Umami: A History of Monosodium Glutamate

[Music] foreign [Music] in 1907 a professor of chemistry at Tokyo Imperial University by the name of kikuni Akita sat down to dinner and noticed that his broth was particularly delicious a year later on July 25th 1908 he figured out why the compound that Professor Akita had identified today represents a nearly 7 billion dollar industry with one of the most common if most controversial food additives the complex history of the sodium salt of gluconic acid that is called monosodium glutamate deserves to be remembered in July 2005 issue of the Guardian describes the simple origin of a complex compound Professor kukuni aikida comes home from the physics faculty at the Tokyo Imperial University and sits down to eat a broth of vegetables and tofu prepared by his wife it is as usual delicious the professor a mild bespectical biochemistry specialist turns to Mrs aikida and asks as spouses occasionally will what is the secret of her wonderful soup born in 1864 aikida had studied chemistry at the school of science at Imperial University Tokyo graduating in 1889. he taught chemistry for a decade and she'll becoming an associate professor at Imperial University before studying abroad spending two years studying at the University of Leipzig in the laboratory of Friedrich ostwald considered one of the founders of the field of physical chemistry and then several months more studying in the United Kingdom it was this experience abroad that may have sparked his interest in his wife's soup Japan's Umami information center explains Akita was surprised that the physical size and nutritional conditions of German people at the time and he developed a strong desire to improve the nutritional status of Japanese people back home he also tried Tomatoes asparagus meat and cheese for the first time while in Germany and through these experiences he sensed that another basic taste was present in food aside from the four currently recognized tastes of sweetness sourness saltiness and bitterness The Secret of his wife's soup it seems were dried strips of laminaria Japonica brown seaweed commonly called kombu Central ingredient in Dashi the soup stock used commonly in Japanese Cuisine the guardian writes Mrs Akitas kambu is to lead him to a discovery that will make his fortune and change the nature of 20th century food the Umami information center concludes upon sampling the kelp he noticed that the same unique taste is discovered in the tomatoes asparagus meat and cheese he had eaten in Germany was unmistakably present in the kelp Dashi as well based on this realization he began to research the constituents present in kelp Smithsonian Magazine explained in 2013 that aikida then took the seaweed and ran it through a series of chemical experiments using evaporation to isolate a specific compound within the seaweed after days of evaporating and treating the seaweed he saw the development of a crystalline form the crystals Akita had discovered were according to a November 8 2013 edition of Smithsonian Magazine the molecular formula C5 H9 no4 the same as glutamic acid and amino acid designated as non-essential because the human body is was a large smattering of other plants and animals is able to produce it on its own food historian Dr Ian Mosby writes what Akita discovered was that when added to certain foods glutamate often enhanced their inherent Savory qualities this was in essence The Culinary function typically performed by foods naturally high in glutamate such as sharp cheese tomatoes mushrooms or seaweed but Akita had done more than discover an additive he believed that he had discovered a new taste the Umami information center explains since ancient times common beliefs held that there were four basic tastes sweetness saltiness sourness and bitterness and that any other taste encountered were the result of mixing combinations of these four however aikida found that the taste he encountered in the kelp Dashi was different than any of the established four and was confident that he had discovered a fifth basic taste he called this new taste Umami The Culinary website the spruce eats explains it Umami translates to Pleasant Savory taste it has been described as brothy or meaty you can taste umambian foods that contain a high level of the amino acid glutamate like parmesan cheese seaweed miso and mushrooms Umami has been described as having a mild but lasting aftertaste associated with salivation and The Sensation of furriness on the tongue stimulating the throat the roof and the back of the mouth and in what may be a surprise to you the spruce eats notes breast milk is high in the amino acids that deliver the taste of umami which may prime a person to seek out this flavor profile throughout life well Akita coined the term in 1908 Dr lindman notes that the scientific Community received the discovery with moderate Applause only many especially in the English-speaking countries remained unconvinced in fact the society for research on Umami taste notes that the term Umami did not receive International recognition until a symposium the society held in 1985 after the discovery of umami taste receptors but Akita