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Excitotoxicity is the pathological process by which nerve cells are damaged and killed by excessive stimulation by neurotransmitters such as glutamate and similar substances.

History

The harmful effect of glutamate upon the CNS were first observed in 1954 by T. Hayashi, a Japanese scientist who noted that direct application of glutamate to the CNS caused seizure activity, though this report went unnoticed for several years.

The toxicity of glutamate was then observed by D. R. Lucas and J. P. Newhouse in 1957, when the subcutaneous injection of monosodium glutamate to newborn mice destroyed the neurons in the inner layers of the retina.

Later, in 1969, John Olney discovered the phenomenon was not restricted to the retina, but occurred throughout the brain, and coined the term excitotoxicity. He also assessed that cell death was restricted to postsynaptic neurons, that glutamate agonists were as neurotoxic as their efficiency to activate glutamate receptors, and that glutamate antagonists could stop the neurotoxicity.

Subsequent research by Mark Mattson provided evidence for the involvement of excitotoxicity in Alzheimer's disease, and other age-related neurodegenerative conditions that involve oxidative stress and cellular energy deficits.

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Monosodium glutamate (MSG), also known as sodium glutamate, is the sodium salt of glutamic acid, one of the most abundant naturally occurring non-essential amino acids.

MSG was classified by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as generally recognized as safe (GRAS)and by the European Union as a food additive. MSG has the HS code 29224220 and the E number E621.

The L-glutamate form of MSG confers the same umami taste of free L-glutamate naturally found in foods. Industrial food manufacturers market and use MSG as a flavor enhancer because it balances, blends and rounds the total perception of other tastes. Trade names of monosodium glutamate include Ac'cent, Aji-No-Moto, and Ve-Tsin.

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MSG has been used for more than 100 years to season food. During this period, extensive studies were conducted to elucidate the role, benefits and safety of MSG. At this point, international and national bodies for the safety of food additives consider MSG safe for human consumption as a flavor enhancer.

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In normal conditions, humans have the ability to metabolize glutamate that has a very low acute toxicity. The oral lethal dose to 50% of subjects (LD50) is between 15 to 18 g/kg body weight in rats and mice respectively, five times greater than the LD50 of salt (3 g/kg in rats). Therefore, the intake of MSG as a food additive and the natural level of glutamic acid in foods do not represent a toxicological concern in humans.

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an opinion worth a second look:

When humans consume food laced in generous doses of glutamate, depending on the capacity of each individual to absorb them, glutamate levels can increase up to fiftyfold!

Based on scientific literature, along with sugar, glutamates have been observed as stimulants for faster cancer tumor growth.

Read more: http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/151948/what-we-dont-know-will-make-us-sick#ixzz2tjVMbwK1

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