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SensoTherapy

SensoTherapy is a group of non-chemical compounds that are sprayed or applied as a paste to the tongue to intervene in the process of hunger and food digestion that takes place when a person experiences psychological hunger. The system works to eliminate food cravings and suppress appetite. SensoTherapy was invented by Dr. Michael Cherkassky, an M.D., who practices internal medicine and weight loss in Dallas, Texas. Dr. Cherkassky holds several patents for the SensoTherapy process, which is comprised of all natural organic compounds.

SensoTherapy works by triggering a chemical reaction similar to the one that takes place when food is chewed and fluids are released between the nerve endings. This activates the messaging that takes place between the taste bud sensors and the brain. The use of SensoTherapy compounds satisfies cravings and psychological appetites without eating.

Physical vs Psychological Hunger

Hunger and the desire for food consumption begin in the brain. This is known as psychological hunger. It can be triggered by an image, smell, or feelings, which in turn activates the involuntary parasympathetic nervous system. Known as the cephalic phase of digestion, the entire chain of food consumption is set in motion, as the brain readies the entire digestive system for food. When humans eat, the process of mechanical digestion begins in the mouth. SensoTherapy is an intervention that interrupts the cycle at the start of the mechanical digestion stage, and affects the subsequent physical and psychological processes that take place.

The Anatomy of Eating

The human tongue is covered in bumps, known as fungiform papillae. Each bump is surrounded by as many as 15 taste buds, tiny clusters of microscopic, hair-like nerve endings called microvilli. When the process of psychological hunger begins during the cephalic phase, saliva begins to be secreted.

As food is being chewed, indentations between the nerve endings fill with fluids and a chemical reaction takes place within the sensory cells. As the fluids interact with the sensory cells, proteins in the wall of the cells are changed. These cells are designed to be sensitive to specific taste categories. Messages are then sent to the brain from the taste bud receptors with information about whether the food is sweet, sour, bitter, salty, or umami (savory), the list of known tastes that humans are sensitive to.

The Link Between Foods and Emotion

Studies have shown that there are strong links between taste and emotions. During our evolution as mammals, taste was a sense used to test foods for safety of consumption. Extremely bitter tastes, for example, are an indication that a plant is poisonous, or that a protein has rotted and cannot be eaten. Natural sweet and salty foods, (unlike heavily processed snack foods), can be a sign that a food is rich in nutrients. Savory tastes evoke positive emotions in most humans, because it tends to be a sign that a food is full of healthy protein.

There is also a strong connection between appetite and food cravings and how we "feel" about those tastes. Research has proven that some tastes are connected with feelings developed in infancy. This means we are programmed from a very early age to understand certain foods as pleasurable, with the ability to bring comfort or trigger positive feelings. Humans may also feel that certain foods are "foreign" or unsafe, if we were not exposed to them early on in life.

When the process of psychological hunger is set in motion the parasympathetic nervous system is activated, and feelings about a particular taste sensation emerge. SensoTherapy compounds are designed to work with the various taste sensations that individuals crave. Applied to the tongue or sprayed in the mouth, these complex compounds are absorbed into digestive fluids and cause the same chemical reaction with the cell proteins. Messages are then sent to brain and the craving/taste sensation is satisfied, and corresponding feelings about the food are diminished.

Taste Sensations

In addition to the compounds, SensoTherapy is a method that educates weight loss patients about the complex taste sensations that are in play when the experience cravings and psychological hunger. The average person has somewhere between 2,000 and 10,000 taste buds, with each person having a unique combination of taste buds sensitive to various tastes. It has been discovered that there are supertasters, individuals who have twice as many taste buds as the average human. They are extremely sensitive to tastes, especially sweet and salty, and a new category under review, fatty. Supertasters require less of a taste to reach satiation. Studies have shown that supertasters tend to be thinner than medium to low tasters.

SensoTherapy helps patients determine which of the taste sensations they will be likely be experience, and use the corresponding compound to alleviate the desire for food. When a thought about food triggers a craving, the corresponding spray or paste is applied in the mouth, and on the tongue. The organic compound interacts with the fluids secreted in the taste buds and the corresponding protein reaction occurs. This in turn alerts the brain that the physiological hunger has been satisfied and the person no longer feels a need to eat.

Taste Categories

More extensive research is being conducted and the list of taste categories may be expanded in the future, including sensitivities to fatty and alkaline foods. This could influence research in a number of fields, among them obesity, eating disorders and addictions. The currently accepted categories of taste that have been identified are as follows:

Sweet

The perception of sweetness is mostly caused by sugar or a sugar derivative such as fructose or lactose. A response to sweet might also involve amino acids, or types of alcohols that can be found in fruit juices or alcoholic drinks.

Sour

Most commonly found in acidic solutions such as lemon juice and organic acids that taste sour. This sensation is triggered by hydrogen ions, split off by an acid dissolved in a watery solution.

Salty

The chemical basis of salty is salt crystal, a combination of sodium and chloride. Mineral salts, like those that come from potassium or magnesium, also cause a sensation of "saltiness."

Bitter

Bitter is found in many substances, and there are over 35 different proteins in the sensory cells found to respond to them. During human development, there were thousands of bitter species of plants, some poisonous. Bitter was essential to survival, but is not normally thought to be a taste sensation that is widely craved, unless the body is short on a nutrient that can be found in a bitter vegetable.

Savory

Known as umami, savory was discovered as a taste category by Japanese researchers in 1910. It is caused by foods with glutamic acid or aspartic acid. These two amino acids make up different proteins in food, and some plants. Ripe tomatoes, meat and cheese contain glutamic acid. Asparagus contains aspartic acid.

Additional taste sensations being investigated are fatty and alkaline. Fatty derives from certain acids that saliva splits from fatty foods. There is also a receptor that responds to linoleic acid, one of the triglycerides found in natural fats, such as corn oil, sunflower oil, or soya bean oil.

Research on the sensory cells in taste buds and how science can work with the digestive and nervous systems to curb appetite and induce weight loss is needed.

References

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External links

• Sensotherapy Website