Abstract:
Glutamic acid (abbreviated as Glu or E) is a non-essential amino acid, whose salt is known as glutamate (also known as
sodium glutamate, monosodium glutamate, Natrium Glutaminat, E 621). Human excessive consumption of nutrients
having a high glutamate level (beer yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae Meyen,), certain mushrooms, tomatoes
(Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.), soy (Glycine max.(L).Merr.)), may rise the blood level of the substance, as glutamate
is adsorbed very quickly in the alimentary duct (unlike the glutamic acid).
The glutamic acid obtained through crystallization from kelps belonging to the orders of Laminariales and Fucales of
class Phaeophyta (brown algae) more specific the specie Saccharina japonica (Laminaria japonica), is accountable for
the human perception of the fifth basic sense of taste – umami (delicious in Japanese). Through the industrial
production of glutamate there is made a product that potentiates the taste of food. Glutamate is part of a class of
chemical substances known as excitotoxins, where a high level of substance in the human blood stimulates excessively
the specific cellular receptors, leading to a higher cellular permeability to Ca+2. This mutation can cause damage
(cytotoxicity and cell death) at the level of brain areas that are unprotected by the blood-brain barrier.
On the top of the neurotoxicity hypothesis in case of human consumption of large amounts, glutamate and aspartate
interfere with the visceralgia transmission.
