Dataset Information

The Salt Flip: Sensory mitigation of salt (and sodium) reduction with monosodium glutamate (MSG) in "Better-for-You" foods.

ABSTRACT: We tested the hypothesis that reduced-salt versions of four "better-for-you" dishes enhanced with monosodium glutamate (MSG) through a "Salt Flip" in an amount that still substantially reduced total sodium matched the consumer acceptance of normal-salt versions. Three versions each-standard recipe with normal salt, reduced salt, and reduced salt with MSG, of four dishes-roasted vegetables (RV), quinoa bowl (QB), savory yogurt dip (SD), and pork cauliflower fried rice (CR) were evaluated by 163 consumers for overall liking and liking of appearance, flavor, and texture/mouthfeel on the nine-point hedonic scale, preference, adequacy of flavor, saltiness, and aftertaste on just-about-right (JAR) scales, likeliness to order, and sensory characteristics by check-all-that-apply. For each dish, the MSG recipe was liked the same (or significantly more for SD, P < 0.05) than the standard recipe, and better than the reduced salt recipe for QB and CR. The same was true of likeliness to order. MSG recipes of QB and SD were significantly preferred to the standard recipes, with no difference for RV and CR. MSG recipes were consistently described as "delicious," "flavorful," and "balanced." Penalty-lift analysis showed that "delicious," "flavorful," "balanced," "fresh," and "savory"; and "bland," "rancid," and "bitter," were positive and negative drivers of liking, respectively. Two of three uncovered preference clusters, accounting for 68% of consumers, consistently liked MSG recipes, and the same or more so than standard recipes. We conclude that MSG can successfully be used to mitigate salt and sodium reduction without compromising consumer acceptance of better-for-you foods. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: The Salt Flip offers a promising dietary sodium reduction strategy through the addition of monosodium glutamate (MSG) to reduced-salt, savory, better-for-you foods that does not compromise consumer acceptance of their sensory profile.

SUBMITTER: Halim J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7540316 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The Salt Flip: Sensory mitigation of salt (and sodium) reduction with monosodium glutamate (MSG) in "Better-for-You" foods.

Halim Jeremia J Bouzari Ali A Felder Dan D Guinard Jean-Xavier JX

Journal of food science 20200810 9

We tested the hypothesis that reduced-salt versions of four "better-for-you" dishes enhanced with monosodium glutamate (MSG) through a "Salt Flip" in an amount that still substantially reduced total sodium matched the consumer acceptance of normal-salt versions. Three versions each-standard recipe with normal salt, reduced salt, and reduced salt with MSG, of four dishes-roasted vegetables (RV), quinoa bowl (QB), savory yogurt dip (SD), and pork cauliflower fried rice (CR) were evaluated by 163 c ...[more]

PMID: 32776553

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Project description:Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is an umami substance widely used as flavor enhancer. Although it is generally recognized as being safe by food safety regulatory agencies, several studies have questioned its long-term safety. The purpose of this review was to survey the available literature on preclinical studies and clinical trials regarding the alleged adverse effects of MSG. Here, we aim to provide a comprehensive overview of the reported possible risks that may potentially arise following chronic exposure. Furthermore, we intend to critically evaluate the relevance of this data for dietary human intake. Preclinical studies have associated MSG administration with cardiotoxicity, hepatotoxicity, neurotoxicity, low-grade inflammation, metabolic disarray and premalignant alterations, along with behavioral changes. Moreover, links between MSG consumption and tumorigenesis, increased oxidative stress and apoptosis in thymocytes, as well as genotoxic effects in lymphocytes have been reported. However, in reviewing the available literature, we detected several methodological flaws, which led us to conclude that these studies have limited relevance for extrapolation to dietary human intakes of MSG risk exposure. Clinical trials have focused mainly on the effects of MSG on food intake and energy expenditure. Besides its well-known impact on food palatability, MSG enhances salivary secretion and interferes with carbohydrate metabolism, while the impact on satiety and post-meal recovery of hunger varied in relation to meal composition. Reports on MSG hypersensitivity, also known as 'Chinese restaurant syndrome', or links of its use to increased pain sensitivity and atopic dermatitis were found to have little supporting evidence. Based on the available literature, we conclude that further clinical and epidemiological studies are needed, with an appropriate design, accounting for both added and naturally occurring dietary MSG. Critical analysis of existing literature, establishes that many of the reported negative health effects of MSG have little relevance for chronic human exposure and are poorly informative as they are based on excessive dosing that does not meet with levels normally consumed in food products.

Project description:Diets high in salt are a leading risk for death and disability globally. Taxing unhealthy food is an effective means of influencing what people eat and improving population health. Although there is a growing body of evidence on taxing products high in sugar, and unhealthy foods more broadly, there is limited knowledge or experience of using fiscal measures to reduce salt consumption. We searched peer-reviewed databases [MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews] and gray literature for studies published between January 2000 and October 2019. Studies were included if they provided information on the impact on salt consumption of: taxes on salt; taxes on foods high in salt, and taxes on unhealthy foods defined to include foods high in salt. Studies were excluded if their definition of unhealthy foods did not specify high salt or sodium. We found 18 relevant studies, including 15 studies reporting the effects of salt taxes through modeling (8), real-world evaluation (4), experimental design (2), or review of cost-effectiveness (1); 6 studies providing information relevant to country implementation of salt taxes; and 2 studies reporting stakeholder perceptions toward salt taxation. Although there is some evidence on the potential effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of salt taxation, especially from modeling studies, uptake of salt taxation is limited in practice. Some modeling studies suggested that food taxes can have unintended outcomes such as reduced consumption of healthy foods, or increased consumption of unhealthy, untaxed substitutes. In contrast, modeling studies that combined taxes for unhealthy foods with subsidies found that the benefits were increased. Modeling suggests that taxing all foods based on their salt content is likely to have more impact than taxing specific products high in salt given that salt is pervasive in the food chain. However, the limited experience we found suggests that policy-makers favor taxing specific products.

Dataset Information

The Salt Flip: Sensory mitigation of salt (and sodium) reduction with monosodium glutamate (MSG) in "Better-for-You" foods.

Publications

The Salt Flip: Sensory mitigation of salt (and sodium) reduction with monosodium glutamate (MSG) in "Better-for-You" foods.

Similar Datasets

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