was not the first to have at least guessed at the existence of this fifth taste the website of food manufacturer adenamoto notes that the ancient fermented fish sauce called garob was used widely throughout Rome in the ancient world garum is one of the first known examples of an Umami dominated condiment and French gastronomist Gene in them briat Severin posited amidi taste that he called osmosome in his 1825 culinary work the physiology of taste and in 1908 Swiss entrepreneur Julius Maggie became Mass producing bullion cues which had an unami taste derived from vegetable stock but Akita appears to have been the first to isolate the amino acids that produce the Umami flavor Dr Mosby writes akita's main Innovation was his discovery that by stabilizing glutamate using ordinary salt the resulting product was an inexpensive additive that had the capacity to dramatically improve the flavor of both fresh and processed foods this sodium salt of glutamic acid is called monosodium glutamate Akita saw his new development as a way to improve health in Japan by making healthy but bland Foods more tasty the website food Insight explains that when MSG is eaten the sodium and glutamate break apart in the saliva and the free glutamate activates a person's Umami taste receptors creating that especially satisfying and savory flavor see in in explains I'm a scientist by training I think how MSG works is one of the coolest scientific things says Tia Reigns a chicago-based nutrition scientist we have different receptors on our tongue for different tastes a receptor for Umami looks almost like a venus fly trap under a microscope she adds mimicking a sea with her hand glutamate is the amino acid that has The Snug fit to that receptor the discovery was remarkable the University of Tokyo School of Science rights said on April 24 1908 Professor Akita applied for a patent for a manufacturing method for seasoning with glutamic acid as the key component and on July 25th of the same year his patent registration was accepted this invention is now ranked as one of the 10 Great Inventions in Japan a 2007 edition of The Food and Drug Law Journal notes that the product that emerged from aikida's laboratory monosodium glutinate was quickly patented in Japan the United States England and France aikida brought the powdered substance to iodine manufacturer Suzuki Saburo who Suzuki Chemical Company began marketing it in 1909 under the brand name ajinomoto meaning essence of taste the journal jstor daily writes akita's invention came at a perfect time Japan was pushing to compete with the West in technological innovations the country's educated middle class was excited about the new applications of modern science including in the kitchen the Suzuki Chemical Company aimed its product squarely at this Market promoting its engine omoto brand MSG as a predictable convenient scientifically proven product by 1939 its use in home kitchens was so common that one prominent Japanese Chef said restaurant diners no longer like food without it the additive then spread to Taiwan and then China and then the United States there is a popular belief that MSG was brought to the U.S by the military after the second world war Story Goes that U.S service members preferred Japanese rations to American rations owing to the inclusion of MSG in fact CNN noted in May of 2023 that the U.S military even held the first ever MSG Symposium after World War II to discuss how the seasoning could be used to make tastier field rations and boost soldiers morale the Food and Drug Law Journal explains that after World War II the U.S military took an interest in msg's virtues since in the words of Colonel John D Peterman quartermaster of the food and container Institute for the Armed Forces flavorless rations can undermine morale as quickly as any other single factor in military life but MSG had come to the U.S long before that the culinary website delicious living notes that by the mid-1930s MSG and ajinomoto made its way to America but it wasn't introduced to American Pilots via the expansion of Chinese food restaurants as commonly believed and it wasn't packaged in the form of table-ready spice as it was in Japan nor was it sent in seasoning shakers to be embraced and employed by Street vendors as it was in Taiwan instead MSG was shipped to the United States in crates of 10 pound tins of the white powder where it found an audience with industrial customers such as the Campbell's Soup company the canned soup company recognized msg's capacity to make bland food taste better between the 1930s and 1941 the United States bought more ajinomoto than any other country outside of Japan and Taiwan they start daily rights while MSG never caught on as a home kitchen ingredient in the U.S the way it did in Japan and China its role in the industrialized food system here was huge it was common for example to find MSG in Frozen and canned foods across the country this industrial use was combined with the growing interest in the US for Chinese food they start daily rights that in the United States of the 1930s and 40s white Americans were beginning to visit Chinese restaurants where the use of MSG was probably