Does MSG actually naturally occur in foods and is it the same as products like hydrolyzed wheat and yeast extract?

Question

I see a lot of articles that defend MSG by saying that it occurs naturally in umami foods and that things like hydrolyzed proteins and yeast extract are just MSG.

Is it possible that while MSG is safe, the overzealous arguments aren’t completely true?

I thought what occurs naturally and what hydrolyzed protein and yeast extract actually is is glutamic acid, while MSG is monosodium glutamate which is the sodium salt of the acid so they technically aren’t the same.

In: Chemistry

Answer 1

As soon as either MSG or glutamic acid hits your saliva it dissolves and becomes a negative glutamate ion and whatever positive cation it was bound to, either hydrogen in the case of glutamic acid or sodium in the case of MSG. That’s the only difference.