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Glutamate Naturally Found in Protein Foods

Glutamate is notorious to many people. They do not want to consume the flavor enhancer and avoid corresponding foods. The problem: Not only do industrially manufactured products contain glutamate – it occurs naturally in foods containing protein.

Glutamate in protein foods

Small amounts of natural glutamate are found in all protein foods. Because monosodium glutamate is a salt of glutamic acid and this is found in both plant and animal protein. If the glutamate is only contained in a portion of food in this way and not as an additive, it does not have to be included in the list of ingredients.

Foods that say “no flavor enhancers added” can also contain natural glutamate. This is the case with the reference to yeast extract or tomatoes on the list of ingredients. So far it has not been scientifically known that glutamate could endanger health.

Foods with glutamate

When it comes to foods with glutamate, many people think of ready meals, packet soups, or chips. No wonder, these dishes contain plenty of glutamates, which are artificially produced in the industry. The most commonly used additive is monosodium glutamate: a white powder to which many people are allergic.

But there are also natural foods with glutamate. Parmesan cheese is the leader: It contains 1,200 milligrams of glutamate (per 100 grams), followed by beans (200 milligrams / 100 grams) and tomatoes (140 milligrams / 100 grams). With 45 milligrams per 100 grams, chicken meat has more glutamate than beef (35 milligrams / 100 grams). Very little natural glutamate contains cod with 10 milligrams per 100 grams and cow’s milk with 2 milligrams per 100 grams.

What is glutamate?

Glutamate is an amino acid that plays an important role in cell metabolism. It is produced by the human body. As a messenger substance in the brain, glutamate is important for signal transmission there. It serves as a detoxifier of ammonia and is an important nutrient for nucleotide synthesis and for rapidly dividing cells (intestinal and immune cells).

As an excitatory neurotransmitterr, glutamate is also important for motor control, learning, and memory, and for the transmission of sensory perception.

However, in larger amounts, glutamate can cause allergy-like reactions. Because today it is no longer obtained from algae, but artificially produced in huge quantities by industry. Since then there has been a lively discussion about the effect of glutamate on the body.

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Glutamate – How Unhealthy Is It Really?

Glutamate is blamed for many ailments, diseases and symptoms. Because Chinese food is often flavored with glutamate, the term “Chinese restaurant syndrome” has become common when it comes to these intolerances.

There are many half-truths and myths surrounding food additives. Utopia clarifies the most important questions.

1. What is glutamate?

It is a white powder very similar to salt. And in fact they are salts of L-glutamic acid. The most commonly used of these salts is monosodium glutamate, which appears as E621 on the ingredient list of foods.

In addition to monosodium glutamate, there is also calcium diglutamate (E 623), monopotassium glutamate (E 622), magnesium diglutamate (E 625) and monoammonium glutamate (E 624). Correctly one would have to speak of “glutamates”, since there is not just one and several can be used. Incidentally, in Japan they speak of “Ajinomoto”. That was originally just the name of a glutamate product, but today it is used as a generic name like “Tempo” or “Maggi”.

2. Is glutamate a chemical product?

Although the food additive has the reputation of being “dangerous chemicals”, glutamates and their acids are completely natural products. The human body also produces these substances and they are present in many foods, such as cheese, yeast and tomatoes. Glutamic acid, the basic substance for glutamate, is an amino acid, i.e. a completely natural “building block” of protein.

However, the production of the flavor enhancer is anything but natural and the use of genetic engineering is possible.

3. What is Chinese Restaurant Syndrome?

For about 45 years, people have been reporting complaints after visiting Chinese restaurants or enjoying Chinese food. Symptoms are described as palpitations, itchy rash, headache, itchy throat, tingling or numbness in the mouth and throat, dry mouth, nausea, neck and limb stiffness, and more.

In several scientific studies, however, no connection between the intake of glutamate and the symptoms described has been observed. In many cases, the researchers were even able to demonstrate the “nocebo effect”. People who thought they were sensitive to glutamate also showed the symptoms when they only thought they were eating foods fortified with the additive. It is believed that the symptoms stem from other ingredients in the food, such as shrimp, peanuts or fish sauces.

4. Is glutamate banned?

The World Health Organization (WHO) considers the consumption of normal amounts of glutamate to be harmless. This also applies to the German Society for Nutrition DGE, the Federal Office for Risk Assessment BfR, the health authorities of the USA, the EU Scientific Committee for Food SCF and other organizers. Therefore, a maximum daily dose has not even been set. Nevertheless, the flavor enhancer has been viewed critically for a long time and the European Food Safety Authority wants to re-evaluate the additive by the end of 2016. The consumer centers advise against frequent consumption.

