Vanilla smell, its appeal and possible use in food
What it found
Vanilla is one of the most liked smells across cultures and most people say it smells sweet.
Food scientists are looking at whether sweet smells could help keep foods tasting sweet while using less sugar.
What they found
Studies in people
A widely liked smell
Vanilla is one of the most liked smells across different cultures. Most people also rate it as smelling sweet.
Other findings
Why smells seem pleasant
Scientists have suggested several reasons why people find smells pleasant. These include learning from experience, built-in responses and the shape of the smell molecules themselves.
Sweet smells replacing sugar
Food scientists are exploring whether sweet smells could help keep commercial foods tasting sweet. This might let makers use less sugar or other calorie-containing sweeteners.
Cost of vanilla flavouring
Artificial vanilla flavouring costs much less than natural vanilla pods. The price of natural pods also goes up and down a lot.
What the authors conclude
- They note that food scientists are increasingly interested in using sweet smells to cut down on sugary sweeteners in products.
- They suggest this approach would be easier because artificial vanilla flavouring is cheap compared to natural vanilla pods.
How it was done
Scientists do not yet fully agree on why people find certain smells pleasant. Several different ideas have been put forward over the years to explain these reactions.
The authors looked at past work on why people like the smell of vanilla. They also outlined how vanilla has been used in food and medicine over time. No new experiments with people or animals were run for this paper.
What it can’t tell you
- We summarised it from the abstract only.
- This paper looks back at past work rather than testing anything new.
- It cannot show whether adding vanilla smell actually makes people eat less sugar in daily life.
Who paid
- Authors work at
- Oxford University, UK
The paper
- Title
- Odour hedonics and the ubiquitous appeal of vanilla
- Type
- ReviewThe authors read earlier studies and describe what they found. It isn’t a new study.
- Evidence
- Studies in people
- Summarised from
- Abstract only
- Cite
- Spence C (2022). Odour hedonics and the ubiquitous appeal of vanilla. Nature food. doi:10.1038/s43016-022-00611-xPubMed 37117893DOI
Summary written 30 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error