Research
Hormonal
Increasing taste intensity (e.g., saltiness) while maintaining palatability reduces meal intake by approximately 9% through enhanced satiation, independent of how much the food is liked.
Enhance the taste intensity of your meals (e.g., using herbs, spices, or appropriate salt levels) without necessarily increasing calories. Stronger tastes can signal nutrient presence and increase satiation, helping you stop eating sooner.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Bolhuis et al., who reported that participants consistently ate ≈ 9% less of a tomato soup with a high-salt compared with low-salt intensity, despite these soups being similarly palatable.
Why this rating
Supported by specific studies (90, 91) showing consistent 9% reduction.
Source
Sensory influences on food intake control: moving beyond palatability
Keri McCrickerd et al. · Obesity Reviews · 2015
DOI 10.1111/obr.12340
narrative_reviewCited 411×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Increasing food texture (harder, chewier, or more viscous) reduces meal size and improves satiety by slowing eating rate and increasing oral processing time, independent of caloric content.Good
- Visual cues, particularly portion size and perceived volume, significantly influence food intake and post-meal satiety, often overriding physiological feedback.Good
- Umami taste (savoury) enhances the satiating power of protein-rich foods, leading to greater compensation at subsequent meals, but has no effect on carbohydrate-rich or low-energy foods.Moderate
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