Toxicological Effect of Monosodium Glutamate in Seasonings on Human Health

Abstract

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is a sodium salt of glutamic acid. It is usually a white powder. Water ionizes it into free sodium ions and glutamic acid, which is an organic compound consisting of five carbon atoms. It has a carboxylic (-COOH) group and an amino (-NH2) group attached to an “alpha” carbon atom (a carbon atom joined directly to the -COOH group) (David, 2008). It is an alpha amino acid. The molecular formula of MSG is C3H8NNaO4 and its molecular mass is 169.11 gmol-1. MSG has the same basic structure of amino acids, with an amine group (-NH2) and carboxylate ion instead of the carboxylic group (-COO-). MSG has almost same structure with glutamate. The difference is that one hydrogen atom at the carboxylic chain has been replaced with a sodium atom, hence, the name monosodium glutamate [1] (Figure 1&2).