Drinking Device to Minimize The Unpleasant Taste of Liquids

Abstract

A drinking device comprising a first compartment to hold a first fluid, a second compartment to hold a second fluid independent of the first fluid, a vertical separation between the first and second compartments, a horizontal separation closing a part of the first compartment, an opening in the horizontal separation to allow flow of the first fluid, and a lip on an upper rim of the device and opposite to the horizontal separation and adjacent to the opening to allow ingestion of the first and second fluids. A method of oral delivery of a first fluid and a second fluid, said fluids having different taste flavors, comprising delivering the first fluid in a bolus head followed by delivering the second fluid in the bolus center, and then delivering the first fluid again in the bolus tail to mask the more unpleasant flavor.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention relates generally to drinking devices. More particularly, the invention relates to a drinking device that minimizes the unpleasant taste of a liquid.BACKGROUND[0002]For years, people have ingested liquid medications having unpleasant flavors with difficulty. The unpleasant taste of medications can decrease the quality of life for patients and decrease compliance with useful or necessary medications. To be able to drink such medications, many people (e.g. children, incapacitated or older patients) currently try to diminish the unpleasant taste of such a medication by mixing it with a liquid that has a pleasant taste, or after the medication is swallowed, drinking as soon as possible a cup of water or another more tasty or pleasantly flavored liquid in an attempt to reduce the unpleasant flavor. Similarly, some people have difficulty ingesting certain fluids whose perception (taste or consistency) they don't favor, e.g., ingestion of r...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The invention is a drinking device and method that helps minimize the taste of unpleasant liquids such as medication. The device has two compartments, one filled with the unpleasant liquid and the other with a more pleasantly flavored liquid. The air and hydraulic pressure in the compartments prevent the two liquids from mixing. When drinking from the device, the person first ingests the more pleasantly flavored liquid, followed by the medication liquid and then finishing with the more pleasantly flavored liquid again. The method also involves delivering the two liquids in a specific order, with the more pleasant liquid first delivered in the head and tail of a liquid bolus and the unpleasant liquid limited to the center or body of the bolus. This minimizes the mixing of the liquids and maximizes the sensory experience of the person.

Problems solved by technology

For years, people have ingested liquid medications having unpleasant flavors with difficulty.

The unpleasant taste of medications can decrease the quality of life for patients and decrease compliance with useful or necessary medications.

Similarly, some people have difficulty ingesting certain fluids whose perception (taste or consistency) they don't favor, e.g., ingestion of radiologic contrast by patients, interfering with the nutrition of children on the autistic spectrum, or with less essential life processes like entertainment (shots of strong or unpleasant alcoholic drinks) Many people can also be particularly sensitive to the flavor of the fluid they don't like and would gag and even vomit if they are exposed to certain unpleasant flavors, e.g. many healthy children, adults with nausea (e.g. from chemotherapy, pregnancy) or who are incapacitated.

If the unpleasant taste of the medication lingers in the bolus tail, the patient will perceive this taste more saliently, resulting in prolonged unpleasant perception of the medication, gagging, and even vomiting.

Even though an increase in salivary flow and rate of swallowing can occur on stimulation with certain odors or flavors in the mouth, waiting for the saliva to wash down the lingering aftertaste of medication can unnecessarily and significantly prolong the unpleasant experience.

The previously invented drinking devices do not appear to be designed to maximize the pleasant taste of both the bolus head and tail, failing to provide an optimized solution to minimize the mixing of the pleasant and unpleasant flavored liquids in both the head and tail of the bolus, therefore potentially prolonging the unpleasant tasting part of the bolus and the duration of lingual taste bud exposure to the unpleasant medications.

One can try to minimize the unpleasant taste of medications by either indiscriminately or uniformly diluting the unpleasant taste of the medication with the pleasant taste of a better tasting liquid, but this approach has significant limitations and drawbacks.

It is not always practical to mix in advance an unpleasantly flavored liquid with a pleasantly flavored one to obtain a flavor that is tolerated by all people, because different people like different flavors.

But none of them allow for rapid continuous delivery and ingestion of an unmixed fluid in both the head and tail of a fluid bolus.

The problem with such approaches is that the unpleasant flavor can often still be felt in the head and / or tail of the bolus even with large dilutions of a medication, resulting in an undesirable mixture of pleasantly flavored and unpleasantly flavored fluids that prolongs the duration of perceiving a lower intensity but nevertheless unpleasant taste.

One would still have to chase the remaining unpleasant taste with the more pleasantly flavored fluid, resulting in a relatively inefficient solution that can unnecessarily prolong the perception of the unpleasantly flavored medication.

After a person swallows the liquid, the taste receptors in the lingual buds are often still exposed to the lingering flavor of the liquid that was just swallowed, resulting in an unpleasant aftertaste.

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