Japanese company introduces 'electrified' spoon that promises to enhance salty tastes

Kirin Holdings is launching an electrified spoon designed to enhance salty tastes without increasing sodium intake, based on research that earned an Ig Nobel Prize.

Japanese drinks giant Kirin Holdings will start selling an electrified spoon that researchers claim can promote healthier eating by enhancing salty tastes without extra sodium.

Monday's product launch marks the first commercialisation of technology that last year won an Ig Nobel Prize, which honours unusual and whimsical research.

Kirin will sell just 200 of its Electric Salt Spoons online for $127 this month and a limited run at a Japanese retailer in June, but is hoping for 1 million users globally within five years. Sales overseas will start next year.

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The spoon, made of plastic and metal, was co-developed with Meiji University professor Homei Miyashita, who previously demonstrated the taste-enhancing effect in prototype electric chopsticks. The effect works by passing a weak electric field from the spoon to concentrate sodium ion molecules on the tongue to enhance the perceived saltiness of the food.

Kirin, which is pivoting towards healthcare from its traditional beer business, said the technology has particular significance in Japan, where the average adult consumes about 10 grams of salt per day, double the amount recommended by the World Health Organization.

Excess sodium intake is related to increased incidence of high blood pressure, strokes and other ailments.

"Japan has a food culture that tends to favor salty flavors," said Kirin researcher Ai Sato. "Japanese people as a whole need to reduce the amount of salt intake but it can be difficult to move away from what we're used to eating.

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"That's what led us to develop this electric spoon."

Weighing 60 grams, the spoon runs on a rechargeable lithium battery.

Miyashita and his co-creator, Hiromi Nakamura, were presented with the Ig Nobel Nutrition Prize by immunologist and Nobel Prize laureate Peter Doherty in an online ceremony last year.