Augmented Flavours: Modulation of Flavour Experiences Through Electric Taste Augmentation

Anodal Electrical Taste Stimulation to the Chin Enhances the Salt Taste Perception in Subarachnoid Hemorrhage Patients

Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is a critical condition associated with high mortality rates. Hypertension is a significant risk factor for SAH development and recurrence following coil embolization for a ruptured aneurysm. While reduction of salt consumption is crucial for managing hypertension, it often compromises food taste. Anodal electrical taste stimulation (ETS) has been proposed to enhance taste perception without altering salt content. We present the case of a 69-year-old female SAH patient with a ruptured aneurysm at the anterior communicating artery who underwent coil embolization and in whom we tested ETS's efficacy in enhancing the salt taste perception on day 42 after the procedure. ETS effectively enhanced the salt taste perception threshold and perceived concentration; the threshold for salt taste without electrical stimulation was 0.8% of salt-impregnated filter paper, whereas that with electrical stimulation was 0.6%. The perception of salt taste was enhanced: 0.8% and 1.0% of filter papers were perceived as 0.6% and 0.8% without electrical stimulation and 1.0% and 1.2% with electrical stimulation, respectively. This is the first report describing the salt perception-enhancing effect of ETS in an actual patient. Further studies involving actual patients are required to determine how ETS affects habitual salt intake and blood pressure trends.

Virtual, augmented, and mixed reality as a versatile tool in food consumer behavior evaluation: Recent advances in aroma, taste, and texture incorporation

The perceptual behavior of consumers on a product displayed in the market has a vital role in analyzing the importance given to that product. Therefore, various strategies have been developed to understand this consumer behavior in the selection of products. Immersive technologies like virtual, augmented, and mixed reality are among them. With the foremost feature of immersion in the virtual world and interaction of users with virtual objects, virtual reality, and augmented reality have unlocked their potential in research and a user-friendly tool for analyzing consumer behavior. In addition to these technologies, mixed reality also has a significant role in investigating consumer behavior. Studies on immersive technologies in food applications are vast, hence this review focuses on the applications of virtual, augmented, and mixed reality in the food selection behavior of consumers. The behavioral studies are elicited to develop new products based on consumer needs, to understand the shopping behavior in supermarkets for real-time usage, and to know the influence of emotions in a selection of products. The findings suggest that virtual, augmented, and mixed reality induce immersion of the users in food selection behavioral studies. Information on the technological advancements in the tools used for bringing immersion and interaction are discussed for its futuristic applications in food. Though immersive technology gives users a realistic virtual environment experience, its application in food systems is in the budding stage. More research on human response studies would contribute to its innovative and inevitable application in the future.

Eliciting real cravings with virtual food: Using immersive technologies to explore the effects of food stimuli in virtual reality

In this paper, we explore the current technical possibilities of eating in virtual reality (VR) and show how this could be used to influence eating behaviors. Cue-based exposure therapy is a well-known method used to treat eating disorders. There are several benefits to using VR in combination with cue-based therapy. However, before VR-based cue-exposure can be used for therapeutic purposes, the ability of the VR environment to elicit craving responses in participants must be assessed. This was the objective of the first part of the study, where we assessed whether our VR environment elicited food craving responses in participants. Results showed that our VR environment elicited food craving responses: Salivation Magnitude, Food Craving State and Urge to Eat was significantly different from the neutral baseline. In addition, results showed that food cravings measured through the salivation magnitude in response to the virtual condition were not significantly different from the real condition, thus showing that VR had a comparable effect on producing food cravings. The second part of the study was conducted to determine whether the addition of olfactory and interaction cues in VR increased the development of food cravings. The results of this part showed that adding synthetic olfactory cues, paired with visual cues, to our system, provided a significant further increase in food cravings. Our results demonstrate that the use of food cues in VR can increase the development of food cravings and that it is possible to provide a simple yet convincing eating experience in VR. Inevitably, food interaction in VR is still underexplored territory and further research is needed to improve utility and application in disciplines related to food and eating.

