How food companies exploit taste to make us overeat

Is flavour just a sensory experience? Or the secret key to eating for health? In this episode, Spencer Hyman, flavour expert and co-founder of Cocoa Runners, joins Professor Tim Spector, world-leading scientist in nutrition and gut health, to uncover how the food industry manipulates taste to make us overeat, and how rediscovering real flavour could transform our wellbeing.

Spencer reveals the fascinating science of flavour and why we “taste” with our noses, how chocolate became the world’s first hyper-palatable food, and why modern diets are full of fake flavours designed to make us eat faster. Tim explains how “big food” exploits the brain’s reward system to override fullness signals, creating products that keep us hooked - and what we can do to fight back.

For listeners curious about how to rebuild a healthy relationship with food, this episode includes a practical guide to retraining your taste buds. Spencer and Tim share tips on how to eat more slowly, savour each bite, and use flavour as a natural marker of nutrient-rich, satisfying foods.

Could learning the language of flavour be the most powerful way to eat better - without restriction?

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Timecodes

00:00 Introduction

01:10 The surprising truth about how taste really works

02:45 Why flavour matters more than nutrition labels

05:12 The ‘bliss point’: how junk food hooks your brain

07:40 How big food manipulates your taste buds

10:05 Why eating too fast damages your health

12:32 The 20-minute rule your brain uses to feel full

14:25 Why you should chew more (and talk while eating)

16:58 The simple trick to eat less and enjoy more

19:05 What chocolate reveals about human evolution

21:15 Why most processed foods are designed to deceive

23:48 How to spot hyper-palatable foods instantly

26:10 Why we’ve lost our ability to taste real food

28:55 What ‘bitterness’ really means for your health

31:40 The forgotten skill of flavour literacy

34:25 How to retrain your taste buds in one week

36:45 Why flavour is the one thing big food can’t fake

39:20 How mindful eating can rewire your brain

41:05 The shocking stats on mindless eating

43:30 What the data says about processed food risk

45:25 Why flavour could be your best health tracker

47:40 Can technology teach you to eat better?

49:30 Why enjoying food is essential for good health

51:00 The big takeaway: flavour is your superpower

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Mentioned in today's episode

• Savouring strikes back: healthiness, satiety, mindfulness, community, planet 

• How Important Is Eating Rate in the Physiological Response to Food Intake, Control of Body Weight, and Glycemia?, Nutrients (2020) 

• Hyperpalatability and the Generation of Obesity: Roles of Environment, Stress Exposure and Individual Difference, Current Obesity Reports (2018)

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Episode transcripts are available here.