Glutamate is one of the most controversial additives. Officially, the substance is considered safe, despite increasing evidence of risks and side effects. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration FDA considers the addition of MSG to foods to be “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS). The European Food Safety Authority EFSA has no fundamental objections to its use as a food additive, but it considers the consumption levels to be too high. The substance is a suspected factor in a long series of health disorders, has been associated with obesity, metabolic disorders, neurotoxic effects, also with numerous neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and multiple sclerosis, as well as in fibromyalgia. It is also said to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and even have harmful effects on the reproductive organs. Since glutamate is an important neurotransmitter in the body, responsible for transmitting signals, it is no wonder that low doses can also have positive effects, for example in the digestive tract; however, larger quantities are harmful. In rare cases, the additive can trigger the so-called Chinese restaurant syndrome in very sensitive people, which is characterized by headaches, numbness in the neck, body aches and nausea, among other things. The symptoms were first described in 1968 by the Chinese-born US doctor Robert Ho Man Kwok. In numerous studies, the syndrome was investigated, which is very controversial in the professional world, because in several studies the effects could not be confirmed. Since then, however, there have been several serious studies that confirm the described reactions to glutamate in sensitive consumers. The exact cause of these symptoms is not clear. In very rare cases, it can also cause asthma attacks in sensitive asthmatics, although the causal relationship has not yet been clarified. Headache and migraine patients also report pain attacks after glutamate-containing foods, including cluster headaches. Glutamate is officially classified in medicine as a trigger of headaches, but critics complain about insufficient data. The American researcher John Olney from Washington University in St. Louis had already proven nerve-damaging effects of high glutamate doses in animal experiments in the 1960s. Recent studies point above all to the harmful "synergistic" effects when glutamate, as usual in real life, is consumed together with other elements. Together with other additives, the effect of glutamate can be intensified. This has been discovered by scientists from the universities of Liverpool and Ulster. In the laboratory, they investigated the influence of chemical additives on the growth of individual nerve cells in order to find out their effect in early childhood, when the brain is still forming and possible damage has particularly far-reaching consequences. The result: The harmful effect of the additives on the investigated nerve cells (neurotoxicity) did not add up, as would be expected, but multiplied. A mixture of glutamate and the food dye Brilliant blue FCF (E133), for example, did not slow down cell growth by 15.8 percent, as would have been expected, but by 46.1 percent. The health-endangering effects of glutamate have long been controversial. And new suspicions always provoke immediate opposition from glutamate advocates, in business and science. For example, when it comes to mutagenic effects, which are vigorously denied. The attitude of the competent European food safety authority EFSA is also met with sharp criticism from the advocates of the flavor enhancer. There can be no question of excessive consumption, said industry-oriented professors with reference to a glutamate consensus from 2007, according to which even one pound of glutamate a day is harmless to an adult.
The flavor enhancer is one of the most important additives in the global food industry. Around five million tons are produced worldwide annually (as of 2018). Glutamic acid and glutamates are generally approved for food. As flavor enhancers, glutamic acid and glutamate are present in almost all broths and seasonings and may be added here indefinitely. In processed foods, loss of flavor is compensated for with the help of these substances. Thus, many ready-made meals, whether instant, shrink-wrapped, canned or frozen are given an acceptable flavor by means of these additives. Even packet soups and sauce powder as well as chips, crackers, and other snacks would often be bland without this additive. For even more taste, glutamates are often used in combination with so-called guanylates.
