Could this £14 perfume help you to beat cravings and lose weight?

Veld's Prends-Moi perfume has hit headlines after claiming that it can help to reduce emotional eating cravings and boost weight loss.

According to the manufacturers, Prends-Moi is 'the first fragrance to boost your wellbeing', and the blend of bergamot, mandarin, grapefruit, lilac and ylang ylang is said to release B-endorphins present in the skin, transmitting a pleasure message to the brain. This in turn triggers a sensation of contentment, and reduces the urge to overeat.

Studies conducted at the Centre of Biological Research and Cutaneous Experimentation when the fragrance was first released in 2012 showed that after 28 days of wearing the perfume, 75% of women aged 18 and 75 agreed that Prends-Moi reduced the need to snack, and 73% felt a feeling of pleasure.

Ultimately, an impressive 70% thought that the scent had changed their eating behaviours.

To use Prends-Moi effectively, you apply it once in the morning, as you would any normal perfume, and then top it up whenever the urge to snack arises.

The perfume also contains a 'slimming complex' formulated with caffeine, carnitine and spirulina extract, activating the two key enzymes directly involved in lipolysis (fat degradation), so you can massage it directly on to the skin of areas you particularly want to target.

Prends-Moi is currently priced at £14 for 100ml from The Fragrance Shop. Are you tempted to give it a go?

So can scent really help with weight loss?

It's not just perfume that can help you beat your junk food cravings. In fact, some research has found that sniffing healthy foods can reduce your appetite too. For instance, the German Research Center for Food Chemistry found that the scent of extra virgin olive oil can lead to greater feelings of fullness and satisfaction, and similar results have been found with participants sniffing apples, bananas, fennel and grapefruit too.

Aromotherapists say that essential oils can also boost your weight loss efforts. Eugeny Couture of British brand Amphora Aromatics told the Daily Mail, 'Essential oils have a huge influence in our daily lives. They can enhance our mood, help us relax and unwind or focus our concentration, so it makes total sense that they can help us lose weight too.'

She recommends carrying a bottle of grapefruit oil in your pocket or handbag and taking three to five deep breaths of it six or more times a day, to regulate appetite and encourage healthy eating choices.

Not a fan of zesty scents? Sweet smells like vanilla are also championed as having a similar effect, thanks to 'Christmas Dinner Syndrome'. The idea is that the more you immerse yourself in a smell, the less you feel the urge to taste it (which is why the person who cooks the festive meal is often least excited to eat it).

Inhaling a candle, fragrance or oil with vanilla can target chocolate cravings specifically for this very reason - so the next time you want to reach for a slab of Cadburys finest, you know what to do...