They create an invisible system to control the feeding of hypertensive

Monitor the level of salt consumption through bluetooth on the smartphone

    Salt is one of the ingredients almost forbidden in the diet of hypertensive people and with other ailments. An excess of salt in the diet causes an increase in blood pressure, which can lead to cardiac complications.

A group of researchers has created a flexible and elastic wireless detection system designed to take it comfortably in the mouth to measure the amount of sodium consumed by a person.

"We can measure discreetly and wirelessly the amount of sodium that people are consuming over time. By monitoring the sodium in real time, the device could someday help people who need to restrict sodium intake to learn to change their eating habits and diet, "says Woon-Hong Yeo, assistant professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering Woodruff at the Georgia Institute of Technology, in the United States.

   The sensor is integrated with a flexible miniaturized electronic system that uses bluetooth technology to wirelessly report the consumption of sodium to a smartphone or tablet. The researchers want to continue working on the development of the device to get a smaller sensor.

The new sodium detection system could address that challenge by helping users to better track the amount of salt they consume, says Yeo. "Our device could have applications for many different objectives related to eating behavior for the administration of diet or therapy," he adds.

The key to the development of the intraoral sensor was the replacement of traditional electronic plastic and metal components with biocompatible and ultra-fine components connected by a mesh circuit. Sodium sensors are commercially available, but Yeo and his collaborators developed a flexible micro-membrane version to integrate with miniaturized hybrid circuits.

The next steps for the sodium sensor are to further miniaturize the device and test it with users who have medical conditions to address: hypertension, obesity or diabetes. Researchers would like to eliminate the small battery, which must be recharged daily to keep the sensor running.