Glutamate is a natural substance that also has important functions in the human body, for example as a neurotransmitter. It is also contained in natural and traditional foods. Seaweed, soy sauce, Roquefort and Parmesan cheese as well as concentrated tomato paste are naturally relatively rich in glutamate. Even breast milk contains glutamate. Above all, its use as a food additive, as a so-called flavor enhancer in industrial food, is controversial. Glutamic acid and its salts have an intense, spicy taste, which is called "umami" in Japanese, and for which there are even separate receptors on the tongue. Glutamate is produced biotechnologically with the help of bacteria, which may also be genetically modified, from plant and animal raw materials. If glutamic acid is chemically combined with sodium, potassium, calcium, ammonia or magnesium, the so-called salts of glutamic acid are formed, from monosodium glutamate (MSG, E621) to magnesium Glutamate (E625). The flavor was discovered by the German agricultural chemist Karl Ritthausen: In 1866, he isolated glutamic acid, the basis and closest chemical relative of glutamate, for the first time from wheat protein (gluten). In 1908, the Japanese professor Kikunae Ikeda from the Faculty of Chemistry in Tokyo found out why his tofu, otherwise rather bland in taste, tasted better when he ate a spoonful of kelp broth with it: thanks to the abundant glutamic acid contained in it. Just one year later, the company Ajinomoto ("essence of taste") started with the production of the low-priced flavor enhancer. Today it is one of the world market leaders in the industry.
Glutamate: The white danger?
About the DR. WATSON Database of Additives
Carefully researched, factual, understandable: The DR. WATSON database provides reliable information on industrial additives in food. The data in the DR. WATSON database are based on the official accounts of the responsible authorities, but show a comprehensive picture and also report on research results of independent and recognized institutions around the world.
DR. WATSON was the first information service to evaluate additives, conduct its own research, consult thousands of studies and analyze them uniformly according to the criteria of evidence-based medicine. Our approach is clearly defined and transparent.
In this process, the DR. WATSON team was supported by recognized scientists and also sought legal advice. The DR. WATSON database is regularly updated and expanded. DR. WATSON is independent of outside interests and institutions.
Dr. WATSON consistently looks at novel ingredients of food from the perspective of consumers. The DR. WATSON database of additives provides information not only on additives and their health implications but also on their distribution: after all, it comes down to individual decisions of consumers on the basis of personal preferences and inclinations.
Important information on risks of additives in industrial food
DR. WATSON’s database of food additives does not give medical advice or recommendations. The DR. WATSON database provides information about additives – independent, scientifically sound, comprehensible.
Officially, additives in industrial food are considered harmless. So if you eat little of it and are of a robust constitution, you have nothing to worry about. (For allergies, however, a milligram of the wrong thing can be fatal.)
With the limits being raised for what are considered safe consumption amounts, the chemical additives in food are becoming a health risk for more and more people. For many additives, side effects are proven beginning at a certain amount – and those side effects can be more severe than previously suspected. Especially children consume more of such additives than is good for them (ADI).
These are risks that humans have created for themselves. They are not impurities stemming from contamination or spoilage, but intentionally added additives.
The additives in such foods do not serve the consumers but the manufacturers of industrial food.
Their primary purpose is to extend shelf life and reduce costs. The human organism does not need such chemicals. They also have no health benefits for consumers. Many of the additives can pose health risks.
Chemically produced additives, unlike normal ingredients such as cauliflower, cream, or chicken, are not traditional components of a dish or a food. The body therefore has no adequate, evolutionarily practiced mechanisms for processing them.
Humans do not need additives. Only the food industry needs them.
They serve to enhance the taste or color of industrial food – externally. More colorful effervescence, browner sauces, noodle soups with longer shelf life, airier cakes, rolls with enhanced bun scent, creamier cream cheese with less fat, yogurts with stabilized fruit pieces that don’t move around.
Industrial food is designed to appear more attractive — and for as long as possible (shelf life). Because in the world of factories and supermarkets, food has to be cheap and last an unnaturally long time which is only possible by means of chemical engineering.
Many industrial foods cannot do without additives. Bag soups would quickly mold, margarine would become rancid, fruit yogurts would separate into fruit preparation and yogurt. Ready-made salad dressings would disintegrate into its components of herbs, vinegar, and oil.
The chemical substances indicated with E numbers are essential for industrial food production.
Many of them were tailored to the needs of food factories, lab-made substances without a model in nature. Other substances used do occur in nature but by using them as additives, the quantities that are being consumed have grown disproportionately.
