Good news! Being a foodie could make you slimmer

Foodies, you might think, would tend to be fatter than fussy eaters. Rather than eating to live, foodies live to eat, forever seeking out new and exciting morsels to feast upon, and enjoy nothing more than scaring timid eaters with their tales of culinary derring do. Wolfing down fermented badgers' sweetbreads perhaps, or sauteed fish eyes. But according to the results of a new study by Cornell University, published the in journal Obesity, intrepid eaters have reason to feel smug about both their worldly tastes and their waistlines.

Among 502 American women, those who had tried foods such as kimchi, polenta and beef tongue were grouped as food neophiles (they had to tick at least nine on a list of unusual foods to quality). These women turned out to have lower BMIs than less adventurous eaters. This is significant in the obesity research field because, so far, increased food variety has been associated with weight gain.

The Cornell team also discovered that foodies are more likely to have friends over for dinner, be more physically active and interested in being healthy and exploring their culinary heritage, and are less concerned by how expensive a food is (more on which, later).

Conservative eaters, meanwhile, are more influenced by celebrity endorsement of foods, nice packaging, cost and ease of preparation. This knowledge, the Cornell team suggests, can be used to encourage people to be more healthily adventurous.

So far, so good. I can't help but feel, though, that the personality trait of food neophilia might not be necessarily what's driving BMIs down. It could be money. Surely anyone with an economic advantage will be more likely to be neophilic by the study's criteria? (I think it'd be pretty hard to find many comfortably-off folks who haven't tried nine of the foods on the list). If you're better educated about health and culture, well travelled, can afford exotic foods and experimental restaurants, then you'll be a neophile for this study's purposes. It's well established that obesity falls as income rises, although interestingly, this trend is more marked among women and children than it is among men.

That said, there are picky eaters and true omnivores in every social group. I, for example, hate offal, milk and smelly cheese. I live to eat, and I'm a food neophile according to this study, but I'm pretty fussy for a former food editor. However, there are ways, other than packaging and celebrities, to get over food hatreds.

First, know that very few food aversions are innate. A loathing of coriander is a rare example of a genetic aversion, but most are purely psychological, and can easily be undone by conditioning yourself with repeated exposure to the food. The veteran American food writer Jeffrey Steingarten did this when he was given his first food column, to rid himself of his shameful hatred of Greek food, anchovies and kimchi.

One of the many possible scientific explanations for this is that, if you eat something that your body can easily digest and extract nutrients from, your brain will make it will taste better next time. If you haven't the nerve to eat something your perceive as gross, trying new foods on holiday - when you're happy, relaxed and open-minded - rose tints the taste buds no end. Bring on the sauteed fish eyes.