widespread the Food and Drug Law Journal explains in the same year that MSG spread through the processed food industry Chinese restaurants became a ubiquitous part of the American landscape thus regardless of whether or not individual consumers applied bottled MSG to food at home two other common eating experiences canned and Frozen Foods along with prepared Chinese food delivered large quantities of the flavor stimulant to American taste receptors but the U.S attitude towards food and particularly food additives was about to change delicious living explains trust in the conventional food system didn't last America in the 1960s was the birthplace of environmental health and product safety movements with a focused attention around the risk of chemicals in food and pesticides in our land and their potential carcinogenic effects Americans became leery of any strange sounding ingredients and health repercussions of consuming the chemical sounding MSG was called into question this skepticism was given particular weight when a letter by a chinese-american doctor named Robert ho manquak was published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine a science article published on the ABC News website 538 notes in 1968 the New England Journal of Medicine published a letter from a doctor complaining about radiating pain in his arms weakness and heart palpitations after eating at Chinese restaurants he Muse that cooking wine MSG or excessive salt might be to blame reader responses poured in with similar complaints and scientists jumped to research the phenomenon Chinese restaurant syndrome was born the history Institute of Philadelphia Pennsylvania writes a month later the nejm printed 10 responses from other doctors like Quack The Doctors reported discomfort after eating Chinese food either in themselves or in friends or patients CNN writes that MSG took the biggest hit with the effects of the latter Rippling on throughout the decades all over the world restaurants publicly swore off MSG food and beverage publishes beg not to be asked about it diners experience discomfort after a meal blamed it on MSG The Culinary website delicious living rights said as far as many were concerned quarks a letter to the editor sufficed as research on the topic and MSG for whatever reason stood out as the most likely culprit thus beginning a several decades-long epidemic of Chinese restaurant syndrome which was most commonly a self-diagnosed condition 538 writes that early on researchers reported an association between consuming MSG and the symptoms cited in the New England Journal of Medicine inflammatory headlines and book titles followed Chinese food make you crazy MSG is number one suspect wrote The Chicago Tribune while books titled excitotoxins the taste that kills and in bad taste the MSG symptom complex prompted FDA reviews and 60 Minutes investigations but even then there were reasons to question this narrative the history Institute of Philadelphia continues the symptoms cataloged in the letters included fainting back spasms sweating dizziness flush skin and a numb jaw puzzlingly though no two letter writers listed the same symptoms and the possible links between them was anyone's gas they appeared all over the body came at widely varying times after eating stranger still some doctors declared the syndrome occurred only in certain geographical locations New York and Southern California were deemed risky while Hawaii and London were absolved nor could the doctors agree on the instigating ingredient one blamed Duck Sauce another frozen veggies others fingered mustard wonton soup or puffer fish Venom one even blamed the physical strain of westerners struggling with chopsticks of Note One neurologist explicitly absolved MSG noting that he cooked with it all the time at home and never felt a thing still Regulators were concerned the Food and Drug law General rights on October 23 1969 Gene Meyer chair of the White House conference on food nutrition and health recommended msgb band in baby foods Meyer based his recommendation on a report earlier in the year by Dr John Olney stating that injections of monosodium glutinate had caused brain damage in mice but despite testimony from Dr Olney further animal studies and anecdotal evidence reported by numerous doctors throughout the 1970s MSG was never banned or subjected to further regulation like saccharin and many other ambiguous substances in the Contemporary world food system MSG continued to be consumed even as the controversy about its health effects persisted but the controversy was slightly settled in the minds of the public Smithsonian Magazine writes few letters have the power to stop conversation in its tracks more than MSG one of the most infamous additives in the food industry the three little letters carry so much negative weight that they're often whispered sheepishly or more often decidedly preceded by the modifier no that seems to make everyone breathe the collective sigh of relief when they go out to eat nobody wants MSG in their food the protest goes it causes headaches stomach aches dizziness and general malaise it's unhealthy and maybe even worse unsexy used by lazy