With millions of consumers expressing a desire to lower the amount of salt-sodium chloride in their daily diets, cutting out any ingredient with the word “sodium” in it is often stressed. But strict removal of all things sodium means that those same consumers are missing out on one of the most effective salt-lowering solutions they can get: monosodium glutamate (MSG)

The Discovery of Monosodium Glutamate

In 1908, Kikunae Ikeda, a Chemistry Department professor at the Imperial University’s School of Science, isolated monosodium glutamate, extracting it from kelp, a central ingredient used in Japanese cuisine. Identifying glutamic acid as the source of savory taste, Ikeda named it “umami,” Japanese for “pleasant, savory taste.” Ikeda identified umami as the fifth of the five basic taste modalities, joining sweet, sour, salty, and bitter.

Ikeda envisioned turning umami into a seasoning product that would help improve the nutritional health of the Japanese population. After partnering with entrepreneur Saburosuke Suzuki, Ikeda refined his process and in 1909, patented MSG and launched the world’s first umami seasoning. The partners named the product Ajinomoto, or the “essence of taste.” The MSG seasoning laid the foundation for the Ajinomoto Company, which eventually evolved into the global Ajinomoto Group.

The experts at Ajinomoto Health & Nutrition North America, Inc. (part of the Ajinomoto Group) are on hand to help food product formulators and manufacturers maximize flavor and health in their products.
With more than 125 years of expertise in the science of amino acids, the Ajinomoto team of food scientists and chefs is the world’s leading source for umami and kokumi.

MSG vs Salt: How it Affects Your Health

When it comes to health, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine determined MSG is an effective tool for reducing sodium in food. Research data indicates that using glutamates, such as MSG, as a partial replacement for sodium in certain foods, can help reduce dietary sodium intake by up to 7-8% overall in the US population.

MSG contains only about a third of the amount of sodium as table salt (12% vs. 39% respectively, per USDA analysis). Using MSG in place of a portion of the table salt in food can lower total sodium content by a third to as much as half, while adding and enhancing the palate-pleasing savory notes of umami.

Important health factors to consider about the use of MSG seasoning:

• Adding a small amount of MSG to boost food flavor allows people to significantly cut back on their overall use of salt.
• MSG enhances flavor making low-sodium foods taste better.
• When food tastes better, people can more easily maintain a healthy low-sodium diet.

Flavor Enhancing with MSG

Amino acids are the building blocks of all proteins found in nature, including those found in foods. While different proteins might have different amounts of various amino acids, the amino acid most commonly found in most food proteins is glutamine, of which glutamate is a natural form.

When proteins break down in a food system due to aging, ripening, or fermentation, the amino acids are liberated from the protein and contribute different tastes. The presence of glutamic acid uniquely contributes to the basic taste of umami.

While the presence of glutamic acid is universal in food proteins, some contain higher levels than others including:

• Tomatoes
• Mushrooms
• Onions
• Seaweed
• Vegetables in the Brassica family, such as cabbage, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts
• Aged cheeses
• Fermented wheat
• Legumes (especially soy)
• Yeast

MSG is the salt of this most common amino acid and delivers an exceptional umami character to foods. Umami functions by expanding the flavor of savory foods, delivering a more enhanced and complete overall flavor character.

When used in food preparation, MSG naturally breaks down into its sodium and glutamate components. The addition of MSG to foods already containing glutamate amplifies the flavor characteristics of these foods even more.

Savory foods benefit the most from the addition of MSG, enhancing the overall flavor of a meat, tomato, or mushroom sauce, soup, or stock. 

Depending on the application, the use of MSG at only 0.1 to 0.8% of the weight of a formulation (less than 1g per 100g)can make an impressive difference in flavor. In smaller amounts, MSG can also be used to balance other flavor notes, such as salty, sour, bitter, astringent, or earthy characters.

