Instagram: Food Pictures make Certain Meals Less Enjoyable

Instagram users--take note. Taking too many pictures of scrumptious meals could actually make them less enjoyable to eat, according to a recent study by researchers at BYU's Marriott School of Management.

"In a way, you're becoming tired of that taste without even eating the food," said study coauthor and BYU professor Ryan Elder, via a press release. "It's sensory boredom - you've kind of moved on. You don't want that taste experience anymore."

Looking at pictures of meals before consumption, especially a particular treat that you've been dying to have, may make it less exciting to eat right before.

Study authors Elder and coauthor Jeff Larson, both marketing professors in BYU's Marriott School of Management, said they believe that an over-exposure to food imagery can increase a person's satiation, or what's more commonly defined as enjoyment that comes with repeated over consumption.

In order to test this theory further, they recruited 232 people to look at and rate pictures of food.

In one of the studies, half of the participants viewed 60 pictures of sweet foods such as cake, truffles and chocolates while the other half looked at 60 pictures of salt food, such as chips, pretzels and French fries.

After rating each picture based on how appetizing the food appeared, each participant finished the experiment by eating a very salty food, such as peanuts. They were then asked to rate how much they enjoyed the peanuts.

The end results showed that peopled who looked at the salty foods ended up enjoying the peanuts less even when they had never looked at peanuts and just other salty foods.

"If you want to enjoy your food consumption experience, avoid looking at too many pictures of food," Larson said, via the release. "Even I felt a little sick to my stomach during the study after looking at all the sweet pictures we had."

More information regarding the study can be found via the Journal of Consumer Psychology.