In the past, doctors and authorities have therefore expressed concerned about these chemical substances in food, especially in the case of sustained and long-term intake.
Since then the official stance has changed.
Substances that were once considered "xenobiotics" and were even reviled by experts as "poisons" have now not only been rehabilitated, but even ennobled. Although consumer deception is still officially banned, they are now considered "food improvement agents" (EU jargon). To regulate the handling of these noble ingredients, the European Union has adopted a whole quartet of regulations, the "Food Improvement Agents Package" (FIAP), consisting of four individual regulations on the different types of additives.
However, findings on the harmful effects of these "substances for the improvement of food" are increasing.
Flavour enhancers such as glutamate are suspected of contributing to diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Dyes can lead to hyperactivity and learning disorders (ADHD). Migraines can also be triggered by food additives. Sweeteners such as aspartame are even suspected of causing cancer. Preservatives can damage the intestines and disrupt the immune system. Citric acid can attack the teeth and also transport harmful metals such as aluminum into the brain. Industrial flavors can cause obesity. Phosphates can accelerate the aging process and cause diseases such as heart disease, high blood pressure, bone weakness, and osteoporosis to occur earlier in life.
Additives are only used in tiny doses. However, more and more substances are being authorized and the individual additives are being produced in ever larger quantities. Phosphates, for example, are used worldwide as food additives at a rate of over 300,000 tonnes per year. In the case of sweeteners, the annual figure is 750,000 tonnes. Citric acid is one of the record holders: About 3 million tons are produced worldwide every year, most of it for food. In the case of glutamate, it is even 3.3 million tons per year.
Surprisingly, the effects of the individual chemicals multiply when consumed jointly. This was shown, among other things, by a study conducted by the University of Liverpool with the two dyes E104 (quinoline yellow) and E133 (brilliant blue), the flavor enhancer glutamate (E621), and the sweetener aspartame (E951).
The result: The harmful effects of the additives on the brain (neurotoxicity) did not add up, as would be expected, but multiplied. A mixture of the blue dye E133 and glutamate (E621), for example, did not slow down cell growth by 15.8 percent, as would have been expected, but by 46.1 percent. One plus one therefore does not equal to two, but up to six.
When approving additives, it is always taken into account what quantities of which foods people consume. In animal experiments a dose is then determined which is released as a daily tolerable amount. A safety margin is then applied, and the so-called "ADI value" is calculated ("Acceptable Daily Intake"). From this, a maximum quantity is fixed for each food. This should be calculated in such a way that the ADI value is not exceeded even with frequent consumption.
But with many additives, especially children but also adults apparently consume far more than is good for them. This was the result of studies conducted by the EU Commission and the member states and the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA).
The recording of consumption volumes in the European Union seems to have been systematically delayed, as has been criticized even by the European Court of Auditors. In a special report, it strongly criticized the lax surveillance practice.
Authorities can therefore not give an absolute guarantee of safety, since they know neither about the exact quantities used in individual foods nor about the total quantities actually consumed.
As a result, since the supervisory authorities refuse to guarantee protection against the risks posed by additives, consumers must protect themselves.
So everyone has to know for themselves what they want to expose themselves to.
DR. WATSON helps – with solid information about food additives and their alternatives.
Because it is quite simple, life without E-numbers. There is a safe way to get by without additives: Real food. Cooking for yourself using fresh ingredients.
There are no additives in real food.
Make the dressing for the salad yourself, cook the soup fresh or for a few days in advance, stir fruit or jam into the natural yoghurt.
It is: the traditional way of eating. In medicine, for example, the Mediterranean diet is now considered the gold standard for the prevention of diseases.
And: it is also the most enjoyable way of eating. Some even speak of a "gourmet diet", which is primarily oriented towards taste - and thus towards the neurological laws for the optimal supply of the individually necessary nutrients.
And: It is not only best for humans, but also for animals and the environment. And, of course, the children, and thus the following generations, the future of the planet.