How risky are microplastics?

by Udo Pollmer, September 10, 2025

To this day, no one seems to know exactly what these tiny particles do. After all, they are unimaginably small. For many experts, this is reason enough to put together a scary package of...

The end of the sweetener era is approaching, according to food chemist Udo Pollmer. The soap opera of "effortless weight loss" is likely to be cancelled soon. The rearguard action has begun on the websites of the health profiteers. Alternatively, they are lashing out against sugar. But even the prayer wheels of "conscious nutrition without sugar" are gradually wearing out.

by Udo Pollmer, April/May 2025

The promise of sweeteners has infested society: The land of home savers has become a nation of calorie savers. The websites of nutritionists, health insurance companies and the medical profession still claim that the most valuable property of sweet chemicals is that they are calorie-free. And what does this...

Nutritional chemist Udo Pollmer took a look at “Why bitter is healthy” and what everyone knows to believe thanks to nutritional advice.

by Udo Pollmer, New Year's Day 2025

We should eat more bitter foods, nutrition experts advise. Bitter substances have a "great effect": they stimulate digestion, contribute to deacidification and stop cravings. If you lose your appetite because of the bitterness, the tip was successful. But don't worry, the cravings will...

If you wanted to characterise glutamate with one word, "cheating" would have a good chance of coming out on top. It's not only in research that glutamate is cheated like a soup spoon, many companies also like to use the flavour enhancer as a trick, and the label is allowed to disguise the whole scam with clever wordplay. But it gets even worse.

by Udo Pollmer November, 2024

The Chinese restaurant syndrome is just the tip of the iceberg. Chronic effects, such as the aforementioned release of cortisol, have more serious consequences than headaches. The link between glutamate and depression, anxiety and dementia is now the...

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...