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Quantitative verification of the effect of using an umami substance (L-glutamate) to reduce salt intake

Hypertension Research volume 43, pages 579–581 (2020)Cite this article

The importance of reducing sodium intake as a practical preventative measure against cardiovascular disease and stroke is becoming widely known [1,2,3,4]. According to the guidelines for hypertension management, a goal should be to set the salt intake to <6 g/day [5]. However, efforts to promote salt reduction in Japan is insufficient. Many studies have reported that the use of glutamate is an effective way to reduce salt intake without decreasing the palatability of food [6,7,8]. However, the results of previous studies may have been influenced by the flavor and taste of the soup itself [9,10,11], and few studies have considered the effects of free glutamate concentration [12, 13]. Yamaguchi et al. used water as a base medium and reported the interaction between monosodium glutamate (MSG) and the four basic tastes [14]. In their study, solutions with sodium chloride (NaCl) in the range of 0–3.4 × 10–1 mol/L and MSG in the range of 0–8.0 × 10−2 mol/L (0–2.0% NaCl, 0–1.3% MSG) were evaluated. However, few basic research studies have examined the effects of MSG added to water as the base medium with concentrations ≤0.9% NaCl, which is similar to that in typical soups.

In this study, we used distilled water with no taste and no odor as the medium to examine the possibility of reducing salt in ordinary soup preparations (0.9% NaCl). We validated the changes in the taste of the NaCl solution with the addition of umami substances (L-glutamates) using a sensory evaluation test and quantitative analysis. We also compared the effects of four glutamates that have different counter-ions.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Dr Akiko Nanri for her guidance and to Dr Yoko Umeki, Ms Yang Zhu and other members of the department who participated in the study. We are also grateful to MPH Michihiro Takada from Ajinomoto Co., Inc., for helping with the statistical analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Health and Environmental Sciences, Fukuoka Women’s University, Fukuoka, Japan

    Rieko Morita & Masanori Ohta

  2. Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Faculty of Human Life and Environment, Nara Women’s University, Nara, Japan

    Hitomi Hayabuchi

  3. Research Institute for Bioscience Products and Fine Chemicals, Ajinomoto Co., Inc, Kawasaki, Japan

    Shoji Fujitani, Shintaro Yoshida & Hideki Matsumoto

  4. Steel Memorial Yawata Hospital, Kitakyushu, Japan

    Takuya Tsuchihashi

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  1. Rieko Morita
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Correspondence to Masanori Ohta.

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SF, SY, and HM are employees of Ajinomoto Co., Inc. There are no conflicts of interest to report for the other authors.

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Morita, R., Ohta, M., Hayabuchi, H. et al. Quantitative verification of the effect of using an umami substance (L-glutamate) to reduce salt intake. Hypertens Res 43, 579–581 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41440-020-0399-z

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