The flavor enhancer of sodium glutamate: is it harmful

Exactly 110 years ago, on July 25, 1908, the Japanese chemist Ikeda Kikunae filed an application for the registration of a patent for the production of sodium glutamate – a substance badigned to him in the Japanese kelp seaweed. Since then, sodium glutamate is used as a food additive, thanks to which food appears in people's minds – the taste of protein-rich foods. At the same time, the additive itself does not have the best reputation. N + 1 recalls the history of the onset of sodium glutamate and understands it must be feared.

Traditionally, since ancient times, the basic tastes that a person and his taste buds distinguish (by the way, not separately, as usually taught at home). School, but together), there were four, each being determined by the chemical characteristics of the products and their interaction with the human body. Thus, the acid taste is determined by the acidity of the product, the salty taste is due to sodium ions and other (common) metals, perceived by ion channel receptors in the tongue and feel of sweet is the activation of the G protein-badociated receptors. the same processes are responsible for the bitter taste.

It is curious that for many centuries people have felt one more, fifth taste, neither to describe nor to name what was not possible before the beginning of the last century. Everything has changed thanks to the Japanese chemist Ikeda Kikunae, who worked at the Tokyo University in the early twentieth century. The scientist intrigued the taste of dasi broth, which is used as a basis for many dishes of Japanese cuisine: it can be described as "sweet", brackish, but not salty and does not resemble any of the four common flavors.

Traditionally, dasi are made from laminaria alga kombu ( Laminaria japonica ); Ikeda suggested that a substance can be obtained from the combus, which gives it a particular taste. The scientist managed to extract glutamic acid – a white crystalline powder with no odor. His taste for Ikeda called umami (from Yap. 味 味 – pleasing ): if you do not remember it immediately, good examples of mind-based products are parmesan and dishes seasoned with soy sauce.

In order to use glutamic acid for industrial purposes, Ikeda synthesized sodium salt-glutamate from soy and wheat proteins, for which it immediately obtained a patent. Commercial production of sodium glutamate (first – as a separate seasoning) in the early 20s of the last century, engaged (under the supervision of Ikeda), the Japanese company "Ajinomoto". Since then, glutamic acid salts are known as E621 food additive, or MSG (English monosodium glutamate), and are mainly used as "flavor and odor enhancers". In Japan and other Asian countries, sodium glutamate is used to make food of this taste a "spirit", but in Western countries, the additive is unfortunately not the better reputation

Imagine an ordinary trip to the store. Before buyers – two boxes of blueberry yogurt from two different manufacturers. The first buyer will ask the price and take a pot with a smaller price. The second buyer will pay attention to the product description on the label: his choice will be determined by the words "natural", "bifidobacteria" and "contains natural berries" – let such a yogurt be slightly more expensive. The third buyer, the most scrupulous and the most demanding, will turn to composition, controlling it for the "natural". What is natural in this case is difficult to understand, but most people are looking for the product "E-shki" – food additives used in the production of yogurt, whose names consist of the letter E and several numbers. It is generally considered that the less of them, the more natural the product.

In a simplified sense, the third buyer will be right to choose yogurt with the least amount of food additives. In fact, modern food production is rarely without the use of additional funds. However, this does not mean at all that all products are "stuffed with chemistry" and, in order to rid the body of diseases and diseases, you must go to the village. For example, most of the food additives in the first category (dyes) are synthesized from natural components – for example, yellow-orange dyes E100, curcumin, obtained from turmeric

Sodium glutamate has a code of six and belongs to the group of flavor enhancers. Confidence in him is even less than for dyes: the average consumer does not always understand why it is necessary to "enhance the taste" and why sacrifice the primitive naturalness of the product for that. Mistrust with regard to sodium glutamate is also complemented by the fact that it is common to consider spirits as the main tastes in Asian countries or in developed countries of Europe and Europe. 39; America. We have heard about some of them. In addition, sodium glutamate is often found in seasoning, with instant noodles (most likely due to Japanese traditions) and many snacks like potato chips and crackers, which are not considered healthy foods .

completely eliminate from their diet products labeled E621, go to a remote village and eat vegetables from a bed and milk from a cow, get rid of glutamic acid in the body will still not work. Moreover, it is impossible in principle. Firstly, glutamic acid (and, as we recall, sodium glutamate is extracted from it) is one of the twenty amino acids that make up proteins. This means that it is contained not only in protein foods (animals and vegetables), but also synthesized by the body alone. Endogenous Glutamic Acid is one of the excitatory neurotransmitters that activate several receptors in the vertebrate nervous system, including, for example, NMDA receptors, whose dysfunction is badociated with the development of many diseases and mental disorders. , including clinical depression and schizophrenia

. The acid obtained from natural components is cleaved by the body in exactly the same way as the artificially added acid. Plus, it's the same stuff, just in salt form – for better dissolution. The only difference is that due to the presence of sodium ions, a little salty taste is added to the taste of the spirits. Glutamic acid is a replaceable acid: in addition to being synthesized by the body itself, its excess in the body is destroyed.

As for the excess of sodium glutamate, it does not exist in principle: for example, the Codex Alimentarius There is no indication on the recommended consumption dose of the substance ( on the other hand, because of salt and sugar). Of course, sodium glutamate has a lethal dose: experiments in rats have shown that the half-lethal dose of glutamate is about 16 grams per kilogram of weight. It is easy to calculate that for a person weighing 70 kilograms, a similar dose is greater than one kilogram of pure sodium glutamate. In other words, to die from an overdose of glutamate, a person will need to eat about two tons of chips in one go: by greed, you will die faster than by excess of "dangerous" substances [19659012]. The presence of sodium glutamate in this one, considering it as the root of all evils, is not recommended. With the same success it is possible to criticize, for example, other sources of the notorious substance: chicken meat, spinach, tomatoes, sardines and the body itself. And there are still chips and instant noodles that are not recommended – but rather because of the imbalance of nutrients, and not because of their taste by the spirits.