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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 90/3/844S    most recent ajcn.2009.27462Xv1 Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Google Scholar Articles by Yamamoto, S. Articles by Uneyama, H. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Yamamoto, S. Articles by Uneyama, H. Agricola Articles by Yamamoto, S. Articles by Uneyama, H.

Can dietary supplementation of monosodium glutamate improve the health of the elderly?^1,2,3,4

¹ From the International Nutrition, Ochanomizu University Graduate School of Humanities & Sciences, Ochanomizu University Graduate School, Tokyo, Japan (SY); the Department of Nutrition, Okanoki Hospital, Kita-Kyushu, Japan (MT); the Department of Nutritional Sciences, Faculty of Health and Welfare, Seinan Jogakuin University, Kita-Kyushu, Japan (KT); and the Physiology & Nutrition Group, Institute of Life Sciences, Ajinomoto Co, Inc, Tokyo, Japan (MK and HU).

² Presented at the "100th Anniversary Symposium of Umami Discovery: The Roles of Glutamate in Taste, Gastrointestinal Function, Metabolism, and Physiology," held in Tokyo, Japan, September 10–13, 2008.

³ Supported in part by the Ajinomoto Company, a manufacturer of food and amino acids, including glutamate.

⁴ Address correspondence to S Yamamoto, International Nutrition, Ochanomizu University Graduate School of Humanities & Sciences, 2-1-1 Ohtsuka, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112-8610, Japan. E-mail: yamamoto.shigeru{at}ocha.ac.jp.

Dietary free L-glutamate has been known for a century to improve taste and palatability. Recent evidence suggests that this effect is mediated through specific L-glutamate receptors located on the taste buds. However, L-glutamate receptors are also present elsewhere in the gastrointestinal tract, such as the stomach. Here, L-glutamate exerts physiologic actions beneficial to gut function by stimulating L-glutamate receptors linked to the gastric vagus nerve. In addition, dietary L-glutamate also appears to be an important energy substrate for gut tissue. Can such L-glutamate effects on taste and gut function be clinically useful? Elderly people often develop health problems related to their nutritional status that can be linked to insufficient energy and nutrient intake. A number of studies have examined the potential usefulness of L-glutamate, added to food in the form of monosodium glutamate (MSG), in promoting better nutrition in the elderly and in patients with poor nutrition. Some positive effects have been observed. This article reviews the physiologic roles of dietary L-glutamate in relation to alimentation and examines the evidence linking the utility of MSG supplementation to the improvement of nutrition in elderly and hospitalized patients.

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