A Sensa-ble Diet Plan

Chapter 12 of Whiff! relates a remarkable theory proposed by Steven Landau, founder of Scentsational Technologies, as to the recent explosion of obesity in America: “In the old days, moms would cook more often, so a home would typically be filled with aromas for hours on end. This, he asserts, helps to lend a feeling of satiation to the appetite before the meal. Now that the major sources of a family’s food supply are microwavable meals and fast food, aromas aren’t floating around the house inducing satiety. Therefore we are eating more today before we feel satisfied.”

It’s a fascinating idea with an unmistakable ring of common sense. So, why hasn’t the multi-million dollar diet industry latched on with a product geared toward staving our cravings through our nasal passages?

Enter, Sensa, the first weight-loss aid designed to satisfy our appetites by satisfying our noses. “Sensa works with your sense of smell to curb your hunger without affecting the taste of your food,” explains Dr. Alan Hirsch, founder of the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago and creator of Sensa. “This induces something called ’sensory-specific satiety.’ It makes your brain perceive that you’ve eaten more than you have and, thus, you eat less and lose weight.”

Each Sensa Shaker has two sides, one sweet foods (fruit, pastries, cereal) and one for salty (meat, pasta, vegetables, popcorn), and is applied to food much like salt or pepper. And how does Sensa perform against traditional diet aid products? A clinical study concluded last June by Hirsch and colleagues charted the progress of nearly 1500 people who used the sprinkles on everything they ate for a period of six months, with no other changes in diet or exercise routine. “We found an average weight loss over six months of 30 1/2 pounds.”