Trends of Augmented Reality for Agri-Food Applications

Recent years have witnessed an increasing interest in deploying state-of-the-art augmented reality (AR) head-mounted displays (HMDs) for agri-food applications. The benefits of AR HMDs to agri-food industry stakeholders (e.g., food suppliers, retail/food service) have received growing attention and recognition. AR HMDs enable users to make healthier dietary choices, experience novel changes in their perception of taste, enhance the cooking and food shopping experience, improve productivity at work and enhance the implementation of precision farming. Therefore, although development costs are still high, the case for integration of AR in food chains appears to be compelling. This review will present the most recent developments of AR HMDs for agri-food relevant applications. The summarized applications can be clustered into different themes: (1) dietary and food nutrition assessment; (2) food sensory science; (3) changing the eating environment; (4) retail food chain applications; (5) enhancing the cooking experience; (6) food-related training and learning; and (7) food production and precision farming. Limitations of current practices will be highlighted, along with some proposed applications.

Flexible Tongue Electrode Array System for In Vivo Mapping of Electrical Signals of Taste Sensation

Tongue is a unique organ that senses tastes, and the scientific puzzle about whether electricity can evoke taste sensations and how the sensations have been distributed on the tongue has not been solved. Investigations on tongue stimulation by electricity might benefit the developments of techniques for clinical neuromodulation, tissue activation, and a brain-tongue-machine interface. To solve the scientific puzzle of whether electrical stimulation induces taste-related sensations, a portable flexible tongue electrode array system (FTEAS) was developed, which can synchronously provide electrical stimulation and signal mapping at each zone of the tongue. Utilizing the FTEAS to perform tests on the rat tongue in vivo, specific electrical signals were observed to be evoked by chemical and electrical stimulations. The features and distributions of the electric signals evoked during the rat tongue tests were systematically studied and comprehensively analyzed. The results show that an appropriate electrical stimulation can induce multiple sensations simultaneously, while the distribution of each sensation was not significantly distinguished among different zones of the tongue, and at the same time, this taste-related electrical signal can be recorded by the FTEAS. This work establishes a promising platform to solve the scientific puzzle of how sensations are activated chemically and electrically on the tongue and may provide advanced noninvasive oral-electrotherapy and a brain-tongue-machine interface.

Insight on Current Advances in Food Science and Technology for Feeding the World Population

While the world population is steadily increasing, the capacity of Earth to renew its resources is continuously declining. Consequently, the bioresources required for food production are diminishing and new approaches are needed to feed the current and future global population. In the last decades, scientists have developed novel strategies to reduce food loss and waste, improve food production, and find new ingredients, design and build new food structures, and introduce digitalization in the food system. In this work, we provide a general overview on circular economy, alternative technologies for food production such as cellular agriculture, and new sources of ingredients like microalgae, insects, and wood-derived fibers. We present a summary of the whole process of food design using creative problem-solving that fosters food innovation, and digitalization in the food sector such as artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, and blockchain technology. Finally, we briefly discuss the effect of COVID-19 on the food system. This review has been written for a broad audience, covering a wide spectrum and giving insights on the most recent advances in the food science and technology area, presenting examples from both academic and industrial sides, in terms of concepts, technologies, and tools which will possibly help the world to achieve food security in the next 30 years.

Metallic: A Bivalent Ambimodal Material Property?

Many metallic visual stimuli, especially the so-called precious metals, have long had a rich symbolic meaning for humans. Intriguingly, however, while metallic is used to describe sensations associated with pretty much every sensory modality, the descriptor is normally positively valenced in the case of vision while typically being negatively valenced in the case of those metallic sensations that are elicited by the stimulation of the chemical senses. In fact, outside the visual modality, metallic would often appear to be used to describe those sensations that are unfamiliar and unpleasant as much as to refer to any identifiable perceptual quality (or attribute). In this review, we assess those sensory stimuli that people choose to refer to as metallic, summarising the multiple, often symbolic, meanings of (especially precious) metals. The evidence of positively valenced sensation transference from metallic serviceware (e.g., plates, cups, and cutlery) to the food and drink with which it comes into contact is also reviewed.