Perspective: Might Maternal Dietary Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) Consumption Impact Pre- and Peri-Implantation Embryos and Their Subsequent Development?

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MSG alters metabolism, especially in the brain, when administered to experimental animals via gavage or similar means. Such administration is, however, not applicable to humans. More recently, though, MSG was shown to have these effects even when added to the food of mammals. Moreover, the levels of MSG in food needed to cause these metabolic changes are the same as those needed for optimum flavor enhancement. Near physiological concentrations of glutamate also cause mammalian blastocysts to develop with fewer cells, especially in their inner cell masses, when these embryos are cultured with this amino acid. We propose that consumption of MSG in food may overwhelm the otherwise well-regulated glutamate signaling needed for optimal development by pre- and peri-implantation mammalian embryos. In addition to immediate changes in cellular proliferation and differentiation as embryos develop, MSG ingestion during early pregnancy might result in undesirable conditions, including metabolic syndrome, in adults. Since these conditions are often the result of epigenetic changes, they could become transgenerational. In light of these possibilities, we suggest several studies to test the merit of our hypothesis.