Can you imagine the mouth-watering aroma of freshly-baked bread, a roast or a barbecue?

If you can recall them intensely, you might be in danger of becoming overweight.

Scientists have discovered that obese people can imagine smells more vividly than their slimmer peers.

Obese people can imagine smells, such as freshly baked bread, apple pie or a roast more vividly than those who are slim, scientists found (file photos)

From barbecues to pie, people's ability to imagine smells - especially those that whet the appetite - differs

From apple pie to stilton cheese, they believe differences in our ability to dream up odours - especially those that whet the appetite - may play a role in food cravings.

And previous research has shown that food cravings occur more often in obese individuals.

Researchers believe that having a vivid imagination when it comes to smell may intensify desire for food by conjuring stronger thoughts of flavours and aromas.

They said most people can imagine the view of a favourite location or sing a song to themselves, but not so with imagining smells.

People are known to vary greatly in their ability to imagine aromas of all kinds, whether it be coffee, bacon, chocolate or the sweet scent of roses.

In the study, volunteers completed a series of questionnaires that asked them to imagine both visual and odour cues and then rate their vividness.

Participants with a higher body mass index (BMI) reported a greater ability to imagine both food and non-food odours vividly.

Scientists believe differences in our ability to dream up odours may play a role in food cravings. And food cravings are known to occur more frequently in obese people (file photo)

The researchers based their study on Kavanagh’s Elaborated Intrusion Theory of Desire, which proposes that creating vivid mental images stimulates and maintains food cravings triggered by the thought, smell and sight of food.

Although past studies found that food cravings occur more often in obese people, the role of odour imagery ability had not been examined.

Lead scientist Dr Barkha Patel, from Yale School of Medicine, said: 'These findings highlight the need for a more individualistic approach in identifying factors that may increase risk for weight gain.'

Future research should focus on objective ways of measuring smell ability rather than relying on self-reported ratings, said the authors.