Sugar Blocker Gum blocks the ability to taste sweetness and is claimed
to make at least some sweet things taste unpleasant according to two
vendors of the product:
The promotional material on the site of one vendor claims that "There
are hundreds of testimonials and a five month test market showed that
98% of the people that chewed SugarBlocker Gum then tried to eat a
Milky Way candy bar, found the candy bar so distasteful that they spit
it out rather than swallow it!" http://www.herbcottage.com/SBInfo.htm
However, no further details are given.
Another vendor states "During our test marketing, we discovered that
when some of the participants chewed SugarBlocker Gum and then tried
their favorite sweet, they disliked the sweet without the gum. In one
instance, after taking one bite of a brownie, the participant ran to
the sink to spit it down the garbage disposal. The next day, when she
saw the brownies, she immediately remembered the awful taste and felt
no desire whatsoever to eat them. We've heard this from many people.
http://www.labrada.com/store/blocker.html
Again, no further details are given
An account of the gum producing an unpleasant taste:
"SugarBlocker Mayhem, WKKX St Louis MO, Steve & DC had a ball with
this one. We sent out samples of SugarBlocker Gum for a trial. The
Producer offered the Gum to Steve & DC - without their knowing what
the gum does. The reaction was Hilarious. The usual morning donuts
tasted awful.They had to spit them out! We did a follow up with Keith
Klein that morning - and ended up taking 150 orders. (The SugarBlocker
Gum is designed to keep you off sweets. After 10 minutes of chewing
the gum, anything you consume that contains sugar tastes awful. Makes
for a great bit on radio)."
http://www.interviewworld.com/MediaProducers/Wacky/contests1.htm
Not everyone has found the gum useful, nor have they found it to cause
an unpleasant taste:
"when I chewed Sugar Blocker and bit a chocolate cookie 18 minutes
later, it tasted only slightly less sweet than normal. Later I tried
two tabs of gum, followed immediately by a cookie. This time the
cookie wasn’t sweet, although it wasn’t disgusting, either. You’d have
no reason to finish that particular cookie, but you wouldn’t be turned
off to cookies for all time... Sugar Blocker should work on alcohol
too, since alcohol is a form of sugar. "Wine will taste like vinegar,"
promises the promo literature, "and beer will taste like, well,
urine." I found cold Chardonnay tasted like communion wine (a
definite disincentive to finish the glass) and Labatt tasted like,
well, beer."
http://www.metrotimes.com/20/01/Columns/scoop.html
Sugar Blocker gum was developed by a sports nutritionist, Keith Kline
(information from the first two web sites listed). However, the
action of the herb was already known to Ayurvedic physicians in
ancient times, and it has long been used for the treatment of
diabetes. The gum is based on a herb called Asclepias geminata.
Although this is described in the promotional literature as a "rare
herb", it appears to be easily available under its better known name,
Gymnema sylvestre (or sylvestris). The Chinese call it Wu Hsueh Teng,
Wu Xue Teng As well as suppressing the taste of sugar, it also acts
as a diuretic, laxative and general tonic.
http://www.nutritionfocus.com/nutrition_supplementation/herbs/Gymnema_Leaves.html
The herb contains gymnemic acid which binds to sugar receptors. "The
structure of those taste buds which detect sugar in the mouth is
similar to the structure of the tissue that absorbs sugar in the
intestine. The important active ingredient of Gymnema sylvestre is an
organic acid called "gymnemic acid." The gymnemic acid is made up of
molecules whose atom arrangement is similar to that of glucose
molecules. Those molecules fill the receptor locations on the taste
buds for a period of one to two hours, thereby preventing the taste
buds from being activated by any sugar molecules present in the food.
Similarly, the glucose-like molecules in the gymnemic acid fill the
receptor locations in the absorptive external layers of the intestine,
thereby preventing the intestine from absorbing the sugar molecules."
http://www.diabetea.com/gym.htm
I have found reference to a metallic taste possibly being associated
with gymnema use in an article from the 1911 edition of the
Encyclopedia Britannica:
"This has been done by the use of the leaves of a common Indian plant,
Gymnema sylvestre. If some of these be chewed, it has been found that
bitters and sweets are paralysed (neither quinine nor sugar giving
rise to sensation), while acids and salines are unaffected. Again,
certain strengths of decoctions of the leaves appear to paralyse
sweets sooner than bitters... ...It has also been found that if the
sweet and bitter taste-cells are paralysed by Gymnema, electrical
irritation of the tip [of the tongue] by a weak interrupted current
does not give rise to an acid taste mixed with sweet, as it usually
does, but to sensations somewhat different, which may be described as
metallic or salt or acid."
http://57.1911encyclopedia.org/T/TA/TASTE.htm
Therefore, anything, including food components, producing a similar
irritation of the tongue tip could result in a gymnema user
experiencing a metallic taste.
A Google search on "gymnema" will identify many web sites offering
gymnema preparations in various other forms, such as tea, capsules,
etc.
Search strategy: 1. sugar "aversion therapy" 2. "Asclepias geminata"
3. gymnema |
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