The Sprinkles Diet: Is Taste the Key to Weight Loss?

Good thing I know how to cook well and can make food taste good to begin with. :) Spices!

Interesting stuff. I am curious to see the science behind it. Why does it work?

I remember not too long ago, a few studies saying the eating a meal with a variety of different flavors, textures resulted in the diner eating more calories than a diner with a plate heaped with 1 or 2 foods. Their point was that variety resulted in the diner eating more food.

Re: the crystals themselves - what are they made of???

If the control group consisted of people who were effectively ignored for the 6 months of the study, then I would suspect that the "Hawthorn Effect" was responsible for the differences between the groups.

In the book "Snake Oil Science" by R. Barker Bausell, the author discusses the difficulties in setting up adequate controls for experiments. One of the things he discusses is that it is well known that people:
- who know that they are being observed, or
- who are asked to do something specific in a study, or
- who are given procedures or products that they are told will possibly help them in some manner,

will tend to behave differently by:

- working harder at the assigned tasks or processes, and/or
- taking their prescribed meds more conscientiously, and/or
- avoiding harmful activities that might exacerbate their conditions, and/or
- reporting helpfully what they think the experimenter wants to hear, and/or
- actually believing that they have been helped by the procedure whether or not there are any measureable improvements.

It appears here that there were indeed measureable improvements, but because there was no placebo to control for the other above Hawthorn Effects, it isn't clear that the magic pixie dust was responsible for the measured differences. That is, the folks who were ignore didn't have this shaker of magic pixie dust to sprinkle over their food at every meal, and so probabaly forgot for long stretches that they were the control group -- if they even were told that they were partakers in the study at all.

Now, I'm just speculating here, because I haven't looked at the study itself (lazy person that I am), but based on Mike's report of it, it looks to me that it doesn't prove anything except that the folks who sprinkled magic pixie dust on their food paid more attention to their diet than the folks who just went on with their normal daily activities.

On the other hand, spices and herbs certainly perk up otherwise bland food! Yum!

'If healthy food tasted good ...'

When an article starts with that phrase, you know it's going to be an ad for something stupid like 'diet sprinkles'. sheesh.

This study is interesting but it's published by "Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation". That's not a bad thing, but it's the author's institute. That suggests the possibility of less than complete academic rigor in reviewing the numbers and study construction. If this were in say American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, I would be more impressed. That doesn't make it invalid but it certainly carries less weight than peer reviewed data.

Wow, very interesting! Can't believe what this world has come to...

I agree that preparing healthier food in a manner that allows it to retain its nutritional value while tasting good will most likely lead to more people eating better food. I think many people say to themselves that food that is good for them must taste bad, and therefore don't want to even try it. I'm not so sure that the 'sprinkle diet' is going to catch on and be effective, but I can see validity to making healthier food taste better.

This diet intriques me. I wonder what they will think of next!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I could swear that studies have proven that artificial sweetners don't work, because the it doesn't release the same chemicals to the brain that real sugar does.

I would think that these so called "Sprinkles" would be similar in that it would not send the correct signals to the brain.

Interesting. I know a lot of people (my husband included) that don't like healthy food because they don't like the taste of vegetables or salads. A lot of people will eat broccoli with loads of cheese and butter on it, but that kind of cancels out the nutritional value of it. I guess if these flavor crystals (I'm guessing they are freeze-dried artificial flavor liquids) make broccoli taste like ranch dressing or cheese and people eat it, it's probably not a bad thing. Of course, you can probably get a similar effect by seasoning your veggies with herbs, garlic, lemon juice, or other low-calorie flavor enhancers.

I agree with other posters who suspect that this "research" is geared towards selling yet more processed foods.

And why on earth would anyone want to put strawberry or raspberry fake-flavoured sprinkles on their food when real strawberries and raspberries are very low in calories and also very healthy?

Sheesh!

Actually, the "Tastants" aren't sweeteners, they won't change the flavor of your food at all. Dr. Hirsch is a very well respected doctor -- published over 180 times in medical journals. His study and paper were peer reviewed and it was presented at the endocrinology society. Truthfully, after looking at the paper and hearing Dr. Hirsch speak about it, this doesn't seem like another gimick. There is a lot of science and research behind this...

Well I find it interesting having recently moved from South Africa to America to find how much more salty and sweet American foods are than back home. I think USA foods must already have many more flavourants added than South African foods. So maybe that magic pixie dust fairy should just tell American food manufacturers which magic crystals to use and viola.... there apparently go the worlds obesity problems!

