Japanese Professor's 'Salty-Tasting Chopsticks' Wins Ig Nobel Prize... "Low-Sodium Food Also Tastes Salty"

Principle of Taste Change When Current Flows
Salty Taste Felt Without Salt... Spotlight on Low-Sodium Diet Market

A recipient of the Ig Nobel Prize, which awards extremely unique inventions worldwide, has come from Japan for the 17th consecutive year. This year's winning invention is "chopsticks that change taste," which alter the taste perceived by the tongue through electrical stimulation. The inventor of these chopsticks revealed that they were designed so that people who need to reduce salt intake due to diet or illness can still enjoy the salty taste without salt, sparking public interest.

On the 15th, Asahi Shimbun reported that Professor Homei Miyashita of Meiji University and Associate Professor Hitomi Nakamura of the University of Tokyo received the 33rd Ig Nobel Prize in Nutrition for their research on changing the taste perceived by the tongue using electrical stimulation. With this, Japan has become a recipient country of the Ig Nobel Prize for 17 consecutive years.

Chopsticks that change flavor. (Photo by Meiji University)

The Ig Nobel Prize is a parody award announced ahead of the Nobel Prize by the magazine "Annals of Improbable Research," published bimonthly by Harvard University in the United States. The name is a portmanteau of the English word "ignoble," meaning 'dishonorable,' and "Nobel."

The two researchers have been conducting studies since 2011 on how taste changes when electrical stimulation is applied to the tongue. At that time, Associate Professor Nakamura was a graduate student in Professor Miyashita's lab. Normally, when an electric current flows through the tongue, taste receptors receive electrical stimulation and perceive metallic or sour tastes. They began research combining this with food so that the same food would be perceived differently by the tongue.

They had people taste cheese with an electric current flowing through chopsticks and drink sports drinks through electrically charged straws, confirming that the taste was perceived differently. Many people felt the taste was richer or that the salty flavor was particularly emphasized.

A demonstration video explaining a straw and chopsticks conducting electric current in 2011. (Photo by Meiji University)

The research team believed that by using this principle, even low-sodium diets could allow people to sufficiently perceive salty taste, and they began developing prototypes. As a result, last year Professor Miyashita jointly developed a spoon and container called "Elecsalt" with Kirin Holdings. It is a spoon that enhances salty taste using electricity.

Professor Miyashita told Asahi, "I used to think salty taste and salt content were the same. But even if salt content is reduced, the salty taste can still be perceived. If we change only the subjective sensation we feel, the real world can appear different."

Professor Nakamura also said, "I was extremely surprised. Although it was a simple paper and a bit embarrassing, it was a turning point that led me to continue research on electrical taste and food. I am honored to receive such a good evaluation."

Japan received the Ig Nobel Prize in Engineering last year for "research on finger usage when turning handles," the Ig Nobel Prize in Dynamics in 2021 for "experiments clarifying why pedestrians sometimes collide," the Ig Nobel Prize in Acoustics in 2020 for "research on changes in crocodile vocalizations after inhaling helium gas," and the Ig Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2019 for "estimating the amount of saliva secreted by 5-year-old children in a day."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.