The new launches are salt-free alternatives to soy sauce, oyster sauce, and fish sauce – condiments central to Asian cuisine.
Yeast, seaweed, and mushrooms re-create authentic flavours for the firm’s “Fiish Sauce” seasoning. “Soi Sauce” and “Oister Sauce” seasonings have the same base ingredients but contain fermented soybeans and dates respectively.
“They’re made from 100% whole food ingredients with absolutely no added salt. They taste rich and full of umami – just like the real thing – but better for your heart,” Heartful Flavours co-founder Dr Rebecca Luong told FoodNavigator.
“There are no refined extracts, artificial flavours, added salt or sugar like other seasonings.”
The ingredients were chosen to not only replicate authentic Asian flavours, but also for their nutritional profile – they all include antioxidants, vitamins, fibre, iodine and other minerals, as well as glutamates that impart umami flavours.
Additionally, yeast provides nuttiness along with protein and fibre.
Fermented soybeans are natural ingredients that are used in traditional soy sauce, while dates add natural sweetness and have a low glycaemic index unlike refined white sugar.
These formulations emerged after a year-long testing period that was guided by healthy dietary patterns associated with reduced cardiovascular risks and increased longevity.
Towards better heart health and longevity
Dr Luong, a trained dietitian and PhD holder in heart and metabolic health, observed that heart healthy dietary patterns generally consist of predominantly plant-based or whole foods. These foods do not have added salt or sugar, are lower in sodium and saturated fat, and have a higher fibre content.
This is why the firm designs their products to align with these principles.
“Whole food components work together with synergistic effects to provide added health benefits. Interactions between nutrients, the food matrix itself, or other components in the matrix that we haven’t yet identified can all contribute to these benefits,” said Dr Luong.
“However, throughout my PhD – which involved examining the relationship between diet and heart and metabolic health – and through my accumulated experience as a dietitian over the past 10 years, the evidence still stands: a healthy dietary pattern in general is associated with reduced risks of cardiovascular disease, chronic disease, and increased longevity.”
Reducing sodium can be challenging for those accustomed to salty flavours, but Dr Luong says taste buds can adapt to less sodium over time.
The firm’s new sauces complement its current range of salt-free ready-to-cook meal packs – Korean bibimbap, Thai green curry, and Vietnamese pho.
“Our new sauce seasonings complement these as they can be added to dishes created using our meal bases to help taste buds adjust to a lower sodium diet over time,” said Dr Luong.
They come in powder form and can be used directly as a marinade or sprinkled straight onto food. To use as a sauce, add water and use as you would with traditional sauces.
The same authentic flavours, but healthier
When asked why not just one seasoning instead of three, Dr Luong explained that to recreate authentic flavours, there needs to be three separate flavour profiles as Asian food is diverse.
“Soy sauce is mostly salty and umami, whilst fish sauce is intensely salty and umami with a fishy aroma. Oyster sauce is rich and salty followed by some sweetness,” said Dr Luong.
“For example, soy sauce and oyster sauce are used in many Chinese dishes. As for Vietnamese and Thai dishes, they use a lot of fish sauce.”
For Heartful Flavours, its success in recreating bold Asian flavours without salt – a key component of Asian cuisine – is like “a dream come true, as Asian food and heart health were almost like polar opposites,” said Dr Luong.
She highlighted that the new salt-free seasonings contain 20mg sodium for each 2-gram serving.
In contrast, for every tablespoon, soy sauce has about 1,000mg sodium, while fish sauce and oyster sauce contain about 1500mg and 900mg sodium respectively.
For adults, WHO recommends less than 2000 mg/day of sodium (equivalent to less than 5 g/day salt), or just under a teaspoon.
However, almost all populations are consuming too much sodium based on WHO 2025 statistics, which reported the global mean intake of adults to be 4310mg/day sodium (equivalent to 10.78 g/day salt).
This was a major factor that inspired Heartful Flavours to do what they are doing.
Its salt-free products can be ordered via its website and it ships to various US and Asian regions.
The brand hopes to expand globally to help consumers remove excess sodium from their diets and reduce heart-related risks while preserving Asian flavours.
“This is to ultimately continue our mission which is to eliminate excess sodium to tackle the rise in high blood pressure and heart-related issues, and transport people to a world of health and flavour,” Dr Luong said.