Do flavour enhancers spoil your appetite? "Artificially produced glutamate", warns the German magazine Stern, "permanently disrupts the natural sense of flavour". WDR contradicts him in Quarks: "The fear of glutamate in food is unfounded". And Spektrum der Wissenschaft raises hopes: "Is glutamate perhaps even healthy?" A case for Udo Pollmer.
by Udo Pollmer October, 2024
The flavour enhancer glutamate ("MSG") hit the headlines decades ago. The cause was Chinese restaurant syndrome, a term coined by a Chinese doctor in the USA in 1968.1 After a visit to a Chinese restaurant, guests repeatedly complained of...
...pain in the head and muscles, flushing in the face, burning on the skin, itching, tightness in the chest, a drop in blood pressure, tachycardia, sweating, migraines and feelings of anxiety. A few hours later, everything was usually over.2-5 In provocation tests, glutamate, an indispensable ingredient in Chinese cuisine, proved to be the common cause of the variable symptoms.6-8
There seem to be fewer problems with glutamate or soya sauce in Asia. There are several reasons for this: The soup is not eaten as an appetiser on an empty stomach as it is here, but only towards the end of the meal. In addition, carbohydrates such as rice reduce the usual steep rise in glutamate levels in the blood.9,10 The sugar in sweet and sour cuisine has the same effect.11 Thirdly, the genetic make-up of the population is different to that in Central Europe, comparable to lactose intolerance, which is more widespread in Asia.
The technical term Chinese restaurant syndrome is now considered "racist" and the medical studies containing this technical term are blocked in the databases. Sometimes the syndrome was also called hot dog headache.12 The publicity surrounding the formerly common syndrome has led to Asian restaurants being more cautious in their use of the flavour enhancer. The complaints are also less frequent because those affected now know the cause and avoid these establishments and the glutamate in their own cooking.
Although glutamic acid is abundant in all proteins, it has no pharmacological effect in bound form. This is because it is only released slowly in the digestive tract. This is not the case with flavour enhancers. It flows quickly into the blood as a free amino acid, recognisable by high glutamate levels. As glutamate is a neurotransmitter, i.e. a messenger substance in the brain, hypersensitivity is not surprising.
The big ending
Glutamate is not only the cause of acute Chinese restaurant syndrome. As it stimulates the appetite, one might argue, it could also provoke obesity in the long term. How is that? With a flavour enhancer in the goulash soup, people simply eat more. However, the crucial point is whether more is eaten overall, i.e. over the course of a day or a week. This is not the case here; the body is able to compensate for fluctuations in energy intake. If more is eaten, the food lasts longer. Glutamate not only stimulates the appetite, but also promotes satiety.13,14
This is saddening for those diet experts who claim that glutamate is a "glutton maker " that provokes obesity by providing extra calories. The observation that newborn mice develop a stocky physique with massive fat pads after being given glutamate seems to confirm this idea.15 However, this happens without the mice eating more, as confirmed by the Max Planck Institute for Physiological and Clinical Research.16
So it's not due to appetite. The fat deposits are caused by the same mechanism that leads to obesity in the case of sweeteners - also without eating more: the body's internal temperature is lowered, thus saving a lot of energy. Warm-blooded animals invest the savings in their rind - as an insulator to reduce heat loss.17-19
According to the study, glutamate causes hormonal weight gain. A dose of 10 grams of glutamate - the amount contained in many a plate of soup at a Chinese restaurant - doubles the level of cortisol, the stress hormone in the blood.20,21 Cortisol in turn increases blood sugar. As a result, the pancreas releases insulin, the level of which even triples.21
High cortisol and insulin levels are a typical cause of obesity and diabetes. In a Chinese study with 10,000 healthy participants, those who ate the most glutamate also gained the most weight after five years.22 The effect occurred even at comparatively low doses.23
While diet experts still believe in the power of appetite and calories as the cause of potbellies, the industry is trying to conceal the hormonal effects of the flavour enhancer. The counter-study was designed in such a way that gradual weight gain could not be detected.24,25 This is a clear indication that the industry has long known that its product, like sweeteners, can slowly but surely make you fat even without extra calories.
"Controversial" - From the dictionary of mouths for hire
A review of the vast literature reveals that the results are highly divergent. Every critical finding is followed by opposing opinions and studies. Why is this the case? There are two reasons: Firstly, it is because glutamate is an indispensable culinary heritage for rice-eating peoples, which is why this custom is defended against Western criticism. Even more important is the clean slate for Western food culture. The cheap ready meals and the renunciation of meat and broth, i.e. a vegetarian diet, are impossible without glutamate.
With no other additive is there a more vital interest in rejecting all accusations by all means. This costs money, so studies have to be financed, congresses convened and press conferences organised with high-ranking professors. The organisations of the glutamate industry act as sponsors in the background, and even the International Life Science Institute, a scientific NGO of the industry, is involved. The names of relevant companies such as Ajinomoto, Gerber and Nestle also appear.26,27 The mouths for hire are busy sowing doubts about the work of incorruptible researchers: their results are still "controversial".
