Watching videos of burgers and cake could help dieters resist cravings, study suggests

Researchers from the University of Bristol in England and the University at Buffalo in New York found that people actively trying to suppress food cravings were more likely to spend time watching indulgent food content online - yet ended up eating less of it afterward.

"It may sound counterintuitive, but our findings show that people, particularly those trying to control their diet, can use visual food content as a self-regulation tool," lead author Dr. Esther Kang of the University of Bristol said in a statement.

The motivation behind the study was the growing prevalence of food content in digital media and the assumption it promotes overeating, Kang told Fox News Digital.

The research, published in March in the journal Computers in Human Behavior, included several experiments involving 840 participants ages 19 to 77.

But when later presented an actual bowl of chocolates, the dieters consumed less of it than non-dieters.

Researchers said the behavior may reflect what they call "cross-modal satiation," meaning visual exposure to tempting foods can partially satisfy the desire to eat them.

The findings challenge the common assumption that digital food content inevitably encourages overeating, researchers said.

The study, however, has some limitations. 

The experiments measured short-term behavior in controlled settings, including a lab test focused only on chocolate - and did not show whether the effect lasts over time or translates into real-world dieting success.

Kang noted that while the results were consistent across experiments, they reflect short-term behavior in controlled settings and should not be overgeneralized without further research.

"This research shows us that motivation does matter; when a person is intentionally dieting, they're likely to use these visual cues as tools rather than as stimuli for excessive consumption," Bohn told Fox News Digital.

She added that simply looking at foods can help reduce cravings because the brain starts to feel like you've already experienced eating them.

But Bohn cautioned that the effect may not work for everyone.

"There are individuals - those struggling with impulsive eating or binge patterns - for whom viewing high-palatability food video content will actually enhance cravings as opposed to decreasing them," she said.