Sex is less pleasurable when you're hungry.
Couples should have something to eat before getting intimate
A new study suggests that dining sets the mood for making love as "soft caresses" feel less satisfying when a person is famished.
Experts from the University of Oslo explained that the unusual effect is down to ghrelin - also known as the 'hunger hormone'.
Ghrelin is produced and released mainly by cells in the stomach and previous studies have found that it is linked to other rewards.
The researchers explained: "Beyond its established role as an appetite-stimulating hormone, ghrelin is also involved in assigning value to social rewards such as touch."
For the experiment, 60 participants were asked to come to the laboratory for tests on two separate days - one a 'food' day and the other a 'fasting' day.
On both days, participants had their right shin touched at various speeds as their brains were scanned using an fMRI scanner.
The results revealed that the touches were rated as more pleasant on the 'food' days than on the 'fasting' days.