Umami helps fight infant obesity, study shows | Press

The fifth basic taste of the human palate may be directly linked to babies’ satiety control.

According to a recent study conducted by the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, USA, umami—the fifth basic taste of the human palate—may be directly linked to satiety control in infants. In the same line of research, another study by physician and professor Manuel Eduardo Baldeón, from the Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador, argues that glutamate, the substance that confers the umami taste, would significantly influence the immune development of newborns.

According to analyses by the Umami Information Center (UIC), an organization that disseminates information about umami taste, glutamate is the most abundant amino acid in human breast milk. In other words, umami taste is one of the first tastes we perceive at birth. Based on this premise, scientists at the Monell Chemical Senses Center set out to analyze how glutamate might be linked to infants’ satiety.

Satiety control

For the study, researchers selected 30 newborns up to four months old who were fed three different formulas. The first had a lower concentration of free glutamate, while the other two contained higher concentrations. It is worth remembering that to confer umami taste, glutamate must be in its free form, that is, not bound to protein.

The results showed that babies fed formulas rich in umami substances reached satiety more quickly than the others and therefore consumed a smaller amount of food. Possibly for this reason, babies who were breastfed for longer had a lower chance of developing obesity during growth.

Immune development

The study by Professor Manuel Baldeón, which is expected to be published in the coming months, suggests that babies of adult mothers may have greater immune resistance than newborns of adolescent mothers. This is because glutamate—the substance that confers the umami taste—would be more abundant in the breast milk of mothers aged 20 to 36, which would be directly linked both to the formation of infants’ intestines and to the development of the immune system.

According to Baldeón, when a pathogenic microorganism enters our body, defense cells begin to fight it. “At that moment, glutamate plays a fundamental role, as it helps convey the message to other cells so they can combat the invading microorganism and consequently stop its development,” explains the physician, who is a former Secretary of Science and Technology of Ecuador.

This assistance in message transmission between cells would be decisive in defending the body and thus contribute to the effectiveness of the immune system. Baldeón also highlights the importance of glutamate in intestinal development. “It helps with cell division, which is very important, since we renew our intestine roughly every five days,” he concludes.

UMAMI TASTE

Umami is the fifth basic taste of the human palate and was discovered in 1908 by Japanese chemist Kikunae Ikeda. However, it was only recognized by the scientific community in 2000, when researchers at the University of Miami found specific receptors on the taste buds. The amino acid glutamate and the nucleotides inosinate and guanylate are the main substances that provide umami. Parmesan cheese, tomato, mushrooms, and meats in general are foods that contain these substances in large proportion and therefore display the fifth taste more intensely. The two main characteristics of umami are increased salivation and a lingering taste for a few minutes after eating.