In Germany, glutamate must be declared on the food and is forbidden in baby food and organic food. There are regulations as to how much of it can be added to a food. However, these values ​​are far apart: seasonings such as fondor may contain up to 50 percent of the spice enhancer, canned meat only 1 percent.

5. Does glutamate cause bloating and diarrhea?

Even with the symptoms of “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome”, neither flatulence nor diarrhea are among the symptoms reported by those affected. Anyone who observes such digestive problems after consuming food that has been seasoned with flavor enhancers must look elsewhere for the culprit. It’s definitely not the glutamate.

6. Does glutamate cause obesity and high blood pressure?

The food additive is held responsible for many things, and so it is not surprising that obesity and high blood pressure are said to be the result. However, so far no study has really been able to prove that the additive alone is responsible for obesity and the resulting high blood pressure.

It is true, however, that overweight people usually cover a high proportion of their nutritional needs with industrial foods, ready meals, seasonings and other foods containing glutamate. The cause of obesity is usually due to the choice and amount of food, not the additive itself.

7. Does glutamate stimulate the appetite?

Foods that contain glutamate appeal to our fifth sense of taste, called umami. The term comes from Japanese and can be translated as “tasty”. Umami is a hearty, full-bodied, spicy taste that some people can’t really keep their hands off.

Just like there are “sweet junkies”, the flavor of umami also appeals to some people. Anyone who counts themselves among them likes to eat foods containing glutamate more often than necessary. And this regardless of whether the substance was added to the food or is already contained naturally.

8. Does glutamate cause heart palpitations or cardiac arrhythmias?

People who are affected by “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome” sometimes report heart palpitations or cardiac arrhythmias. In the syndrome described, however, it has not been scientifically proven that the symptoms are due to glutamates. It is therefore assumed that such heart problems are related to other causes, allergens or accompanying circumstances.

9. What does glutamate have to do with gluten?

Quite simply: nothing! It can be assumed that identical initial letters lead to the wrong assumption that gluten-free foods are also free of glutamate.

Gluten is a sticky protein that is found in many grains such as wheat and spelled and is easily tolerated by healthy people. Only people who suffer from gluten intolerance (celiac disease) have to do without gluten, but like all healthy people they can also consume glutamate.

10. Does glutamate give you a skin rash?

When talking about allergies and intolerances, many people quickly think of an itchy rash. So it is not surprising that glutamate should also be responsible for this. In fact, skin rash is also mentioned as a symptom of Chinese restaurant syndrome. However, like other symptoms and side effects, it cannot be attributed to the flavor enhancer according to current scientific studies. It’s usually an allergy or reaction to another ingredient.

11. Does glutamate cause headaches and migraines?

Migraine sufferers are often advised to avoid glutamate to ensure that such foods do not trigger a migraine attack. The triggers for migraines are diverse and have not yet been fully researched. Every patient knows different triggers for migraines and so it is not surprising that the food additive is also suspect. If this is the case, the same reaction should also occur after consuming foods naturally high in glutamine. In most cases, however, it is not the additive itself that is responsible for the migraine, but the time and type of consumption of the food seasoned with it.

12. Does glutamate lead to Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s?

It was found that disturbances in the body’s glutamate metabolism can promote the development of Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and other degenerative diseases. However, it is about the glutamate metabolism, which is completely independent of the additive supplied from the outside. Eating foods containing glutamate has only a very small effect on this.

13. Does glutamate promote cancer?

Experiments have shown that an increased level of glutamate in the blood serum can promote the development of prostate cancer. It has not yet been clarified how much of the substance has to be ingested through the diet. It is also not clear whether exogenous factors such as food can cause critically high blood serum levels in the long term.

It is likely that such harmful levels are caused by a disruption in glutamate metabolism itself and not by diet.

14. Is glutamate the same as yeast extract?

The flavor enhancer glutamate is often equated with yeast extract. It is true that yeast extract contains the amino acid monosodium glutamate along with many other amino acids. However, yeast extract naturally contains the substance, as do Parmesan or soy sauce.

Yeast extract also tastes spicy, i.e. “umami” and is a popular condiment, especially in organic foods. While yeast extract is not classified as an additive, it is added to affect flavor. At this point, one may well feel deceived by the reference “without flavor enhancer”.

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Monosodium Glutamate: What You Need to Know About The Additive E621

Monosodium glutamate (E621) is a flavor enhancer and is often criticized. The substance is said to be responsible for the nausea that often occurs after visiting a Chinese restaurant.

Monosodium glutamate is one of several salts of L-glutamic acid. There are other glutamates, but monosodium glutamate is the most common in the food industry. It is an isolated substance in its purest form. But there is also natural monosodium glutamate, which is chemically identical to the man-made substance. The natural monosodium glutamate is found, for example, in protein-rich foods such as fish and poultry. The body can easily absorb and fully utilize the substance.

