Researchers have found that spending more time standing up and eating for even a few minutes prompts physical stress, muting taste buds.
The study, published in the Journal of Consumer Research finds posture impacts taste perception, with food tasting better when you are sitting down. The researchers looked specifically at how the vestibular sense, which is responsible for balance, posture and spatial orientation, interacts with the gustatory sensory system, which impacts taste and flavor.
"This finding suggests that parents might be able to make unpleasant-tasting, healthy foods seem more palatable to reluctant children by having them eat standing up (vs. sitting down). In a similar vein, it might be beneficial to maintain a standing posture when consuming pharmaceutical products that have unpleasant tastes," said study lead author Dipayan Biswas, Professor at the University of south Florida in the US.