But also...losing weight really isn't the challenge we're facing. I've lost weight on just about every diet even the crazy ridiculous ones, I ever went on - it's keeping it off.... guess we've just gotta keep sprinkling!

I'd also be interested to see if there was any connection between the researchers and the sprinkles.
Cari

No doubt, you did a good study for this post.

If Sprinkling diet really showed such a good results then may be it could be the future diet.

So, I'm curious about who sponsored this study. Since diet soda and diet food have been around people just keep getting fatter. This clearly isn't the method. You're right people need to be all about whole foods.

wow, that is really interesting. Usually the tongue can pick up on suger and flavour supliments and not make us feel as fulfilled, but in this case it doesn not appear to be the case. Definitely worth further investigation.

I would love to know what was really in those sprinkles.

I don’t think this study had a big enough sample size to justify a conclusion about whether or not this technique will be able to help with the general obesity problem. It does mark it as an area for further study though. The results will no doubt be very interesting.

Hi guys. This dateline piece is posted on Youtube and it explains more about the doctor and how it works. Http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdxPqgssk0c

also can find the ingredients on the website at trysensa.com

This link has a discussion of the study--was done a while back--and there are some spice combination recipes to try at home if you want to try out the concept. I would love to find a copy of the magazine article that mentioned it.

http://bodyflexsupportgroup.yuku.com/topic/516/t/Anyone-remember-the-Sprinkle-Thin-spices-combos-posted-here.html

Seems that it might be a little better to just retrain your tongue to find healthy foods and cooking methods you enjoy. Last year my husband was working really hard at losing weight and found that he had a new found appreciation for foods he would normally pass on, just because they were healthy and he "could" eat them. I made a fruit salad for him once that had some raisins in it(he normally doesn't eat them)and he ate every one of them saying they were the sweetest treat he had eaten all day.

I'm doing the same thing now, trying to find healthy alternatives to cravings... hummus and veggies instead of chips for a snack, etc.

Hello,

The 2nd commenter asked about the ingredients, you can find them here - http://www.trysensa.com/index.cfm?action=shop.viewoffer - just click on the link on that page that says "View Ingredients".

It contains natural flavor, which is another name for MSG. You can research this online and there are many books out about this, one I recommend is Excitotoxins by Dr. Russell L. Blaylock. MSG has been linked to Alzheimers and Parkinson's disease along with a whole host of other health maladies.

Another ingredient of Sensa/the Sprinkle Diet is maltodextrin. This often contains MSG but not always, unlike the ingredient natural flavor, which can contain anywhere from 20-60% MSG.

It maks a lot of sense that MSG is an ingredient of this product since it is a taste enhancer. I encourage everyone to research these ingredients on their own if you are concerned about the effects that MSG has on the body - it's found under many different names (hydrolyzed vegetable protein is another big one) and is common ingredient of processed food.

Just another reason that I suggest creating a healthy lifestyle and switching to whole foods that you learn to cook with herbs and regular spices, not only to lose weight but to feel great with loads of energy. ;)

JoLynn, the Sensa tastants actually don't contain MSG. (See here: http://www.trysensa.com/index.cfm?action=home.proof) I've been using them for 2 months (I'm a beauty editor/blogger who attended a conference that Dr. Hirsch spoke at in May) and they've been working, slowly but surely. Not only do I feel fuller faster, but it's changed the relationship I have with food; this can be achieved through other means that are sometimes recommended to slow down and appreciate your meals (such as not watching TV while eating, or even eating in front of a mirror), but the Sensa tastants work all the same.

I already have a penchant for healthy food and I'm not a heavy person (I'm 5'6" and 130 pounds, so don't have much weight to lose, barring that increasingly growing spare tire around my waist and the chubby little thighs that have been there since birth!) but I have lost about three pounds, and it's not been water weight. Like I said, I've noticed that I have a different relationship to food, and I now only eat when I am hungry, and stop when I'm full. This is really just common sense, and no, you don't have to buy the Sensa tastants to stop when full...but if you're the kind of person who's been trained your entire life to clear your plate, or who mindlessly eats, it's interesting to watch as Sensa does, indeed, influence your eating habits for the better.

Perhaps I just drank the Kool-Aid, but I found Dr. Hirsch extremely impressive, and as another commenter mentioned, his findings were accepted and presented to the Endocrine Society in San Francisco last week. There's an established link between taste and smell, so (shrug) it all makes sense to me. I guess time will tell if it's just hype or something truly revolutionary! (Like, you know, *science*.)