Gum Could Put Sweet Cravings to Rest

March 31, 2007 — -- What if you could stare down a spread of cakes, cookies and sweets galore, without wanting a bite of anything?

A tiny new invention is hoping to help dieters deny dessert by changing the way sweet foods taste. A lozenge/gum called Sugarest temporarily numbs the sweet tooth, taking away the chewer's physiological ability to taste anything sweet for about 45 minutes.

"If you try to eat anything sweet, you just cannot taste it at all. Your receptor cells on your tongue are blocked," explained George Kontonotas, president of Genotec, the maker of Sugarest.

Marketed as "instant will power," Sugarest purports to numb taste buds long enough to get past a sweet craving, the idea being that if there's no reward for eating -- the taste -- there'll be no desire to eat.

"The truth of the matter is a lot of us can't say no to that all the time," Kontonotas said. "And if you are that type of individual, you can't say no, maybe this is a viable solution for that dilemma."

The active ingredient in Sugarest is an herb called gymnema sylvestre, which has been sold over the counter for years.

"What this is designed to do is, you chew the gum so when you eat the cake, you can't taste the sugar," said Dr. David Katz of Yale University's School of Public Health.

"Good Morning America Weekend Edition" camped out in front of the popular New York City candy shop Dylan's Candy Bar to put Sugarest to the test.