How do colors affect appetite? Do blue foods really make people lose their appetite?

It is said that color is the language of emotion, because different colors can induce different emotions. For example, orange-red can make people feel warm in winter, while gray is slightly melancholy and negative. Did you know that the color of food can also affect our appetite? For example, some people say that seeing blue food will make you lose your appetite. Is this true?

Color does affect food to some extent. In reality, red foods often stimulate people's appetite. For example, tomatoes, peppers, and watermelons are very popular, and many people even drool when they think of peppers. Some people have done experiments like this, where they paired the same steak with different colors, and people's reactions were completely different. When the steak was still dark red, many people would eat a piece; when the steak was paired with green or blue, most people would feel nauseous and have a long-term loss of appetite. It can be seen that the color of food does affect appetite.

There are many reasons for this phenomenon. On the one hand, it may be caused by our inherent perception of color. Scientific research shows that red, orange, and bright yellow belong to warm colors. We usually associate them with warmth, softness, and high calories, which stimulate appetite. Green, white, blue, and black belong to cool colors, which usually make people think of strength, toughness, and coldness. For example, when seeing white, many people will think of snow, which makes people feel a little chilly. Correspondingly, food will feel lower in calories. The visual effect of this kind of color is not very likely to stimulate appetite, and may even reduce our desire to eat.

Figure: The picture comes from Tuchong.com

But these are not problems with the food itself, because when you cover your eyes, you can only feel the smell and taste of the food itself. There is also a saying that there is a fear of certain colors in human genes. The most obvious is that when seeing blue, purple and black foods, people will instinctively feel that these foods may be toxic or unhealthy, and thus choose to avoid them. In nature, there are indeed some animals and plants that are naturally blue, and they contain certain toxicity. Scientists also believe that in the color spectrum, blue is a very special existence. When we see blue light, it will directly stimulate our cerebral cortex, which will not only make us feel unusually calm, but also suppress our appetite. Therefore, it is jokingly called this an innate aversion to blue food.

So what other effects does color have on our lives? Scientific research has found that the most direct impact of color on life is to stimulate the brain in different ways, which will produce associations with life experience and environmental things in thinking, and play a role in psychological suggestion. Therefore, color can be applied to many aspects in life. On the one hand, it will affect emotions and health. For example, red will stimulate the excitatory nerves, increase our adrenaline secretion, and blood circulation will become faster accordingly. However, exposure to more red will produce anxiety and more stress, making us feel tired. So try not to use red in dormitories and study rooms. Green can promote body balance and has a calming effect, so you can put some green plants in the office or at home to feel the comfort that nature brings us. On the other hand, it can also be used in daily life for reminders or warnings. The most common is in road traffic, where traffic lights represent different meanings.

In addition, colors are also used for professional attire, for example, police uniforms are generally black or blue, while sanitation workers are mostly orange, and seafarers' uniforms are mostly white, etc. Of course, some foods deliberately use different colors to represent different flavors, such as yellow and orange both represent orange flavor, red represents strawberry flavor or apple flavor, and green represents sour taste.

The fact that colors affect appetite does not necessarily mean that there is something wrong with your psychology or health. Of course, if you experience extremely uncomfortable symptoms when seeing a certain color, it is better to go to the hospital for a check-up.

This article is a work supported by Science Popularization China Starry Sky Project

Author: Zhang Yu (Doctor of Nutrition)

Reviewer: Tao Ning (Associate Researcher, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences)

Produced by: China Association for Science and Technology Department of Science Popularization

Producer: China Science and Technology Press Co., Ltd., Beijing Zhongke Xinghe Culture Media Co., Ltd.