In medical studies, tricks were played until the desired result could be entrusted to patient paper. Methodologically, this was not so difficult: as a carbohydrate-rich meal masks the effects, it was sufficient to serve the glutamate in milk with sugared cornflakes instead of in a savoury chicken broth. The professors were already able to announce that the patients' reactions could not be verified in the provocation test.28,29
The same researchers had their test subjects swallow the glutamate as a neutral capsule.29 This meant that an important condition for a cephalic phase response, the head-phase reflex, which is only mediated by perception in the mouth, was missing. Hormones such as cortisol then react within 3 minutes, long before the glutamate from the food has entered the bloodstream.30 Such a mechanism is also known from sweeteners. As soon as they are perceived in the mouth, a rapid insulin reaction occurs.31,32 If they are swallowed as a capsule, the so-called pre-absorptive insulin reflex does not occur.33
Nevertheless, some test subjects in these trials complained of symptoms of Chinese restaurant syndrome. So the doctors administered the capsule during the cornflakes meal. This finally seemed to prove that Chinese restaurant syndrome only exists in the imagination of malingerers and crackpots. The team of 12 experts explained that they had received support of some kind from the International Glutamate Technical Committee.29
Wikipedia refers to precisely this fake study just discussed under the keyword "monosodium glutamate". It is also the only source in the "Literature" section.34 The German nutrition professors also base their "consensus" statement on this and other malicious nonsense created by the glutamate lobby.35 Let's hope that the embarrassing oath of revelation has somehow paid off for the noble spokespeople.
Rice, sugar and sweeteners - the key to understanding
Why do carbohydrate-rich foods such as rice and sweet and sour dishes prevent the Chinese restaurant syndrome? As glutamate massively reduces the brain's glucose uptake, rice and sugar provide the necessary compensation by increasing blood sugar levels. As the sensitive circumventricular organs such as the hypothalamus are more affected by glutamate blockade than the tissues behind the blood-brain barrier, this has been postulated as a mechanism of glutamate toxicity.36
In experiments with sweeteners, as with glutamate, there is now a deliberate culture of error. If the sweetener is dissolved in water, the liquid tastes like sweet dishwater and only triggers aversion instead of a cephalic phase response. Sugar increases the viscosity and this is perceived in the mouth as mouthfeel. Artificially sweetened lemonade can therefore only be sold with viscosity regulators such as hydrocolloids. Yoghurt is also used for correct feeding tests. The difference in the type of sweetener is not so easily perceptible for humans and test animals.37
Corrupt networks
After the Chinese restaurant syndrome was first presented in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1968, the research of John Olney from the Washington University School of Medicine caused new excitement a year later. Olney had used glutamate to cause brain damage in newborn mice and young rhesus monkeys.15,38,39 In the hypothalamus, glutamate destroyed the neurones of the arcuate nucleus.40
A short time later, Olney was confronted by a phalanx of experts who tried to ruin his professional existence. A report ordered by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from the National Academy of Sciences certified that glutamate was very safe. An "extremely small risk" was only possible with baby food. At a hearing of the US Senate, abysses opened up: Fraudulent expert reports from state research institutions, corrupt and incompetent medical professors and an unscrupulous industry that left nothing to chance.26
Olney was not intimidated. His concern was for young children, as baby food companies were fortifying their products with glutamate or glutamate-containing yeast extract: "Destruction of brain neurons," he pointed out, "is not the only mechanism by which (glutamate) can have adverse effects on children." Finally, that repetitive exposure of immature humans to Glutamate throughout critical stages of development entails potential risk, even if brain damage does not occur” According to him, “hormonal biorhythms may be disturbed with adverse effects on growth and development.”41
Of course, he was cheekily refuted. His opponents administered a single dose to eight adults (!) on an empty stomach. Their blood glutamate levels promptly rose significantly. But not much else happened. The flavour, which is decisive for the hormonal effect, was masked with grapefruit extracts. The authors claim to have dispelled Olney's concern that children who regularly consume glutamate could be harmed.42,43 Three years later, Canadian researchers confirmed that glutamate damages the hypothalamus in young rats and, as Olney had feared, cancels out the biorhythm.44
The lobby did not give up. Together with the FDA, the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), a leading scientific organisation in the USA, once again worked on the cover-up.45 Even indications of fatal incidents were played down.27,46 In some studies, glutamate was administered intravenously in order to conclude from the absence of the expected reaction that consumption must be harmless.47 Who can guess that a reaction requires perception in the mouth?
In another study, which also enjoys the status of indisputable evidence, the two researchers recruited as many test subjects as possible who did not react to glutamate at all.48 The glutamate was taken as a capsule together with muesli bars and sweetened milk. The placebo contained the sweetener aspartame, which is also considered neurotoxic.49 The authors were promptly able to show that glutamate did not cause any more reactions than the placebo.50 The many contrary results of their colleagues were the result of experimental errors, especially because the test subjects could taste the glutamate!
