Taste Buddy emits a low-level electrical current to stimulate taste buds so the mouth perceives sweet or salty flavours even when they are not really present.

‘The Taste Buddy could eventually help save lives, by allowing people to switch to healthier food choices.’

It is being developed by scientists at the University of London, led by Prof Adrian Cheok, who unveiled the gadget at the The Big Bang UK Young Scientists & Engineers Fair, in Birmingham. 




The device could eventually be engineered to fit within everyday utensils such as cutlery, cups and cans and the team has already begun working on a prototype spoon.
Prof Cheok said with further development it could be used to allow people to taste something they enjoy while eating a healthy dish, for example making tofu taste like steak or vegetables like chocolate.
“What started out as a fun engineering experiment has now led to something much more exciting with the potential to have a positive social impact,” said Dr Cheok, professor of pervasive computing.”
“Many children hate the taste of vegetables. So I knew that when I became an engineer, I wanted to make a device that could allow children to eat vegetables that taste like chocolate.”
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For sweet tastes there is a channel called TRPM5 which is temperature sensitive, so people taste more sweetness when the food is hot than cold. So to mimic sweeter tastes the device changes the temperature of the tongue rapidly from 77F (25C) to 104F (40C.) We’ve been changing the temperature of the spoon from 25 Celsius to 40 Celsius using an electronic circuit. People have reported sweeter tastes when eating sweets at a warmer temperature.
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The team say that they are also working on producing different tastes which they claim is time consuming because even the difference between a lemon and a lime is vast.
“We also want to take into consideration just how different everyone’s sense of taste is, added Mr Karunanayaka. “For instance, we know that people who eat lots of spicy food, or people who smoke, have less sensitive taste, and therefore need a higher thermal and electrical current to create the taste. To make it robust enough and available to absolutely everyone, we need to do more work.”
Source-Medindia