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(More customer reviews)After reading the patent application for this product, I conclude that the salty "tastants" contain quite a lot of MSG or other free glutamate as flavor enhancers. Hence my thought that results might be the same with "Sazon". The salty "tastants", all followed by the word 'flavor', by month, are: cheddar cheese, onion, horseradish, ranch, taco, and parmesan. The patent application states that the constituents of these flavors are preferably generally recognized as safe by the FDA. (as an aside, there have been studies showing a link between MSG consumption and reduced body fat and weight...along with studies with contradictory results).
Is it a bad idea to sprinkle MSG on everything one eats? There lies controversy. Does an excess of glutamate surrounding a neuron cause cell death? Absolutely. Is this process implicated in neurodegenerative diseases? Definitely. Does that glutamate come from the MSG and other sources of free glutamate in our diets? That is a larger issue than I want to attempt to address. But if you are trying to answer this question for yourself, I would suggest looking into ppl like Blaylock (who thinks that MSG is a causative factor in neurogenerative disease), his background, where he has published his papers, and other theories he holds dear, before necessarily believing that MSG is poison. I am not saying it isn't, simply encouraging consumers to educate themselves before making decisions.
Stepping away from that particular fray to address the sweet "tastants"... They are, by month: coca (sic), spearmint, banana, strawberry, raspberry, and malt (again, all followed by the word 'flavor'). The implication is that these, too, enhance the flavor of the food and help one to eat less of it. While the base of the tastants might impart a slightly sweet taste, the mechanism of enhancement is more mysterious with the sweet variety. That said, additives with free glutamates are also frequently used to enhance sweet flavors, so perhaps it is precisely the same.
The information about the tastants in the patent application does not seem to relate much, if at all, to Hirch's earlier published work about sniffing scents to help keep from over-eating. And the tastants don't smell like much of anything, in or out of the shaker.
A last point of interest, of the (only!) ninety-two people included in the study, their average weight loss for each month, by month, was (only!), in pounds: 3.3, 2.5, .1, .2, .6, and 0.
In conclusion, the weight loss described (in the patent application, at least) seems very modest given the cost of a potentially dangerous product.
UPDATE 3/12/10 I found the following on [...]: "Take a diet phenomenon of 2005, Sprinkle Thin, a powder you sprinkle on your food that, through enhancing taste, is supposed to decrease appetite. The company's "study" (which was later found fraudulent) claimed people lost an average of 33.5 pounds in 6 months. Unsatisfied customers complained, but it wasn't until a year--and millions in revenue--later the website was taken down. Now a Google search for Sprinkle Thin merits the message: "The FTC warns that diet pill sites may make exaggerated claims that can potentially mislead consumers." Well, the quack doctor behind Sprinkle Thin knows how to take advantage of the FDA's hands-off policy. He reincarnated his flakes, marketing them as Sensa. "20/20" called the "doc" on his bogus claims, but legally, Sensa doesn't have to shut down until the FDA finishes lengthy studies to prove the stuff doesn't work. By that time, Sensa will have duped thousands of people and made a ga-zillion dollars."
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