Could Aromatherapy help you lose weight?

It might sound too good to be true, but a British aromatherapist is claiming that just sniffing certain essential oils could be the key to lasting weight loss.

The therapist, Eugeny Couture, said that she believed just that inhaling the aroma of the essential oils could actually suppress the appetite, which is good news for anyone who might be struggling to stick to their diet.

Eugeny was reported in the Daily Mail as saying that, “Essential oils have a huge influence in our daily lives. They can enhance our mood, help us relax and unwind or focus our concentration, so it makes total sense that they can help us lose weight too.”

If you’re advising clients on how to achieve weight loss, or perhaps looking to lose a few pounds yourself, the main essential oil that you need to invest in is good a quality grapefruit oil. Taking deep breaths and inhaling the oil five to six times daily is said to regulate appetite.

Another study from 2013 has also reached the conclusion that essential oils could be a dieter’s best friend; people who sniffed olive essential oil before a meal reported that they ate less food in one sitting. The experiments were conducted by Professor Schieberle, along with a team of scientists at the Technische Universitaet in Munich and the University of Vienna. The results indicated that people who sniffed the aroma of olive oil appeared to change their eating habits after they had taken a sniff of the oil.

The scientists recommended that more research should be carried out into the reasons why certain scents affected satiety levels.

The link between taste and smell is well documented; 70 to 80 per cent of the flavour, and therefore enjoyment, of food is down to smell. British scientist, Professor Tim Jacob, an expert in the science of smell from Cardiff University’s School of Biosciences, believes that although aromatherapy does seem to have a tangible effect, over time our senses can switch off to their effects if we are exposed to them long term.

He explained, “Humans adapt to smells quite quickly; which explains why pathologists get used to conducting autopsies and forensic scientists can examine murder scenes.”

Every little helps in the weight loss game, however, so if just taking a deep sniff of a lovely-smelling aromatherapy oil can set us on the road towards lasting weight loss, it has to be an avenue worth exploring.