Can Certain Scents Help You Lose Weight?

A study at Yale has indicated that some people are "super-tasters," with heightened responses to flavors, Katz said. Such eaters find it hard not to overeat, because food is such a pleasure. Salt in sweet food and sugar in salty food can also stimulate appetite, he said.

The study also does not address the fact that people eat for reasons that have nothing to do with taste, said Connie Diekman, the director of university nutrition at Washington University in St. Louis.

"I'd like to see more studies, especially those done in people who eat just because," Diekman said.

Keith-Thomas Ayoob, an associate professor of pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, said he would like to see a longer-term study.

"Six months is about the max for demonstrating results of weight loss," Ayoob said. "After that, weight loss tends to level off."

Researchers also need to look at whether people will tire of the flavor sprinkles over time, he said.

Learn more about Hirsch's study and the The Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation at www.smellandtaste.org.