Food porn: the calorie-free way to indulge in glossy topped doughnuts, freak shakes and hearty pastas, right? Not so much. A review by Oxford University has brought us the news that nobody wants to hear: looking at images of delicious food can make us pile on the pounds. It turns out that we really do eat with our eyes.

Professor Charles Spence says that looking at an onslaught of “unhealthy” food images can have the same effect as being offered plates of tasty treats over and over again, slowing wearing down our self control.

“The taste cortex lights up,” he told the Guardian.
“There’s an increase in blood-flow and, depending on the state of the person, or how realistic the image is, it might be triggering restraint mechanisms. You’re seeing it and thinking: ‘I shouldn’t be eating that.’”

Long story short: our self-restraint muscle can only be flexed so many times, so after a few too many instagram scrolls, you might find yourself saying yes when you’d normally say no, overloading your plate at meal times and underestimating the calorie content of regular foods.

So what does Professor Spence think of our glossy mother tome, delicious. magazine?

“Should Delicious and all those food magazines be moved to the top shelf? I don’t think it’ll go that far,” he says.
“But I do think government agencies should think seriously about our exposure to visual food cues. We’re being subjected to so much food stimuli and nobody’s really thought about the consequences.”