Some technological advances are made because a need exists that science can solve. Others are made because, well, for no apparent reason whatsoever. A chocolate-flavored inhaler? That definitely fits into the latter category, even if the inventor of it is a Harvard professor.

Chocolate has got to be one of the most universally popular foods available. Most of us love the stuff and eat it as often as our wallets and waistlines will allow. Chocolate with a high cocoa content is actually good for you in small doses but instead most of us choose to eat vast quantities of the sugary sweet variety instead.

There could be a solution to the waistline problem about to hit the market. Although it makes the wallet problem even worse than before. The product is called Le Whif and is an inhaler that enables you to literally breathe in chocolate rather than eat it. The fact it’s calorie-free will help it appeal to the diet crowd but chocolate connoisseurs could baulk at the very notion of chocolate you ingest rather than eat.

Le Whif has been designed by Harvard professor David Edwards with help from his students. According to The Telegraph, he got the idea after noticing how humans have been “eating smaller and smaller quantities at shorter and shorter intervals.” He clearly hasn’t spent much time in fast food restaurants lately. He continued:

It seemed to us that eating was tending toward breathing, so, with a mix of culinary art and aerosol science, we’ve helped move eating habits to their logical conclusion. We call it whiffing.

Le Whif is nothing more than an inhaler in which is placed flavored powders in sausage-shaped tubes. Although the first batch of flavors are going to be chocolate (raspberry, mint, mango and plain), Edwards believes that the future could see us ingesting three-course meals in the same way.

The flavor comes in the form of fine powder which is small enough to be inhaled but not small enough to enter the lungs or do any damage to the body. At least according to the Le Whif team although I’d personally like to see some research before I take my first hit.

If the idea of inhaling rather than eating chocolate appeals to you then Le Whif will be available to buy from April 29. The dispensers can be bought separately (at $2.40) or in a box of 24 (at $53). A gala party in Paris will be held to launch the product, which will then promoted at the Cannes Film Festival and at a surprise event in Chicago.

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Entry was posted on Monday, April 13th, 2009 at 11:59 pm under Opinion, Technology.

Read more entries by Dave Parrack.
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