Heavier people have sniffing skills

HEAVIER people have a greater capacity to sniff out food, scientists said yesterday.

Dr Lorenzo Stafford, of the University of Portsmouth, found that people with a higher body mass index (BMI) had a poorer sense of smell for non-food odours and greater sensitivity for the smell of food.

Dr Stafford said: "What these findings suggest are that individuals with higher BMI have impaired sense of smell to odours unrelated to food, but when it comes to food odours, the same individuals perform better.

"It could be speculated that their higher sense of smell for food-related odours might actually play a more active role in food intake."