Novel device for reducing consumption of flavoring agents from beverages
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Solution Overview
Problem
The excessive consumption of flavored beverages, particularly those high in sugars, leads to health issues like obesity and diabetes, and reducing sugar content diminishes consumer satisfaction, while artificial sweeteners have unknown metabolic impacts and an unpleasant after-taste.
Innovation Solution
A device with two compartments, one for a flavored beverage and another for a less flavored or unflavored beverage, that sequentially releases a defined volume of the flavored beverage followed by a larger volume of the less flavored or unflavored beverage, leveraging the 'retention effect' to maintain taste sensation while reducing flavoring agent consumption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If sugar content in beverages is reduced, then calorie intake is lowered, but consumer satisfaction is drastically reduced due to loss of sweetness
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the beverage into two separate compartments: one containing the flavored/sweetened beverage and another containing unflavored or less flavored beverage. This segmentation allows the consumer to receive both sweet and non-sweet portions, reducing overall sugar intake while maintaining satisfaction from the sweet flavor experience.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different quality characteristics to different parts of the system. The first compartment provides high sweetness concentration where needed for flavor impact, while the second compartment provides low or no sweetness for hydration. This local differentiation allows reduced overall sugar content while preserving consumer satisfaction through targeted sweetness delivery.
2Quantity of substance
If artificial sweeteners are used to replace sugars, then calorie intake is reduced, but consumers experience odd after-taste and concern about unknown metabolic impacts
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the sweetening function from the main beverage composition by providing a separate compartment with pure sweetened beverage. This allows consumers to obtain the desired sweetness without incorporating artificial sweeteners into the entire beverage formulation, thereby avoiding after-taste issues while still achieving calorie reduction through controlled sweet portion consumption.
3Illumination intensity
If generous amounts of flavoring agents are added to beverages, then flavor perception is maximized, but cumulative consumption of flavoring agents increases leading to health issues
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the flavoring agent delivery by concentrating it in one compartment while leaving another compartment unflavored or less flavored. This allows maximization of flavor perception during specific drinking moments while reducing cumulative intake of flavoring agents like sugar, acids, and bittering agents across the entire beverage volume.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent enables periodic flavor delivery through sequential consumption from different compartments. The consumer experiences intense flavor perception in periodic bursts when consuming from the flavored compartment, followed by unflavored or less flavored portions, thereby reducing overall flavoring agent consumption while maintaining satisfactory flavor experiences.
Data Source
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AI summary
The disclosure relates to a drinking device that comprises two separate compartments, a first compartment for holding a flavored beverage or a flavoring agent for reconstituting the flavored beverage and a second compartment for holding an unflavored or weakly favored beverage, and a switching mechanism that allows for the sequential consumption of beverage from the first and the second compartment such that a subject ingests, in the course of each drinking event, first a volume of the flavored beverage and thereafter a volume of the unflavored or weakly favored beverage. Drinking from the device conveys to the subject a sensory experience that is similarto that produced by a typical uniformly flavored beverage even though it only consumed a fraction of the amount of flavoring agent that it would have consumed from drinking an equivalent volume of the uniformly flavored beverage.