Applied nutritional investigationAssociation between monosodium glutamate intake and sleep-disordered breathing among Chinese adults with normal body weight
Introduction
Sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) encompasses a range of breathing abnormalities that occur during sleep, including obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), central sleep apnea, and periodic breathing [1]. Snoring, which may occur independently of OSA, is a common manifestation of this disorder and prevalent in the general population worldwide [2], [3]. SDB is related to an increased risk of a range of disorders, including hypertension [4], diabetes [1], [5], metabolic syndrome [6], cardiovascular disease [7], and stroke [2].
Obesity is the most important risk factor for SDB; other possible lifestyle factors relating to SDB are smoking and alcoholic drinking [2], [8]. Men have a higher risk of SDB than premenopausal, but not postmenopausal, women [2], [8], suggesting that estradiol may be protective.
Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is a widely used flavor enhancer. In 1968, Kwok [9] reported a possible link between MSG and “Chinese restaurant” syndrome, including symptoms of numbness, weakness, and heart palpitations. Since then, many studies have claimed an association between MSG and health outcomes, including asthma, diabetes, obesity, and allergic rhinitis [10], [11], [12]. Glutamate is an excitatory neurotransmitter that is intimately involved with sleep–wake states [13] and has been shown to activate many brain areas [14], for example, the insular cortex, anterior cingulate gyrus, and amygdala [15], that play a crucial role in the central regulation of the autonomic nervous system. The insular cortex in particular is associated with the regulation of breathing during sleep [15]. The objective of this study was to assess the association of MSG intake with SDB based in a large population-based study in China, the Jiangsu Nutrition Study.
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Subjects
The Jiangsu Nutrition Study cohort of subjects at least 20 y old and the methods of sampling have been described previously [16]. In 2002, 2849 adults at least 20 y old living in two cities and six rural areas took part in a Chinese National Nutrition and Health Survey. In 2002, information relating to food intake and sleep duration was obtained by questionnaire [17], [18]. In 2007, an attempt to recontact all the original participants was made. Some had moved to other cities for temporary work
Results
The mean intake of MSG for the entire population was 3.8 g/d (standard deviation 4.3). Of the 1227 participants, 72 reported no use of MSG, and the median intakes across the quartiles were 0.8, 2.0, 3.7, and 6.9 g/d, respectively. Table 1 presents the cross-sectional associations among MSG intake, nutrients, and specific food items or food groups. MSG intake was positively associated with fat intake (P < 0.001) but inversely associated with carbohydrate intake (P < 0.001). No significant
Discussion
In this study, we found a positive association between the intake of MSG at baseline and snoring and SDB at follow-up in Chinese adults with a normal body weight. There was a significant additive interaction between overweight and MSG intake in relation to snoring and SDB. There was a similar association between total glutamate intake and snoring and SDB. To our knowledge, this is the first population study to report an association between MSG intake and SDB.
The prevalence of snoring (36%) in
Acknowledgments
The authors thank the participating regional Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Jiangsu Province, including the Nanjing, Xuzhou, Jiangyin, Taicang, Suining, Jurong, Sihong and Haimen centers, for their support in the data collection.
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Worldwide flavor enhancer monosodium glutamate combined with high lipid diet provokes metabolic alterations and systemic anomalies: An overview
2021, Toxicology ReportsCitation Excerpt :Higher incidence of syndrome X has been positively linked with 1 g higher consumption of MSG in the diet [13]. Besides the above pieces of evidence, MSG also exerts diverse destructive impact (Table 1) on human health, such as Type 2 diabetes, by activating N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) to disturb the functions of β-cell in the pancreas [128,129], hyperphagia, hyperleptinemia, and dyslipidemia by altered lipid profiles with increased leptin level [130,35,131], sleep-disordered breathing (SDB), increased chances of gastroesophageal reflux disease and mandibular retrognathia [43,132,133], etc. Moreover, MSG also de-activates normal thermogenesis processes in brown adipose tissue and thereby leads to altered regulation of thermogenesis [134].
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2016, Food and Chemical ToxicologyCitation Excerpt :The MSG sensitivity, also known as Chinese restaurant syndrome (CRS), includes symptoms of numbness, weakness, and heart palpitations (Appaiah, 2010; Kwok, 1968). Since the detection of MSG sensitivity, a range of studies have claimed the association between MSG and several health outcomes including asthma, diabetes, obesity, and allergic rhinitis (Shi et al., 2013; Williams and Woessner, 2009). Over the past 40 years, anecdotal reports and small uncontrolled studies alleging a variety of MSG-induced reactions have been published.
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2016, Pathology and Intervention in Musculoskeletal RehabilitationMonosodium glutamate intake is inversely related to the risk of hyperglycemia
2014, Clinical NutritionCitation Excerpt :However, no association between MSG intake and weight gain was found.14 A high MSG intake has been associated with low fiber intake16 and sleep disturbance.27 A low fiber intake28 and sleep disturbance29 are associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes and therefore these factors do not explain the association between MSG and hyperglycemia observed in the current study.
The study was supported by the Jiangsu Provincial Natural Science Foundation (BK2008464) and the Jiangsu Provincial Health Bureau, China.