Supplementing chicken broth with monosodium glutamate reduces hunger and desire to snack but does not affect energy intake in women

Abstract

The effect of monosodium glutamate (MSG) supplementation in soup or broth on satiety is not well understood. In the present study, the relative effects of four chicken broths with or without added MSG on motivational ratings and energy intakes at the next meal were compared using a double-blinded, within-subject design. A total of thirty-five normal-weight women, aged 20–40 years, took part in four study sessions. The four broths were base chicken broth (63 kJ), broth with added MSG (1·19 g) and nucleotides (0·03 g), broth with added MSG (1·22 g), and broth with added fat (BAF; 681 kJ). The preloads were presented twice at 09.00 and 11.15 hours for a maximum cumulative dose of 2·44 g MSG. Motivational ratings were collected before and at 15 min intervals post-ingestion for a total of 210 min. A test lunch meal was served at 12.00 hours, and plate waste was measured. The addition of MSG to chicken broth did not increase energy intakes at lunch or affect motivational ratings over the entire testing session. Both hunger and desire to snack between the second preload exposure and the test meal were significantly reduced in the MSG condition relative to the base broth condition (both, P =  0·03). However, only the BAF significantly suppressed energy intakes at lunch compared with the base broth control condition. Supplementing chicken broth with MSG can increase subjective ratings for satiety but does not alter energy intake at the next meal relative to an equal energy broth without added MSG.