Electric chopstick invention makes food taste more salty

High-tech chopsticks recreate salty flavours through electric currents sent to the tongue

Computerised chopsticks could help reduce sodium intake by recreating salty flavours (Kirin/ Reuters)

Researchers in Japan have invented electric chopsticks that artificially create the taste of salt.

The high-tech chopsticks, co-developed by Meiki University and beverage maker Kirin Holdings, use electrical currents to enhance flavours, with the hope that they can be used to help reduce sodium levels in certain foods.

The chopsticks work through a wearable computer, which straps to a user’s wrist and connects to the chopsticks via a wire.

A weak electrical current then transmits sodium ions to the mouth in order to recreate salty flavours.

“As a result, the salty taste enhances 1.5 times,” Meiki University professor Homei Miyashita told Reuters.

Previous inventions to have come out of Professor Miyashita’s lab include a lickable TV screen that can imitate flavours.

They form part of an emerging product category that involve artificial taste technologies. In 2015, engineers at the National University of Singapore (NUS) developed a Taste+ device that delivers virtual taste sensations through electrical pulses to the tongue.

Working prototypes of a Taste+ cup and spoon demonstrated how sour, bitter and salty tastes could be generated through altering a dial.

The technologies can be used to both enhance the sense of taste, which diminishes as people get older, as well as improve the diets of people in countries where salt intake is too high.

High sodium diets can lead to health issues like high blood pressure and strokes, with the average Japanese adult consuming double the World Health Organisation’s recommended daily amount.

“To prevent these diseases, we need to reduce the amount of salt we take,” said Kirin researcher Ai Sato.

“If we try to avoid taking less salt in a conventional way, we would need to endure the pain of cutting our favourite food from our diet, or endure eating bland food.”

The team hope to transform the prototype into a commercial product as early as next year.