Food-based multisensory stimulation as a potential innovative approach for brain health and disease

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Background This Review integrates evidence from neuroscience, psychology, and clinical research to outline a multisensory, food-based neurosensory framework as a promising non-pharmacological approach to neurological rehabilitation. Moving beyond a traditional focus on flavour perception, we discuss how food-evoked multisensory stimulation, integrating visual, olfactory, gustatory, auditory, and somatosensory cues, can engage neural circuits within the orbitofrontal cortex, hippocampus, amygdala, and related limbic networks. Scope and approach We examine how carefully designed culinary experiences, including colour–aroma congruency, sensory-rich presentation, and culturally meaningful flavours, may promote experience-dependent neuroplastic changes in individuals with neurological vulnerability. Although current evidence derives primarily from preclinical models of environmental enrichment, mechanistic studies, and small-scale pilot interventions, further clinical trials are required to confirm this potential. This review integrates existing evidence, identified through a systematic search of PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science, according to clearly defined inclusion criteria, into a coherent neurosensory framework applicable to brain health and disease. Key findings and conclusion While the evidence base remains largely preliminary and predominantly derived from narrative synthesis, pilot studies, and mechanistic reasoning rather than randomised controlled trials, the convergence of findings across neuroscience, sensory science, and clinical rehabilitation supports the plausibility of food-based multisensory enrichment as a complementary non-pharmacological approach. By reframing food-related experience as an active, structured form of sensory-cognitive engagement, this review identifies promising directions for translational research. However, clinical recommendations will require rigorous experimental validation, integration of cultural and personal factors into intervention design, development of standardised protocols, and disease-specific adaptations.

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Related topics: Olfactory and Sensory Function Studies · Multisensory perception and integration · Color perception and design