New Food Scented Fragrance May Remind People with Dementia to Eat

The sense of smell is closely tied to memory, a fact that designers made use of when they developed Ode, a fragrance disperser designed to help people with dementia remember to eat. People with dementia often begin to eat less and suffer from weight loss, which can trigger other health problems. The high quality food aromas released by Ode are designed to subtly reawaken an interest in food and eating, as well as remind people to eat at specific times of the day. There are three different scents in each Ode and each scent can be programmed to come on at a specific time of day. The product is still going through trials and is not yet for sale, but initial trials suggest that the product might help people living with dementia develop healthier eating behaviors, like eating meals more regularly and eating more food at each sitting.