Too much salt can lead to high blood pressure, increasing the risk for heart disease and stroke. Complicating the issue is the fact that, as people age, their sense of taste deteriorates, so it may be difficult to judge the saltiness of food. Enter the sodium monitor, a mouthpiece that detects the levels of salt that goes into a person’s mouth and alerts them when their daily limit is reached.
The artificial taste-sensing system is being developed by a research team at Virginia Commonwealth University that will help people who have difficulty monitoring their diet, particularly people who have lost their sense of taste. Eventually intended to become a “tasting device,” the team decided to start with “something simple,” such as salt, which is easy to detect and may help the large number of people who suffer from hypertension.
Richard Costanzo, Ph.D., is a professor of physiology and biophysics, and is director of research in the Department of Otolaryngology in the School of Medicine. An expert in taste and smell, Costanzo first had the idea a few years ago for a taste-sensing system that would go inside the mouth. He brought in such collaborators as Woon-Hong Yeo, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering in the School of Engineering, who is a specialist in low-profile biosensors and flexible electronics.
Everything for the device must be miniature. Yeo is a designer of nano-tattoos, which are small, super-light, wearable monitoring devices. They feel like a second skin and move with the body.
The original sodium monitor design was a tooth mount, but the design has now become a device similar to an orthodontic retainer, created by James Coffey, D.D.S., associate professor of prosthodontics in VCU’s School of Dentistry. They say to think of it as a Fitbit for the mouth, but, instead of prompting the user for more – more steps, more calories, more distance – it tracks the concentration of sodium ions entering the mouth and notifies the user when the daily threshold has been reached. Data is transmitted to a monitoring device such as a smartphone.
Eventually the team wants to expand the sensor to include other tastes, including sour, sweet and bitter, and also would like to connect the sensor with the body, similar to a cochlear implant that helps a deaf person to hear. The internal taste implant would stimulate the appropriate nerves to allow a perception of that taste.
Costanzo believes that the sodium monitor could teach people to modify their eating behavior. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Americans are still consuming far to much salt on a daily basis. CDC epidemiologist Sandra Jackson says that “nearly all Americans, regardless of age, race or gender, consume more salt than is recommended for a healthy diet.”
Information on the new device was released today in Phys.org.