The flavour of an ice-cream is carried in the fat. This is why many people prefer the taste of full-fat versions.

But a PhD student at the University of Missouri Columbia in the United States, is using a mechanical mouth to help her find a low-fat strawberry-flavoured ice cream that will taste more like the high-calorie variety.

The mechanical mouth is made of glass and has a piece of moving metal which moves like a human tongue.

The mouth is fed ice cream and a substance, which acts like human saliva, is added.

The material which carries the strawberry flavour is forced out of the mouth by a jet of gas and caught.

The trapped flavour is then analysed and a computer read-out shows how tasty it is.

As part of the research programme into ice cream, the university has its own ice cream parlour.