chefs as an excuse for flavor not an enhancement but the science on the issue is far from settled Smithsonian continues double-blind studies often showed little correlation between MSG and adverse symptoms the guardian writes other scientists were testing MSG and finding no evidence of harm in one 1970 study 11 humans ate up to 147 grams of the stuff every day for six weeks without any adverse reactions at the University of Western Sydney the researchers concluded tersely Chinese restaurant syndrome as an anecdote applied to a variety of postpreneurial illnesses rigorous and realistic scientific evidence linking the syndrome to MSG could not be found Prevention magazine writes that there is no good research to back up the notion that MSG is bad for you explains Susan Levine director of nutrition education at Physicians committee for responsible medicine in fact International organizations such as the World Health Organization the Food and Drug Administration and the European food safety Association classify MSG as generally recognized as safe and notes that a 2019 review of the literature concluded that many of the reported negative side effects of MSG are poorly informative so they're based on excessive dosing that does not meet with levels normally consumed in food products Dr Mosby notes that the Panic seems to have surrendered Chinese restaurants while ignoring the MSG used in many other products and as the history of this unique medication condition suggests it was a disease who spread ode as much to persisting prejudices about Chinese culinary practices and culture as it did to fears of the effects of MSG and other food additives the guardian asked more directly if MSG is so bad for you why doesn't everyone in Asia have a headache this concern has caused the medical community to replace the term Chinese restaurant syndrome with MSG symptom complex moreover a wellness newsletter published by the University of Washington School of Medicine explains that MSG is naturally occurring substance that is safe to eat and found naturally in many foods already Dr rayens told CNN our bodies make glutamate so it would not be possible to have an allergy to glutamate Neuroscience Institute of Stanford University explains that the reality is MSG and Umami give us the same taste experience while MSG has a negative connotation and Umami has a largely positive one they actually use the same molecule an amino acid called glutamate to activate our taste receptors but many agree that the evidence is at least inconclusive a 2018 study in the Journal of experimental and clinical Sciences argues that further studies need to be undertaken in order to assess the connection between MSG and cardiovascular disorders headache and hypertension in human models and concludes that if more substantive evidence of MSG toxicity would be provided a total ban on the use of msgs and flavor enhancer would not be unwise to consider even the FDA admits the controversy is Health Essentials a publication of the Cleveland Clinic notes because of the ongoing controversy surrounding MSG the FDA requires MSG to be listed on the labels of processed foods that include it Smithsonian concludes parties on both sides of the debate song accusations at the other with the anti-msg researchers claiming the studies were being funded by MSG producers and pro-msg researchers accusing the other side of fear-mongering and the controversy continues the Food and Drug Law Journal notes of the path that MSG has taken from its Discovery to its being widely embraced to being largely vilified to today having its reputation Maybe somewhat rehabilitated simply put the lesson is that our taste buds are historically shaped and MSG is certainly still around CNN notes that many modern chefs are starting to embrace MSG and try to destigmatize this century-old ingredient and it's in some very popular foods in America like Chick-fil-A's chicken sandwich and Kentucky Fried Chicken's extra crispy chicken breast and chips like Doritos and Pringles so is MSG safe to eat well I'm a historian not a scientist but food Regulatory Agencies throughout the world have determined it to be generally safe for human consumption perhaps food Essentials put it best they said If you experience negative symptoms when you eat foods with MSG you might want to avoid it most of us though can rest easy knowing that MSG is not the toxic ingredient that was once purported to be I hope you enjoyed watching this episode of the history guy and if you did please feel free to like And subscribe and share the history guide with your friends and if you also believe that history deserves to be remembered then you can support the history guy as a member on YouTube a supporter on our community at locals or as a patron on patreon you can also check out our great merchandise shop or book a special message from the history guy on cameo [Applause] foreign [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] foreign

Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 174,506

Keywords: history, history guy, the history guy

Id: fT-rI5kkv0I

Length: 20min 55sec (1255 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 26 2023