With the arse over the ground
After this tasteless scam was successful in the professional community and the media, one of the two authors followed up with another experiment, which he advertised grandly as randomised, double-blind, crossover, placebo-controlled. In this case, the research team hedged their bets by adding the shameful 3 grams of glutamate in capsules to their morning rice meal.51 The highlight was the placebo. It consisted of lactose - and in Indonesia, where the experiment took place, most of the inhabitants are lactose malabsorbers.52 The placebo - even if it is encapsulated - gives them stomach ache and flatulence.
This nonsense was a highlight of the International Glutamate Symposium in Bergamo in 1998, sponsored by the Monell Chemical Senses Centre, an NGO for taste research. It is not only financed by the relevant industry, but also by philanthropists such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This time for research into the taste preferences of malaria mosquitoes. Further money came from the International Union of Food Science and Technology and a Centre for Human Nutrition. Even medical universities added a few bucks to the collection. And last but not least, the International Glutamate Technical Committee, an NGO for the promotion of glutamate in food.51,53
Now, collecting donations is not necessarily dishonourable. If medical universities in the USA don't know what to do with their money, it should be laundered before it starts to stink. However, it is disreputable to use it to finance fraud. A completely different idea comes to mind:
Normally, lobbyists tend to realise their wishes as inconspicuously as possible. They avoid unnecessarily crooked tours that might offend a critical observer. Either the industry was overconfident this time and went dancing on the ice, or its ass was already on ice. Is she it afraid that something explosive might come out after all? The industrial bosses must leave no stone unturned to steer the relevant research in a direction that is favourable to her.
"According to unanimous scientific opinion"
The second reason for the inconsistent results is human nature: not all citizens of the world are equally sensitive. In healthy people, oral doses of 10 grams [150 mg/kg MSG] can easily increase plasma levels 5-fold and nothing happens.21,50,54 But in some people, a mere 3 grams is enough for a severe reaction.55
This mainly affects people in whom a certain enzyme has a lower activity: Glutamate dehydrogenase, or GDH for short. It regulates glutamate levels in the body. The enzyme itself is not found in the blood, but only in the mitochondria, particularly in the liver, kidneys and brain. If GDH works more slowly, for example due to a mutation or because it is slowed down by medication, the breakdown of glutamate is delayed. This results in higher levels than in the general population and therefore more symptoms.56,57
When you consider that in local Asian restaurants, food inspectors have repeatedly found up to 50 grams per litre of soup, i.e. five times the permitted amount, reactions in people with defective GDH are not surprising.58 Probably to make sure that no one has the idea of investigating the consequences in more detail, the experts are building up. A typical quote: "In the body, glutamate is first broken down in the small intestine and is used to supply energy to intestinal cells or as a building block for important molecules in the intestine. Only a small proportion is then found in the blood."59
Everyone in the scene knows that this statement only applies to protein, but not to the flavour enhancer! While glutamic acid, which is slowly released from the protein, gradually provides the energy for peristalsis, free glutamate is readily absorbed in the intestine and passes into the bloodstream.10 When asked about this, the experts play the next tune on their organ grinder: "According to unanimous scientific opinion, glutamate cannot cross the blood-brain barrier in healthy adults" and therefore cannot cause any damage, according to the well-known nutritionist Katrin Burger in the science portal Spektrum.de.59
Spektrum is in good company. At specialist conferences, the flavour enhancer is presented as completely harmless: "The main reason for this is that glutamate in the body ... generally does not passively penetrate biological membranes. Therefore, almost no ingested glutamate/MSG passes from the gut into the blood, and essentially none ... crosses the blood-brain barrier."60 Typical case of a profession of faith. A stubborn amino acid does not want to pass through the intestinal wall? He who believes is blessed.
Brain research - this time with brains
There are areas in the brain that are not protected by the blood-brain barrier, namely the circumventricular organs, or CVO for short.61 The CVO consists of several sensory structures, such as the area postrema, and secretory structures, such as the pineal gland.
The area postrema, for example, serves as a receiver in the brain stem. The receptors there detect many signalling substances from the digestive tract such as leptin, insulin and CCK, while the organ also detects toxins in the bloodstream and triggers vomiting in case of danger.61-63 The secretory CVOs in turn produce dozens of neurotransmitters and hormones, which they release into the bloodstream.64
The organs of the CVO bypass the blood-brain barrier one more time, through their deeper-reaching nerve fibres such as the tanycytes, which are in contact with both the neurons and the blood vessels.62,65
The pineal gland receives the light signals from the eyes via the so-called energetic visual pathway and regulates the circadian rhythms via the pituitary gland and adrenal glands and thus hormonal events such as reproduction, sleep, stress and nutrition.61,62,66,67 The scientist and philosopher Rene Descartes even considered this gland to be the "seat of the soul".
The CVO therefore not only functions as an interface between the bloodstream and the brain, but also as a control unit of the CNS.61,62 If the flavour enhancer flows from the food into the blood, its concentration in the CVO increases up to 1,000 times that which prevails behind the blood-brain barrier.68
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English editor: Josef Hueber
