Chopsticks from Japan make food tastier to cut down on salt

Scientists in Japan have come up with a clever way to get people to cut down on the amount of salt they eat.

Consuming too much salt, or sodium, is bad for you.

But the inventors of the new chopsticks say the sticks enhance salty tastes in food.

The idea is to help people who normally eat too much salt cut down on the amount they consume by increasing the salty flavour they experience from each meal.

The chopsticks intensify tastes in the mouth using electrical stimulation and a mini-computer on a wristband which is worn by the user.

The device uses a very weak electrical current to transmit sodium ions (tiny bits of salt) from the food to the taste buds where users can taste saltiness.

"As a result, the salty taste enhances 1.5 times," said Meiji University professor Homei Miyashita who worked on the chopsticks.

It's thought the chopsticks could prove pretty popular in Japan where the traditional diet includes quite a lot of salt.

"To prevent these diseases, we need to reduce the amount of salt we take," said Kirin researcher Ai Sato who helped make the chopsticks.

"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 scientists have explored lots of different ways technology can affect and heighten the human senses, including a special TV screen viewers can lick to experience different food flavours!

Miyashita and Kirin are now making tweaks to their chopsticks which they hope to be able to sell very soon.

Would you give these electric chopsticks a go? Let us know in the comments!