electric chopsticks, spoon, and bowl trick taste buds by making food ‘saltier’

Electric salt for a low-sodium diet

 

Excessive intake of salty food or high-sodium meals can cause cardiovascular problems such as hypertension and heart failure over time, and the Japanese seem to be overly fond of the tasty indulgent salt brings.  To offer a solution, researchers from Meiji University and Kirin Holdings have devised an electric spoon, bowl, and a pair of chopsticks that trick people’s taste buds into thinking that the food people are eating is saltier and tastier than they really are.

 

Using the ‘electric taste sensation’ technology developed by the researchers, a very weak electric current flows into the electric spoon, bowl, and chopsticks that barely affects the body and changes the way food tastes in a pseudo-sensory perception. This electric flow makes people think that the food they are eating is so flavorful when in fact it barely contains salt.

images courtesy of Meiji University and Kirin Holdings | header image by Cats Coming

 

 

The technology then improves the taste of low-sodium food, and the salty taste perceived when eating low-sodium food is enhanced by about 1.5 times in a clinical test conducted by the researchers on people who are and were reducing salt in their meals and already on a low-sodium diet.

 

Based on the joint research carried out by the Meiji University’s Dr. Homei Miyashita Laboratory of the Department of Frontier Media Science and Kirin Holdings Company, their daily salt intake amounts to 10.9 grams for men and 9.3 grams for women over 20 years old, both values being very high compared to the World Health Organization (WHO) salt intake standards of less than 5.0 grams per day.

electric spoon

 

 

electric spoon, bowl, & chopsticks for low-sodium diet

 

The developed electric spoon and bowl are more advanced and equipped with the electric stimulation waveform technology that Meiji University’s Dr. Homei Miyashita’s Laboratory and Kirin Holdings first developed in a pair of chopsticks.

 

The so-called ‘electric taste sensation’ adjusts the function of ions such as sodium chloride, which is the basis of salty taste, and sodium glutamate, which is the basis of sweet taste, to change the perception of taste by making food seem to taste stronger or weaker, or in this case, more or less salty.

 

During a public test with over 35 participants, the study on the effectiveness of the electric chopsticks confirmed that the salty taste in the imitated low-sodium food was the same as the ordinary one when the electric stimulation was applied.

electric chopsticks

 

 

Using this result, the university and company proceeded with an electric spoon and bowl to keep on encouraging people to shift to a low-sodium diet without risking the savoriness of the meals they eat. For both the electric bowl and spoon, there are four levels of electric current that people can choose from, which indicate the level of saltiness they want to experience while eating.

 

As the weak electric current flows inside the spoon and bowl, people can enjoy slurping on their soup and noodles without worrying about their salt intake. The university and company write that they are continuing their research on the electric spoon, bowl, and chopsticks, and that they are aiming to launch the spoon and bowl in Japan this year.

testing the electric chopsticks

a very weak current flows into the electric spoon, bowl, and chopsticks that changes the salty taste

 

 

project info:

 

name: Electric salt spoon, bowl, and chopsticks

researchers: Meiji University’s Dr. Homei Miyashita Laboratory of the Department of Frontier Media Science, Kirin Holdings Company

matthew burgos | designboom

jan 16, 2023