French scientists have launched a new device which can trick the brain in thinking that food contains more fat, salt or sugar than what it actually has.
The device was unveiled by scientists of the Centre des Sciences du Goût de l’Alimentation of France at the American Chemical Society’s annual meeting in Philadelphia, which claimed to help consumers enjoy the taste of food even in low fat, sugar and salt.
Since long, food scientists have been using chemical aromatics in a combination of essential oils and botanical extracts to lift the taste of food items and beverages.
Scientists have gone a step ahead in inventing a device named as ‘Gas Chromatograph-Olfactometry Associated Taste’ based on this very fact that aroma plays a key role in how we perceive the taste of food.
Using this device, the scientists have scanned and separated natural aromatic molecules from real foods and included them in foods with less fat, salt or sugar.
After subjecting the device tube into the nose, scientists found out that the food became more appealing.
Centre des Sciences du Goût de l’Alimentation researcher Thomas-Danguin, PhD says that most people know that eating healthy foods means reduced amounts of fat, sugar and salt but these happen to be the very ingredients that add delicious taste to food.
He went on to say that through their lab work, he and his colleagues have concluded that the reduction of fat, sugar and salt can be compensated by adding aromas in the foods to make it more appealing.
Thomas-Danguin asked: “If you buy a product made with 30 percent less salt, and you don’t like it because it isn’t very tasty, what do you do?
“You’ll probably reach for the table salt and put some into the product. So the target is missed. Our goal is to optimize the reformulation process, so the food industry can produce more healthful products that consumers will like as they are and will choose to eat them regularly.”
