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Smelling chocolate before and during a workout may help people complete more repetitions without making the exercise feel harder, according to a new study involving moderately trained men. Researchers found that both dark and milk chocolate aromas increased resistance exercise volume, although they appeared to affect participants through different mechanisms.
The study involved 23 healthy men in their early to mid-20s who completed leg-extension exercises after fasting for at least 10 hours. Participants were exposed to either a 90% dark chocolate aroma, a 60% milk chocolate aroma, or water as a control before exercise and between sets. The findings were published in Frontiers in Physiology.
The researchers found that participants exposed to the dark chocolate scent completed about 18 more repetitions than during the water-control condition. Those exposed to the milk chocolate aroma completed about nine additional repetitions. Participants also completed more total sets with the dark chocolate scent.
Despite completing more work, participants did not report higher levels of perceived exertion. Their sense of effort increased as the exercise progressed, as expected, but there was no significant difference between the chocolate and control conditions.
The two aromas produced different effects on appetite. The dark chocolate scent was associated with lower hunger, reduced desire to eat, lower intention to eat and greater feelings of fullness. Milk chocolate, meanwhile, was rated as more pleasant than either dark chocolate or water but did not significantly alter appetite.
Researchers believe familiar food aromas may trigger learned associations that influence how the brain anticipates eating. Dark chocolate, for example, could act as a cue associated with a rich and filling food, potentially creating an anticipatory feeling of fullness even without consuming calories.
The researchers emphasized that this explanation remains speculative. The study did not measure hormones or brain activity, so it cannot establish which biological mechanisms produced the observed changes.
The experiment also had important limitations. It involved only 23 young, moderately trained men, while the chocolate aromas may not have been identical in intensity. The water control was also odorless, potentially making the experimental conditions easier to distinguish.
Further research will be needed to determine whether similar effects occur in women, older adults, trained athletes and other populations, or whether familiar aromas from other foods can produce comparable results.
