Crystals sprinkled on your food makes you want to eat less

Scientists have developed a new product to help in the fight to lose weight, Sensa Tastant crystals.
Sprinkled on food, the crystals enhace food flavours tricking the brain into thinking you have eaten more than you actually have, leading to weight loss .
The crystals act as an appetite suppressant . Trials in Amercia showed that obese participants (1,400) who used the crystals lost approximately two stones in six moths. Others lost only 2 pounds.
The crystals should be available in Britain next year.
Dr Alan Hirsch, a neurologist at the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago said food taste is made up of 75-90 per cent of aroma.
He said, ‘The scientific principle behind Sensa is remarkably simple. As you eat, smell and taste receptors send messages to your brain which release hormones that tell your body it’s time to stop eating.
‘This is a phenomenon we call sensory specific satiety. By enhancing smell, Sensa Tastants were designed to help speed up the process and trigger your “I feel full” signal, so you eat less and feel more satisfied.’
He added: ‘Because Sensa works with your body’s natural impulses, rather than against them, there are no feelings of hunger or intense cravings. Exercise is the biggest tool for weight loss, but if you help people lose weight in the first place they automatically begin to take more exercise.’
Makers of the crystals say they do not contain any stimulants, sodium, sugar, calories or gluten . Even though the ingredients are not known, the crystals are thought to include maltodextrin, silica, tricalcium phosphate, soy and milk.
British scientists are more sceptical about the crystals and their effect.
Dominic Dwyer, a neuropsychologist from Cardiff University, said: ‘The principle of the idea makes sense. If you increase the intensity of a food taste or smell it makes more of an impact on feelings of satiety.’
He added: ‘A mouthwatering smell from food can simply make us eat more. This stuff would have to be very carefully used.’