Dose dependent toxicity of glutamic acid: a review

Abstract

L-glutamate, the major neurotransmitter in humans, becomes excitotoxic when present outside of protein in excess of what the healthy human was designed to accommodate; amounts readily available to consumers who ingest multiple free-glutamate-containing ingredients during a day. Studies have demonstrated that excitotoxins ingested by a mother will pass to the fetus across the placenta and pass to the newborn through mothers’ milk. The purpose of this paper is to raise awareness of the relevance of glutamate from food additives such as MSG to human brain damage, and its possible contributions to glutamate toxicity in neurodegenerative diseases, stroke, autism, schizophrenia, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, epilepsy, seizures, addiction, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism, headaches, asthma, diabetes, muscle pain, atrial fibrillation, ischemia, and trauma.