Chocoholics can be cured if they inhale
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Your support makes all the difference.DIE-HARD chocoholics can now sniff their way to being slim, thanks to a new aromatic patch that helps to suppress the desire for chocolate.
The small, blue, adhesive plaster - worn on the wrist, arm or shoulder like a nicotine patch - is impregnated with the oil of a tropical orchid.
The Svelte Patches are the invention of Liz Paul, a food specialist from Yorkshire, who overcame her own chocoholism by using the smell of a tropical orchid. She knew that there was a strong connection between smell and taste, so set out in search of the aroma that would put her off chocolate.
"I lost two stone," she said. "It's the only aid to dieting that has kept the weight off. I used to go on a diet for four days and then binge on chocolate, cakes and biscuits. But the smell of a tropical orchid - a component of chocolate - sends a message to the area of the brain which controls emotions saying, 'I've had enough sweet food'."
After her successful sniff'n'slim programme, Mrs Paul, 44, decided to patent the idea. She has also patented smells for premenstrual tension, stress and headaches.
Inventors displaying their gadgets and gizmos yesterday at the sixth London International Inventions Fair at the Barbican Centre seemed to have an answer for everything. If spiders are your problem, perhaps Tony Allen, 48, of Cork, can help. He was fed up with trying to catch spiders in hysterical children's bedrooms. He also hated killing them.
"Old Irish folklore says that there will be rainy weather if you kill a spider," he said, producing a live daddy-long-legs from his pocket. "This flexible bristle head is activated by a hand trigger," he explained, preparing to zap the creature with his pounds 9.99 Spider Catcher.
"It pulls the spider into the head of the device and traps it. You can get rid of the spider without touching or killing it."
Mr. Allen grinned as he returned the friendly spider to his pocket. "So simple that probably no one ever thought of it."
One of the best ideas did not find its way into the exhibition hall. Richard Graves, 78, of Kent, kept vigil outside the Barbican Centre, intermittently pressing the pump of his Page Turner.
"I used to turn pages for my brother when he was playing the piano as a child. I kept wondering why someone doesn't invent something to enable the player himself," said Mr Graves, who believes his gadget could be used by disabled people, too.
He feels sure that one day someone will pick up on his patented idea, but until then he cannot afford the pounds 200 fee to parade his invention.
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