New obesity control method

With obesity rapidly becoming perhaps the biggest health related issue in western countries, there is massive research going into all sorts of methods and foods that can reduce consumption.

A recent development at the University of Tokyo has gone to new levels in this quest.

Virtual Reality (VR) is a process that uses specially designed googles or glasses, linked to a computer and program, to create any world or place we like.

Now we have “diet googles”. The researchers at the University have used the world of VR to develop a method that makes people not want to each as much as they may normally.

It makes the food appear to be 50% bigger and can distort food to make it look like something else. It seems to not only reduce the amount people eat but also makes them want to eat food they may not know they are eating. If someone doesn’t like vegetables, this can make the food look like something the person likes, eg; chocolate.

So it has the potential to reduce food consumption whilst also increasing the consumption of healthier foods.

It all relies on the human being’s preference to believe what their eyes are saying than what their stomach may be telling them.

It makes you wonder, what next?

Further testing is being done. For more information – http://www.rcast.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/research/profiles/002/