An Interesting Tour of New Research Results on Umami and Umami Compounds

Abstract

Knowledge about the fifth basic taste, the umami taste, has been investigated by many scientists in the last years and continues to gain importance. Therefore, a lot of scientific studies were conducted to explore several effects influencing the mechanism of umami, which is elicited and enhanced by defined concentrations of MSG (monosodium glutamate) and umami compounds. This paper covers the most relevant scientific literature regarding umami, its use as a flavor enhancer, and the latest umami compounds, which have been released in the last ten years. The main goal of this overview was to summarize the most important results which were related to umami as one of the five basic tastes, the umami taste receptor, the essential role of umami in a great number of physiological mechanisms, and the MSG symptom complex. Furthermore, the function of umami in the interaction of taste, aftertaste and olfactory pathways has been discussed.

Umami taste in edible seaweeds: The current comprehension and perception

“…Edible seaweeds have been widely consumed for several centuries, not only because of their availability but also because of their nutritional benefits. This tradition was maintained in Eastern culture, but the same has not occurred in the Western world Mouritsen and Styrbaek, 2014;Greisinger et al, 2016;Palmieri et al, 2020;Pérez-Lloréns et al, 2020).…”

“…In 2005, it was shown that a stronger umami taste, up to eight times, can be obtained if all components (NEAA + 5 ′ -nucleotides) are included together, while when used separately their taste is very weak (Marcus, 2005). Nevertheless, IMP is predominately found in animal products (e.g., chicken, pork beef, tuna), and GMP is mainly found in mushrooms (Ninomiya, 1998;Yamagauchi et al, 2000;Hajeb and Jinap, 2015;Kurihara, 2009Kurihara, , 2015Greisinger et al, 2016).…”