Glutamic Acid - It Is Not MSG or Monosodium Glutamate
Protein
builds muscle, organ, and all body tissue. It aids digestion. It
provides structure to hair, fingernails, and ligaments. It produces
stomach acid, aids the movement of muscles, helps us to see, produces
antibodies, and delivers oxygen to blood. It is essential to life.
Proteins
are amino acids linked together in chains. Of twenty-two known amino
acids, eight are classified as 'essential,' signifying the body does not
produce them so they must be obtained from food we eat. The other
fourteen amino acids are considered non-essential, signifying the body
is capable of making them so they are not diet dependent.
Glutamic
acid is a 'non-essential' classified amino acid that is very common in
plants and animals. Besides being a building block of protein, glutamic
acid is vital in the transmission of nerve impulses, and is even
manufactured in the brain.
A
typical human contains 4.4 pounds of glutamate or Glutamic acid. It is a
main component of proteins and peptides, and present in most tissue.
Virtually every food contains glutamate. It's a major component of
protein rich food like meat, eggs, poultry, milk, cheese, and fish.
Glutamate or Glutamic acid is also ubiquitous in grain, beans,
vegetables, mushrooms, fruits, nuts, sea vegetables such as kombu, and
even mother's milk. The following list shows common food content
amounts:
| Food Source | Serving Size | Amount of Natural Glutamic Acid |
| Chicken breast, roasted | 1 each | 8.62 grams |
| Chicken breast, batter fried | 1 each | 8.50 grams |
| Turkey breast | 3 oz. | 3.86 grams |
| Ground beef, broiled | 3 oz. | 3.28 grams |
| Sirloin, roasted | 3 oz. | 3.54 grams |
| Avocado & Cheese Sandwich on Wheat | 1 each | 4.07 grams |
| Fish Sandwich | 1 each | 3.38 grams |
| Pretzels | 5 pieces | 0.91 grams |
| Garbanzo Beans | 1/2 cup | 1.27 grams |
| Baked Potato w/Cheese | 1 each | 3.02 grams |
| Baked Potato, plain | 1 each | 0.78 grams |
| Tomato Paste, Unsalted | 1/2 cup | 1.93 grams |
| Walnuts | 1 oz. | 1.42 grams |
| Peanut Butter | 2 Tbsp. | 1.60 grams |
| Sunflower Seeds | 1 oz. | 1.21 grams |
| Buttermilk Pancakes | 1 ea. | 1.53 grams |
| Couscous | 1/2 cup | 2.14 grams |
| Lobster, boiled | 1 cup | 5.06 grams |
| Yellowtail Fish | 1 fillet | 12.94 grams |
| Salmon | 1 fillet | 12.68 grams |
| Egg | 1 each | 0.63 grams |
| Yogurt, plain | 8 oz. | 2.51 grams |
| Hot Cocoa | 1 cup | 1.88 grams |
| Milk | 1 cup | 200 mg to 1.68 grams depending on the amount of fat in the milk |
| Kelp (kombu) | 1/2 cup | 0.11 grams |
| Wakame | 1/2 cup | 0.08 grams |
All measurements are from "Nutrients In Food" compiled by Elizabeth S. Hands for the USDA and The USDA Website
There
are two common forms of glutamic acid, L-glutamic acid and D-glutamic
acid. L-glutamic acid found in protein is referred to as 'bound' or
'protein bound' glutamic acid. In real, natural foods amino acids are
rarely free. Rather, they are linked or bound in long chains to other
amino acids in peptides or proteins. D-glutamic acid 'outside of
protein' or 'free glutamic acid' is artificially and chemically produced
outside of the body. This is what is known as monosodium glutamate or
MSG.
Asian
cultures have used sea vegetables to enhance the flavor of food for
centuries, especially kombu. Kombu is traditionally used to make broth
called 'dashi' and more recently kombu extract. Though both are sources
of glutamic acid, kombu extract is a concentrated form. Keep in mind,
though, that this glutamic acid is 'bound to protein', L-glutamic acid.
Dashi and extract is simply kombu simmered in water to extract the
flavor essence of glutamic acid. Kombu is one of the lowest sources of
glutamic acid, if you look at the above chart, compared to other high
protein foods.
In
1907 a Japanese chemist, Kikunae Ikeda, was experimenting with food
flavors in a quest for what the Japanese consider the perfectly balanced
combination of flavors, 'umami'. Professor Ikeda captured what he
believed was umami by isolating glutamic acid from seaweed and other
plants such as wheat, beets, corn, and molasses. In 1909 the Ajinomoto
Corporation of Japan patented it as monosodium glutamate or MSG and sold
it in the U.S. as Accent, a flavor enhancer. This chemical is not food
like kombu sea vegetable, but rather a toxic concoction and excitotoxin.
When
we eat food containing protein, our body breaks it down or hydrolyzes
it in the stomach and lower intestines through the action of
hydrochloric acid and digestive enzymes. In a healthy person, the body
controls the amount of glutamic acid that it takes from protein. Excess
glutamic acid is not stored by the body, preventing toxicity. It is
passed off as waste. Utilized this way, glutamic acid from eating
protein is harmless.
In
the chemical MSG manufacturing plant, however, the bound glutamic acid
in the above mentioned foods is broken down or made 'free of protein' by
various processes (hydrolyzed, autolyzed, modified or fermented with
strong chemicals, acids, bacteria, or enzymes, which are often
genetically modified) and refined to a white crystal powder that
resembles salt or sugar. Chemical MSG contains 78% glutamate, 12.2%
sodium, and 9.6% water. This chemical form is known as D-glutamic acid.
It usually contains some L-glutamic acid, pyroglutamic acid, and other
contaminants. This factory made version causes serious reactions. From
our research there is no D-glutamic acid, pyroglutamic acid or other
contaminants in the protein found in plants and animals, only L-glutamic
acid. When pure, manufactured, MSG is ingested a rapid effect occurs
from the glutamate. This 'free of protein' glutamic acid, or glutamate
unlike the naturally occurring 'protein bound' glutamate, is not
attached to other amino acids. The normal digestive disassembly process
does not happen because there are no 'peptide' bonds to slow the
process. The sudden increase in free glutamic acid is then rapidly
absorbed and can raise blood levels of glutamate eight to ten times
causing toxicity.
Chemically
produced MSG is found in a very wide variety of foods both in the
supermarket and in natural food stores. It may not be, and commonly is
not, declared on the label because it is a "processing aid" used in an
ingredient. When MSG is used as a processing aid, it is not required by
the FDA to be declared on the label. MSG is in hydrolyzed animal,
vegetable (textured vegetable protein TVP), and milk protein. Calcium
and sodium cassinate are by-products of hydrolyzed milk products. It is
found in maltodextrin from processed corn and cornstarch. Bouillon
cubes, autolyzed yeast extracts and chemically manufactured malt syrups
contain small amounts of it. Whey protein, protein isolates, smoke
flavorings, barbecue chips, and cheap and imitation soy sauces contain
it. It is also found in chemically made gelatins and even in children's
vaccinations.
We
assure you that Eden Foods does not use the chemical MSG in any EDEN
Beans, Edensoy, or any food item that we offer. There is much confusion,
contradictory information and studies in the public domain. Most of it
skewed or flawed, having been paid for by the manufactures of MSG.
Commonly documents are incorrect in referring to chemical MSG as
L-glutamate, when in fact it is D-glutamate. Eden Foods realizes there
is a real danger in consuming MSG. The following websites may give you
some reassurance regarding natural glutamic acid found in foods and its
difference from chemical MSG:
