The Tongue Spoon

Although preventing iron deficiency can be easily done by consuming iron-rich foods, detecting the signs of iron deficiency itself is challenging.

However, there is one early sign of iron deficiency that is easily visible to the naked eye: the tongue color. A healthy tongue is a pinkish color, but a much paler or darker tone can indicate a health problem, like iron deficiency.

The Tongue Spoon, a baby spoon in the color of healthy baby’s tongue. Using a database of images of healthy baby tongues and tongues of babies with iron deficiency, we were able to determine the healthy tongue color. Leveraging feeding moments of Moms and babies, the Tongue Spoon help Moms identifying the first signs of potential iron deficiency by comparing their baby’s tongue color with the spoon. If the color of the spoon is similar with the tongue, all good. But if it's very different, it can mean that there is a health problem, such as iron deficiency.

The Tongue Spoon is available for free with every purchase of Cerelac, available in online and offline retailers throughout Indonesia.

To raise further awareness we collaborated with 500 health centers across Indonesia where Tongue Spoon was used as an educational tool.