>It feels like you could go to an all you

0:00:33.520 --> 0:00:36.240
<v Speaker 1>can eat buffet and make them rethink their business strategy.

0:00:36.800 --> 0:00:39.560
<v Speaker 1>But although a salad, or a granola bar, or even

0:00:39.560 --> 0:00:42.920
<v Speaker 1>a nice smoothie would probably satisfy you, a voice echoing

0:00:42.960 --> 0:00:45.640
<v Speaker 1>out of the deepest recesses of your brain commands you

0:00:45.680 --> 0:00:48.839
<v Speaker 1>to feed it something warm, an entire pizza, perhaps, or

0:00:48.960 --> 0:00:53.120
<v Speaker 1>two giant bowls of puff extra frisket please. There could

0:00:53.120 --> 0:00:55.720
<v Speaker 1>be a lot of reasons why we crave warm foods

0:00:55.720 --> 0:00:58.600
<v Speaker 1>when we're especially hungry, but one of them probably has

0:00:58.640 --> 0:01:01.520
<v Speaker 1>to do with the link between smell and taste. We

0:01:01.560 --> 0:01:05.000
<v Speaker 1>spoke with doctor Stephensecker, an associate professor in the University

0:01:05.040 --> 0:01:08.760
<v Speaker 1>of Alabama Department of Biological Sciences who studies the physiological

0:01:08.840 --> 0:01:13.200
<v Speaker 1>design of digestive systems. He said, hot food emanates much

0:01:13.240 --> 0:01:16.319
<v Speaker 1>more airborne particles than cold foods, and since a large

0:01:16.319 --> 0:01:19.600
<v Speaker 1>part of our taste sensation also involves smell, hot food

0:01:19.600 --> 0:01:24.760
<v Speaker 1>would therefore provide positive reinforcement in its selection. Just consider

0:01:24.760 --> 0:01:27.000
<v Speaker 1>how quickly the smell of smoke from a barbecue can

0:01:27.000 --> 0:01:29.800
<v Speaker 1>make you feel hungry, or how no matter how tasty

0:01:29.800 --> 0:01:32.760
<v Speaker 1>it will be, a cold gospot show simply doesn't stimulate

0:01:32.800 --> 0:01:35.399
<v Speaker 1>the senses like a warm chili. So even though we

0:01:35.480 --> 0:01:38.119
<v Speaker 1>intellectually know that cold soup is going to be good

0:01:38.160 --> 0:01:41.120
<v Speaker 1>and fill us up, our olfactory apparatus hasn't yet been

0:01:41.160 --> 0:01:43.720
<v Speaker 1>appraised of the situation, making it hard to get all

0:01:43.720 --> 0:01:46.600
<v Speaker 1>the parts of the brain on the same gaspacho bandwagon.

0:01:48.040 --> 0:01:50.400
<v Speaker 1>But smell may not be the only reason we crave

0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:52.920
<v Speaker 1>a hot meal more than a cold one, or rather

0:01:53.120 --> 0:01:56.440
<v Speaker 1>it may signal a deeper reason. Since heating food on

0:01:56.560 --> 0:01:58.960
<v Speaker 1>locks calories and nutrients, we wouldn't be able to get

0:01:59.000 --> 0:02:01.640
<v Speaker 1>eating the food raw, and since our big brains are

0:02:01.760 --> 0:02:04.920
<v Speaker 1>very calorie needy, our preference for hot meals might have

0:02:05.000 --> 0:02:07.400
<v Speaker 1>something to do with our brains steering us towards the

0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:11.600
<v Speaker 1>most potential calories possible in the moment of hunger. According

0:02:11.639 --> 0:02:14.959
<v Speaker 1>to Richard Wrangum, a biological anthropologist at Harvard and author

0:02:15.000 --> 0:02:18.239
<v Speaker 1>of Catching Fire, How Cooking Made Us Human, the important

0:02:18.240 --> 0:02:21.240
<v Speaker 1>comparison is between foods that are cooked and differ only

0:02:21.280 --> 0:02:25.239
<v Speaker 1>in temperature. He said, hot food very likely yields more

0:02:25.280 --> 0:02:29.600
<v Speaker 1>net energy gain than cold food, partly because of changes indigestibility.

