Summertime is often filled with outdoor parties and food trucks, meaning you're spending more time standing¹ up and eating. But if you want to actually enjoy your meal, researchers say you're better off finding a seat.

夏日时光往往离不开户外派对和快餐车，这意味着你会花更多时间站着进食。但研究人员表示，如果你想真正享受美食，最好还是坐下来。

A new study published in the Journal of Consumer Research finds posture² impacts taste perception, with food tasting better when you're sitting down. Lead author Dipayan Biswas, PhD, professor of marketing³ at the University of South Florida, is an expert in cross-modal effects and looked specifically at how the vestibular sense, which is responsible for balance, posture and spatial⁴ orientation⁵, interacts with the gustatory sensory⁶ system, which impacts taste and flavor.

发表在《消费研究杂志》上的一项新研究发现，进食姿势会影响味觉感知，坐着的时候，食物的味道会更好一些。研究论文第一作者、南佛罗里达大学市场营销学教授迪帕扬·比斯瓦斯博士是跨感觉通道领域的专家，他专门研究了负责平衡、姿势和空间定向的前庭觉与影响味道与口感的味觉系统的互动机制。

He found that holding a standing posture for even a few minutes prompts physical stress, muting taste buds. The force of gravity pushes blood to the lower parts of the body, causing the heart to work harder to pump blood back up to the top of the body, accelerating heart rate. This activates⁷ the hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis⁸ and leads to increased concentrations of the stress hormone⁹ cortisol. This chain reaction reduces sensory sensitivity, which impacts food and beverage¹⁰ taste evaluation¹¹, food temperature perception and overall consumption volume.

他发现，保持站立姿势仅几分钟就会引起身体紧张，从而屏蔽味蕾。重力把血液推向身体下部，要将血液输送到身体上部，需要心脏更加用力，从而导致心率加快。这会激活下丘脑—垂体—肾上腺（HPA）轴，并导致压力荷尔蒙皮质醇浓度的上升。这种连锁反应将降低感觉的敏感性，后者会影响对餐饮口味的评价、对食物温度的感知以及进食总量。

When people experience discomfort¹², foods that normally taste good do not appear as pleasant to the palate. Biswas confirmed his hypothesis by having 350 participants rate the tastiness of a pita chip. Those who were standing gave it a less favorable rating than those who were sitting in a padded chair.

当人们感到不适时，美味的食物似乎不会带来味蕾的愉悦。通过让350名参与者评估一种皮塔饼的口感，比斯瓦斯证实了他的假设。那些站着进食的人对这种食物的评价要比坐在坐垫椅上进食的人差一些。

Researchers then provided participants classic bite-sized brownies baked at a local restaurant that were tested and widely considered pleasant tasting. Those who were sitting down rated them to be most delicious. However, when the baker¹³ altered the recipe and made the taste unpleasant by adding an extra ? cup of salt, the results were opposite. Participants standing up didn't notice the brownies tasting saltier to that extent, and actually rated them to have a relatively¹⁴ more favorable taste perception than those who sampled them while sitting down.

随后，研究人员向参与者提供了当地一家餐馆制作的小块布朗尼精品蛋糕，这些蛋糕经过了试吃，人们普遍认为很美味。那些坐着进食的人对其评价为最可口。不过，当面包师改变配方，额外加入四分之一杯盐而让蛋糕变得难吃时，结果却截然相反。站着进食的参与者并没有注意到布朗尼蛋糕的味道变咸了，实际上他们对改变了配方的蛋糕评价要高于那些坐着品尝的参与者。

"This finding suggests that parents might be able to make unpleasant-tasting, healthy foods seem more palatable¹⁵ to reluctant children by having them eat standing up (vs. sitting down). In a similar vein¹⁶, it might be beneficial to maintain a standing posture when consuming pharmaceutical¹⁷ products that have unpleasant tastes."比斯瓦斯说：“这一研究结果表明，家长或许可以让不愿吃东西的孩子站着（而不是坐着）进食，从而让味道不好的健康食物显得更加可口一些。同样的道理，在吃味道不好的药品时保持站姿也许是有益的。”

Biswas expanded the study by inducing additional stress. He required the participants to try fruit snacks while carrying a shopping bag, mimicking¹⁸ what happens when one tries samples at a grocery store or in a food court. Both sitting and standing participants reported the additional weight made the food item taste even worse. This highlights the underlying¹⁹ mechanism²⁰ related to physical stress driving the effects of posture on taste evaluations²¹.

比斯瓦斯通过诱发额外压力扩展了研究的范围。他要求参与者在携带购物袋的情况下品尝水果点心，以模拟在杂货店或食品店品尝食物样品时的情形。坐着和站着进食的参与者都表示，额外的负重使食物的味道变差了。这凸显了一种与身体压力相关的内在机制，而使得姿势对味觉评估产生影响的正是身体压力。

In addition, the team tested posture's impact on temperature perception. Participants were provided cups of hot coffee. Those standing up reported it not being as intense as those who were sitting down. However, they drank less than those sitting, suggesting physical stress suppresses appetite. Eating while standing can also help with long-term weight loss goals. Specifically, eating while standing (vs. sitting) leads to lower amount of consumption. Moreover, a standing position leads to greater physical stress, which in turn makes the heart pump more blood.

此外，研究团队还测试了姿势对温度感知的影响。参与者拿到了热咖啡，站着喝咖啡的人所评估的咖啡温度要低于坐着喝的人。不过他们喝掉的咖啡要比坐着的人少一些，这表明身体压力会抑制食欲。站着进食还有助于实现长期减肥目标。具体来说，站着吃饭（与坐着吃饭相比）会导致进食量较少。此外，站立姿势会导致更大的身体压力，这相应地会使心脏泵出更多的血液。