What is the amount of saliva in a 5-year-old child? Ig Nobel Prize Japanese winner for 13 consecutive years September 13th 11:49

The Nobel Prize parody, the “Ig Nobel Prize” award ceremony for unique research, was held at Harvard University in the United States. The professor from Chiba Prefecture won the “Chemical Prize”. The Japanese award is the 13th consecutive year.

The “Ig Nobel Prize” was started by an American science magazine in 1991 as a parody of the Nobel Prize, and the award ceremony was held at Harvard University in the United States on the 12th.

Among them, the “Chemical Prize” was awarded by Professor Shigeru Watanabe of Meikai University School of Health Sciences in Urayasu City, Chiba Prefecture.

Mr. Watanabe, who worked for another university 24 years ago, researched the role of saliva in the health of children's teeth. The amount of was measured.

As a result, we published a paper that concluded that the daily secretion volume was about 500 milliliters.

Mr. Watanabe attended the award ceremony with three sons who cooperated in the experiment, and when the sons who had already grown up to eat bananas and reproduced the state of the experiment at that time, a loud laughter came out from the venue.

Mr. Watanabe said, “It is a serious study, but I am chewing on the significance of being evaluated as the“ Ig ”Nobel Prize. I am grateful to my teacher and the children who cooperated with the study.”

This is the 13th consecutive year that Japanese have won the Ig Nobel Prize.

Experiment with extreme difficulty

Prof. Shigeru Watanabe of Meikai University who won the "Ig Nobel Prize" specializes in pediatric dentistry.

Professor Watanabe was interested in being about 25 years ago. “How much does the child's saliva last a day?” Saliva has an important role in preventing tooth decay.

Immediately, we gathered five-year-old children and experimented. In the experiment, weigh the prepared food, let the child eat it, and vomit it just before swallowing. The part that gets heavier is saliva.

Although it was done with six types of food, the experiment was extremely difficult. Because the partner is a 5-year-old child, it will be swallowed no matter how many times it is said. Some children left along the way.

I was able to manage the data of 30 people by using even the "back hand" of putting my own child.

As a result, the amount of saliva in the child's mouth was estimated to be approximately 500 milliliters a day.

At that time, research on dental caries was the mainstream in dentistry, but it was the pioneer of research to prevent dental caries by examining the condition of the mouth.

Professor Watanabe said, “It may have seemed humorous to study the collar all day with a 5-year-old child. I found that the environment in my mouth is related to my overall health. I'm glad to come and think about the health of my mouth. "