0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:33.880
<v Speaker 1>One example is that starch becomes increasingly refractory after hot

0:02:33.919 --> 0:02:36.440
<v Speaker 1>bread than cools, which could be one reason why we

0:02:36.600 --> 0:02:39.520
<v Speaker 1>like hot toast. In the case of lipid rich foods,

0:02:39.720 --> 0:02:42.160
<v Speaker 1>the closer of fat is to its melting point when eaten,

0:02:42.600 --> 0:02:46.800
<v Speaker 1>probably the easier it is digested. However, Secker clarifies that

0:02:46.919 --> 0:02:50.000
<v Speaker 1>chewing and the digestive process are both pretty good at

0:02:50.080 --> 0:02:53.840
<v Speaker 1>unlocking nutrients. He said that once you've cooked hamburger, for example,

0:02:54.040 --> 0:02:56.760
<v Speaker 1>eating it hot or cold would provide a negligible difference

0:02:56.800 --> 0:03:01.280
<v Speaker 1>in calories consumed and digestion effort. But there's also the

0:03:01.320 --> 0:03:06.079
<v Speaker 1>nostalgia factor. Smell is the most nostalgia triggering sense. Researchers

0:03:06.080 --> 0:03:08.480
<v Speaker 1>aren't entirely sure why this is, but they think it

0:03:08.520 --> 0:03:10.760
<v Speaker 1>has to do with the physical way our brains handle

0:03:10.800 --> 0:03:14.320
<v Speaker 1>information in the parts known as the limbic system. The

0:03:14.360 --> 0:03:17.880
<v Speaker 1>limbic system includes the amygdala, which helps us process emotions,

0:03:18.120 --> 0:03:22.560
<v Speaker 1>the hippocampus, which processes and stores memories, and the olfactory bulb,

0:03:22.639 --> 0:03:26.440
<v Speaker 1>which processes scent input from our nasal cavity. There are

0:03:26.440 --> 0:03:30.400
<v Speaker 1>direct connections among these three brain bits. Studies have shown

0:03:30.400 --> 0:03:33.440
<v Speaker 1>that since create more positive and more emotional senses of

0:03:33.480 --> 0:03:36.840
<v Speaker 1>nostalgia than other triggers, and scientists think that's because of

0:03:36.880 --> 0:03:40.760
<v Speaker 1>these close connections among scent, emotion, and memory in our brains.

0:03:41.840 --> 0:03:44.240
<v Speaker 1>While there might be some selected drive hidden in our

0:03:44.280 --> 0:03:48.000
<v Speaker 1>behavior to crave cooked food for nutritional gains, our cravings

0:03:48.080 --> 0:03:50.320
<v Speaker 1>and our susceptibility to a rich scent in the air

0:03:50.680 --> 0:03:53.160
<v Speaker 1>is very likely driven by a nice memory of the

0:03:53.200 --> 0:03:55.600
<v Speaker 1>taste and smell of food right off the grill, or

0:03:55.640 --> 0:03:57.280
<v Speaker 1>the chicken soup that comforted you when you.

0:03:57.200 --> 0:04:01.080
<v Speaker 2>Were sick as a child. However, even small changes in

0:04:01.120 --> 0:04:03.880
<v Speaker 2>temperature can make a big difference in how satisfaction in

0:04:03.920 --> 0:04:07.120
<v Speaker 2>food is perceived. It's important to remember that the texture

0:04:07.120 --> 0:04:09.680
<v Speaker 2>of foods, and especially fats like those in cheese and

0:04:09.760 --> 0:04:14.200
<v Speaker 2>cheese substitutes, changes drastically within a relatively small temperature range.

0:04:14.560 --> 0:04:19.800
<v Speaker 2>For example, Cold Pizza Delight or Horror Discuss.

0:04:25.080 --> 0:04:27.880
<v Speaker 1>Today's episode is based on the article why hot food

0:04:27.920 --> 0:04:30.719
<v Speaker 1>always seems so much more satisfying than cold Food on

0:04:30.760 --> 0:04:34.160
<v Speaker 1>how stuffworks dot Com, written by Jesslinshields. Brain Stuff is

0:04:34.200 --> 0:04:36.600
<v Speaker 1>production of by Heart Radio in partnership with how stuffworks

0:04:36.640 --> 0:04:39.440
<v Speaker 1>dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more

0:04:39.440 --> 0:04:43.160
<v Speaker 1>podcasts my heart Radio, visit the Airheartradio app, Apple Podcasts,

0:04:43.240 --> 0:04:45.039
<v Speaker 1>or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.