Monosodium glutamate has been criticized as an artificial flavor enhancer in finished products. In such foods, however, it does not provide any of its own, but can only enhance existing flavors. Because monosodium glutamate does not have a taste of its own, explains Professor Ursula Bordewick-Dell from the University of Applied Sciences in Münster.

Monosodium glutamate in food: an overview

Monosodium glutamate is naturally found in many foods:
tomatoes
Cheese
eggs
poultry
legumes
Artificial monosodium glutamate is commonly found in these foods:
Ready meals (frozen products, canned products, instant noodles)
Ready-made sauces (e.g. salad dressing)
crisps
hot dog

Effect of monosodium glutamate on health

Studies have shown that monosodium glutamate increases appetite. Therefore, the substance is often mixed into animal feed to make animals overeat and gain weight faster. This has also been observed in humans. However, scientists now assume that humans would have to consume very large amounts of monosodium glutamate for a noticeable appetite-stimulating effect. So big that the crowd could be deadly.
The Kiel scientist Professor Michael Hermanussen points out that in animal experiments glutamate was able to penetrate into the brain: “Obviously the blood-brain barrier has leaks”. In animal experiments, newborns whose mothers received a high dose of glutamate were also harmed. Although these animal experiments cannot be directly transferred to humans, they do indicate potential dangers.

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Is Yeast Extract The New Glutamate?

The flavor enhancer glutamate is now less and less often found on the list of ingredients than it was a few years ago. It was replaced by yeast extract – but what exactly is that?

Is yeast extract made from yeast?

Although yeast extract is obtained from baker’s or brewer’s yeast, it is the concentrate of the soluble ingredients of yeast cells, i.e. the liquid of the yeast cells. During production, the so-called autolysis, the yeast cells are killed by heat: the yeast stops growing.

The yeast’s own enzymes split the proteins out of the yeast and partially dissolve them in the cell walls of the yeast cells. The smaller molecules from the yeast cells detach. The resulting cell juice is “washed” and concentrated.
At the end, yeast extract is left: either as a brown paste or as a yellowish-brown powder.

How does yeast extract taste?

Real fresh yeast tastes less spicy.

Yeast extract, on the other hand, has a strong, spicy taste reminiscent of broth made from boiled meat. This is also due to the fact that the natural amino acid glutamic acid is only released when the yeast is extracted. Free glutamic acid tastes hearty, spicy, meaty or “umami”, which is the fifth taste (besides sweet, sour, salty, bitter).

Free and bound glutamic acid also occurs naturally in protein-rich foods, for example in relatively high concentrations in parmesan, tomatoes or fish. And even our very first meal, breast milk, contains glutamic acid.

The percentage of glutamate in yeast extract is typically given as around 5 percent.
Incidentally, the British eat the extract pure on bread: as a spread called Marmite, a spicy paste. In Australia there is something similar under the name Vegemite, in the USA as Vegex and in Germany under the name Vitam-R (typically in health food stores).

Is yeast extract the same as glutamate?

The salts of glutamic acid are called glutamate. It has been repeatedly associated with Chinese restaurant syndrome in recent years and is said to stimulate the appetite. Although these effects have not been proven, the consumer advice centers advise against frequent consumption of the flavor enhancer. Glutamate is produced artificially, and genetically modified components can also be used. Yeast extract differs from the isolated flavor enhancer glutamate: in addition to around five to twelve percent glutamic acid, it also contains many other amino acids and is relatively rich in B vitamins and some minerals.

In contrast to glutamate, the extract does not count as a food additive on paper (although it is a substance that is added to foods) and therefore does not have to be labeled as a flavor enhancer by law (although it fulfills this function).

So the yeast extract is not the same as glutamate, although it also naturally contains glutamate (salts of glutamic acid) and also has a flavor-enhancing effect (otherwise you wouldn’t be using it).

Is extra yeast gluten free?
Yeast extract, when obtained from baker’s yeast, is gluten-free. However, the production of the extract from brewer’s yeast may contain very small amounts of gluten. In this case, however, the product must be labeled accordingly.

Is Yeast Extract Healthy?

While many people avoid glutamate because of its disrepute for its possible harmful effects on health, little is known about the health effects of yeast extract.

Since glutamate, or glutamic acid, is a natural component of so many foods we eat every day, it would be surprising if it were harmful to the body. In contrast to this naturally occurring form of glutamic acid, the flavor enhancer glutamate is an artificially produced additive. And whether this is actually harmful to health has not yet been clearly clarified. However, many consumers now reject it.

Yeast extract contains only a small proportion of glutamate (approx. 5%). It is therefore relatively unlikely that it will harm our health. Nonetheless, it is an industrially modified ingredient used to improve flavor.

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