Comments on: Pass The Sweet Or Salty Flavor Crystals

By: Buddylee

Buddylee — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 11:03:56 +0000

I lost both smell and taste due to sinus infection 3 years ago and it’s not fun and did gain weight. I am always trying to taste something. After much research of my own I decided we really eat from memory. We remember what things smell like and what
food tastes like so we go for our favorites and almost trick ourselves into believing we can taste them. I totally get the brain connection so I am really anxious to try these crystals to see if they trigger the I’m full feeling.

By: Rhonwyyn

Rhonwyyn — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:54:06 +0000

I’ve long thought the world needs to figure out a way to create a way for people to enjoy food without it actually entering our bodies, just our mouths. ‘Cause isn’t that usually the way it is? We want the taste of the good things, even when our tummies are full. Maybe the crystals could fill that role? Unfortunately, though, I’m guessing something like that would lead to increased disordered eating.

By: octopod

octopod — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 23:42:48 +0000

I know two anosmic people. One’s fairly normal weight, rather stocky and muscular but he spends a lot of time at the gym. He enjoys food just fine — he just tends to go for strongly flavoured and textured food. (Loves chewy veggies, crunchy fruit, and pasta with mostly-raw garlic; hates tofu, refried beans, and hot cereal.) The other, who I suspect is more severely anosmic, is very skinny and has very poor personal hygiene, and basically only likes food for social reasons or if it has sugar in it.

The really interesting thing, though, is that both are pretty much completely asexual.

By: star

star — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:37:30 +0000

actually, my daughter works for a trial clinic dr and it DOES work! sorry doubters,

By: Mykal

Mykal — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 15:18:38 +0000

I think the having no sense of smell taste and being overweight fact is wrong. I haven’t looked up any studies about it myself, but I have a coworker who was born with out a sense of smell, and he was chronically underweight. Basically he didn’t enjoy eating food at all, food textures bothered him a lot and he kind of forced himself to eat most of the time. Since he had done some research on this topic he said is was quite common for people with out a sense of smell to be underweight. Maybe it’s different for people born with out it and people who lose their sense of smell though.

By: K

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 23:44:49 +0000

I honestly don’t know – it would depend on what they were.

I am not very discerning about food, I have to say. I think most things are delicious anyway – including things like plain pasta or oatmeal that some people would find incredibly bland. So I’m not sure that making food taste either better or worse would have that great an effect on my appetite.

I have other ways of regulating it (such as to eat at regular times, and to eat slowly so that I have a chance to notice when I’m full). But if I’m hungry, I’ll honestly eat whatever is available, even if it doesn’t taste that great.

By: Liza

Liza — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 23:40:01 +0000

Just because the participants were asked to keep the same eating habits doesn’t mean they did. Just the knowledge that they were in a study involving food might have subconsciously made them eat differently, especially if they had to keep track or write down what they ate (I didn’t read the study, so I don’t know if that’s the case).

Also, as someone else said, the crystals could taste like ass. But I’d probably try them, as long as they didn’t cause anal leakage or something (hellooooo, Olestra!).

By: Ambular

Ambular — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 08:07:12 +0000

Maybe it’s me, but little crystaly sprinkly things sound like something I thought they would have in the way future ala Jetsons style. Right next to the pills you put in your microwave and they turn into a chicken. Either way, I would still never use them. You have no idea what weird chemical is in them. I was told to try artificial sweetners because they were “so awesome!” and the aspartame in them just made my already bad migraine condition like 5 bajillion times worse. I stick to real food. No weird diet food that has inky chemicals in it.

By: lauredhel

lauredhel — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:42:31 +0000

I can’t find any ingredients on the trysensa.com website. I did, however, find this howler:

“Researchers weighed participants at the beginning of the study, then again at the end of the study. The results, illustrated on the following chart, were nothing short of amazing. Those who stuck with the Sensa program lost an average of 30.5 pounds!

Equally impressive was Sensa’s effect on Body Mass Index, a measure of body fat. 94% of participants on the Sensa program went down an entire BMI category, meaning Sensa not only helps you lose weight — it also helps you lose fat!”

It looks like the study hasn’t been peer-reviewed yet, let alone published – it’s just scheduled to be released at a conference at some point. Medline gets no hits on a search for Hirsch + tastant. So yet again, the media is all over commercial “science” with no checks or balances whatsoever.

By: Jackie

Jackie — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 11:48:01 +0000

Yeah, you have to be worried about those chemicals. I can’t eat or drink anything with Aspartame in it, it makes me feel funny. I imagine I’d probably get something like that from those crystals, or who knows, maybe I’d get a nice buzz.*

*Joking about the buzz. Heh, drug humor.