Elevate Every Day Dishes with MSG Seasoning

MSG works best in savory products such as:

• Meats
• Poultry
• Seafood
• Vegetables
• Soups
• Casseroles
• Egg dishes
• Gravies
• Sauces

It is commonly available as odorless and colorless fine crystals and like salt or other seasonings, can be incorporated into food either before or during cooking. As a rule of thumb, plan on about 1/2 teaspoon MSG per pound of animal protein in a food. Alternatively, you can use the same amount per three cups of a vegetable-based recipe, casserole, stew, or soup.

This same amount of MSG works well in recipes for packaged foods and snacks, such as chips, crackers, jerky products, and sausages.

Research also suggests that MSG can be used to reduce total sodium in non-sweet bakery products, such as breads, biscuits, and rolls.

It is important to understand that the amount of glutamate delivered when MSG is added to food is similar to the levels naturally found in many foods. This context is crucial given the negative, and often anecdotally-based perceptions that persist about this proven-safe ingredient.

Busting the MSG Myths

Despite scientific consensus that the following myths are unfounded, misconceptions about MSG persist, overshadowing the seasoning’s positive impact on health and flavor enhancement.

Myth: MSG causes headaches or neurological damage.

Fact: Clinical studies have found no consistent evidence that MSG causes headaches, brain damage, or long-term neurological problems. In fact, many major health organizations such as the US FDA, World Health Organization, and Food and Agriculture Organization consider MSG safe when added to food.

Myth: “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome” (CRS) is a real medical condition.

Fact: CRS is based on a single letter written by a physician in 1968 to the editor of The New England Journal of Medicine. The doctor claimed, without proof, that he suffered a series of adverse physical symptoms after eating Chinese food. No controlled studies since that time have reproduced his symptoms (numbness, headaches) and the condition is not recognized by physicians as a legitimate medical disorder.

Myth: MSG is artificial and a dangerous additive.

Fact: MSG is an amino acid that occurs naturally in such foods as tomatoes, Parmesan cheese, mushrooms, soy sauce, and breast milk. It is produced by fermentation, much the same as yogurt, vinegar, and wine.

Myth: Foods labeled “contains no MSG” are healthier.

Fact: Some manufacturers who label their food “MSG free” actually add more salt or fat to their products to enhance flavor. These additions pose higher health risks than small amounts of MSG.

MSG and Sodium Reduction

In a review of recent literature on strategies for sodium reduction, Soo‐Yeun Lee, Ph.D. of the University of Illinois, Urbana‐Champaign Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, noted that processed and prepackaged foods are among the main sources of sodium intake. He found that bread products alone account for approximately a fifth of the daily sodium intake for consumers. Yet many consumers associate high sodium with processed meats and processed foods, seemingly unaware of the contribution made by bread and other savory baked items.

Scientists have struggled to lower sodium in breads without the end products suffering losses in sensory quality, as simply reducing salt alone will do.

For the past decade, emphasis has shifted to flavor modification and physical modification. Efforts into the latter have not panned out as well as the former, leading to flavor modification with salt replacers and salt enhancers as the more preferred method. However, many of these ingredients have limitations such as bitter, metallic, or other off flavor notes, especially once they surpass replacing approximately 30% of the sodium chloride.

Dr. Lee’s review of the research revealed that MSG is a “promising way to keep a similar, but more intense flavor profile while achieving sodium reduction.”

As a “flavor potentiator,” MSG enhances the natural flavor in a product and is believed to heighten saltiness perception.

Citing a 2017 study comparing full-NaCl Indian bread with the same product substituting 12.5% and 25% of the salt with MSG, the plain breads with MSG scored higher for overall quality, while “no differences were found between the different salt levels of the bread containing MSG.”

Reducing sodium with MSG effectively and successfully increased the taste profile of the plain bread formulation while reducing levels of added salt. In a formulation that included herbs and spices, the inclusion of MSG created a “synergistic effect” that enhanced the various flavor properties.

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