Japanese Wins Ig Nobel Prize for Study on Kissing for Allergy Relief

Cambridge, Massachusetts, Sept. 17 (Jiji Press)--A Japanese doctor won this year's Ig Nobel Medicine Prize on Thursday for a study showing that kissing can reduce mental stress and relieve allergies. Hajime Kimata, 62, who runs a clinic in Neyagawa in the western Japan prefecture of Osaka, was awarded the prize at Harvard University. It is the ninth straight year for Japanese to receive an Ig Nobel prize. The Ig Nobel Prize, the spoof version of the Nobel Prize, is given for creative and humorous research. It has such categories as chemistry, literature and management, as well as medicine. In Kimata's experiment, Japanese atopic dermatitis patients allergic to cedar pollen and other substances and those with allergic rhinitis kissed with their lovers or spouses freely during 30 minutes alone in a closed-door room while listening to soft music. On other occasions, in the same environment, they embraced without kissing. Kimata found that the production of the antibodies that cause allergic reactions and the blood levels of certain proteins were lower after kissing, reducing allergic symptoms. There were no such changes when they only embraced. He said he earnestly hopes that patients will be able to reduce their allergic reactions by employing rich emotion, the healing power humans naturally have. END