'Smart' chopsticks enhance the taste of food in Japan
STORY: Location: Tokyo, Japan
These chopsticks can enhance the taste of food by using an electrical stimulation waveform
They're connected to a device strapped to the eater's wrist
A weak electric current moves sodium ions in the food enabling the tongue of the person eating to feel an enhanced taste
Homei Miyashita, Professor, Meiji University
"There is a computer inside this. That computer uses electricity to float and suck the sodium ions in the food that you are eating. As a result, we are able to enhance the salty taste by up to one and a half times."
The chopsticks have been tested on people who follow a low-sodium diet and found that the device enhances the salty taste by up to 1.5 times
Ai Sato, Researcher, Kirin Holdings:
"To prevent severe lifestyle-related diseases or to prevent these diseases itself, we need to reduce the amount of salt we take regularly. But Japanese people tend to ingest a large amount of salt in their diet. If we try to avoid taking less salt in a conventional way, we would need to endure cutting out our favourite food from our diet, or endure eating bland food."
