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Fear of Glutamate in Food is Unfounded

No flavor enhancers, no glutamate – that’s how many manufacturers advertise their food. This creates the wrong impression that glutamate must be somehow unhealthy.

That’s what it’s about:

Glutamate is everywhere

Glutamate is a widely used flavor enhancer used by food manufacturers and chefs to make dishes taste fuller and savory . What we mean when we colloquially talk about glutamate are the salts of glutamic acid . In most cases, the salt monosodium glutamate is used as a flavor enhancer. However, other combinations are also possible, for example with calcium or magnesium instead of sodium, which also have flavor-enhancing properties.

Glutamate and glutamic acid are often used interchangeably because the acid dissociates in the body. This means that it quickly breaks down into its ionic compound – a glutamate ion and a hydrogen ion are formed.

Glutamic acid is found everywhere in nature

Glutamate , or glutamic acid, is naturally found in many foods, from Parmesan cheese and gorgonzola to tomatoes and mushrooms. Glutamic acid is an amino acid, a basic building block for proteins, and is therefore contained in everything that lives. Plants, animals and people make them themselves. Even breast milk contains glutamic acid.

The glutamate that our body makes itself is called endogenous glutamate. It has a variety of functions in the body. Among other things, it has a significant influence on the development of the nervous system, and the substance also serves as an important source of energy for the intestines. The glutamate, i.e. the salt that is added as a flavor enhancer, is called exogenous glutamate.

The discovery of glutamate

The Japanese Kikunae Ikeda discovered the taste-enhancing properties of monosodium glutamate in 1908. He is said to be having dinner with his family when he noticed that the soup tasted better than usual. He realized that the kombu, a seaweed commonly used in Japanese cuisine, resulted in a savory explosion of flavor.

Ikeda took his experience from the dinner table to the lab. He disassembled the seaweed into its individual molecular parts and found: glutamate, which he chemically stabilized in the form of monosodium glutamate.

The taste that the connection triggers is difficult to describe. It does not fit into any of the four basic tastes known up to that point: sweet, salty, sour and bitter. So Ikeda gave it its own name: Umami . In the meantime, the corresponding taste sensory cells have also been identified in humans and umami has been included in the series of basic tastes.

That’s why we need to talk about:

Glutamate as a flavor enhancer is controversial

Many people are afraid of glutamate because it has been linked to several serious medical conditions in the past. However, pathogenic effects have not been clearly proven.

Studies have provided evidence that disturbances in the endogenous, i.e. the body itself, glutamate metabolism can be associated with diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

This is not completely outlandish, because glutamate is an important messenger in the brain and is very active there. What is important, however, is that the endogenous glutamate is the problem, not the exogenous one that we ingest with food. The latter usually cannot pass the blood-brain barrier, which separates and protects the area around our brain from the rest of the body. This gate does not open just like that, it takes sudden increases in blood pressure, epileptic seizures or strokes.

No risk of cancer in normal quantities

It was also suspected that glutamate is carcinogenic. Researchers from the USA found in a study that particularly aggressive prostate tumors are associated with high glutamate concentrations in the blood and more glutamate receptors on the tumor tissue.

Because it is not yet clear whether glutamate also causes the tumors, the European Food Safety Authority tested the substance again a few years ago. Result: glutamate is not dangerous in the usual amounts that we consume on a daily basis.

However, other studies warn that glutamate could promote obesity. The thesis is that glutamate promotes resistance to leptin. Leptin is a hormone that regulates hunger and plays a role in fat metabolism. Experiments on rodents had already shown leptin resistance due to glutamate. A study of 752 Chinese confirmed the results in that more glutamate consumption in people was also associated with weight gain.

The “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome”

At the end of the 1960s, the American doctor Robert Ho Man Kwok described a non-life-threatening but unpleasant phenomenon for which he blamed glutamate. He first introduced the term “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome” in a letter he sent to the New England Journal of Medicine.

Glutamate is used a lot in Asian cuisine, and Kwok himself had regularly found himself not feeling well after eating Chinese food: his mouth became dry, tingling, numb, and his throat was scratchy. There were also hot flashes, palpitations, headaches, body aches and nausea.

Other people also report similar symptoms after eating Chinese. According to the current state of research, however, it is not the glutamate that is responsible. No evidence could be discovered that there is hypersensitivity to glutamate.

Nutritionists, associations and institutes such as the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment therefore have no reservations about occasional seasoning with glutamate. The BfR only advises against using it as a table salt substitute : Apart from the fact that glutamates do not cause a typical salty taste, the compounds should only be used for their intended purpose as flavor enhancers.

What is hidden glutamate?

Added glutamate can also be found in foods without showing up on the ingredients list. Because the substance is so notorious, some manufacturers are switching to yeast extract, for example. This, in turn, also spices up food with umami, but is not considered an additive according to the German traffic regulations for additives.

But it also gets its spiciness from the glutamate of which it consists to a certain extent. But while glutamate has to be listed separately under the ingredients, products with yeast extract may even bear the label “no flavor enhancers added”.

But:

In moderation, glutamate is not harmful to health

Glutamate is a well-tolerated and, according to current knowledge, harmless food additive. Of course, the question immediately arises: What does “in moderation” mean and when do we start eating too much?

Experiments carried out on mice make this clearer. For example, researchers have found in newborn mice that they suffer damage in certain regions of the central nervous system when they are administered glutamate. But: In order to determine damage, the researchers had to give the mice the glutamate by drip or give them large amounts by feeding tube. If glutamate was simply added to the feed or drinking water, the animals were not harmed.

Glutamate only partially accumulates in the blood

Other studies indicate that humans cannot accumulate glutamate in their blood to levels that have caused damage in mice, even if they eat excessive amounts of glutamate.

An example: If you give a person weighing 60 kilograms 9 grams, i.e. a tablespoon of pure glutamate, only a maximum of one percent of it ends up in every liter of blood and is broken down again very quickly.

What is so delicious about glutamate?

It is exciting that the most commonly used monosodium glutamate has no pleasant taste of its own. However, it can enhance a food’s savory flavor when paired with appropriate smells.

For example, researchers gave test subjects a solution of monosodium glutamate to drink – once pure, once with the aroma of vegetables under their nose and once with the aroma of rum with rum. And: the test subjects found glutamate and the scent of vegetables more delicious than table salt and the scent of vegetables.

And now?

For some people, glutamate is even good

However, if you eat a lot of glutamate, you may get used to the taste, so that food tastes bland without the seasoning. A little glutamate withdrawal can be good for the taste experience from time to time – but this also applies to salt or sugar.

For some people, it could even be particularly advisable to take glutamate: with age, the sense of umami can sometimes be lost or dulled. Japanese researchers have found that a glutamate-rich broth can restart taste receptors and increase appetite overall.

In addition, researchers have tested that monosodium but also calcium glutamate can enrich the taste of a soup so that less salt is needed. This can help people on a low-salt diet.

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Written by John Myers

Professional Chef with 25 years of industry experience at the highest levels. Restaurant owner. Beverage Director with experience creating world-class nationally recognized cocktail programs. Food writer with a distinctive Chef-driven voice and point of view.

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