(By Dr. Joseph D. Lim and Dr. Kenneth Lester Lim, BS-MMG, DDM, MSc-OI)
HERE’S a taste of the future: an electronic tongue that imitates flavors.
That’s craving cake and eating it too – even on a dietary restriction.
Called e-Taste, it was developed by scientists at the Ohio State University. The virtual tongue samples a food item and partly recreates its flavor.
Researchers Yizhen Jia and fellow scientists used chemicals that mimic the five basic tastes: sweet (the chemical glucose), sour (citric acid), salt (sodium chloride), bitter (magnesium chloride), and umami (glutamate). A wide range of foods are reflected in these flavors, according to Jia.
The e-Taste measures the amount of the chemicals in food using sensors that convert information into digital data. The information is sent to a device that pumps small amounts of flavors into hydrogels that are then channeled into a small tube pushed under the tongue.
To taste their innovation, the researchers started with one flavor. They asked 10 people to rate the device on a five-point scale on how it reproduced sourness as against real sour tastes.
Lemonade, cake, fried egg, fish soup and coffee were then “served” in the next stage of the research: six people were asked to distinguish between their flavors. Eight out of 10 times, they could, reports Alex Wilkins writing in the New Scientist.
Wilkins says flavors alone won’t do the trick. He cites Alan Chalmers of the University of Warwick, United Kingdom, saying that taste also involves other senses. “Next time you have a strawberry, close your nose and eyes. A strawberry is very sour, but it is perceived as sweet because of its aroma and the red color,” Chalmers says.
“So if you send just sour across with their device, you will never know that it is actually from a strawberry. An e-tongue such as this is able to extract the amount of sweetness (and) sourness, but not taste as a human tongue perceives them.”
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Dr. Joseph D. Lim, Ed. D., is the former Associate Dean of the College of Dentistry, University of the East; former Dean, College of Dentistry, National University; Past President and Honorary Fellow of the Asian Oral Implant Academy; Honorary Fellow of the Japan College of Oral Implantologists; Honorary Life Member of the Thai Association of Dental Implantology; and Founding Chairman of the Philippine College of Oral Implantologists. For questions on dental health, e-mail jdlim2008@gmail.com or text 0917-8591515.
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Dr. Kenneth Lester Lim, BS-MMG, DDM, MSc-OI, graduated Doctor of Dental Medicine, University of the Philippines, College of Dentistry, Manila, 2011; Bachelor of Science in Marketing Management, De la Salle University, Manila, 2002; and Master of Science (MSc.) in Oral Implantology, Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany, 2019. He is an Associate Professor; Fellow, International Congress of Oral Implantologists; and Fellow, Philippine College of Oral Implantologists. For questions on dental health, e-mail limdentalcenter@gmail.com/PN
