Glutamate

[BrainFrog]

Should we avoid food high in glutamate, like yeast extract and monosodium glutamate?

[CoachJD]

Welcome Brain Fog! This is a warm and caring community who strives to share information and hope. You didn't say much about yourself, so I'm hesitant to answer your question as I feel like I don't you well enough! But as I'm sure you know, too much glutamate can cause brain fog, so maybe you've already answered your own question. You can learn more about this and other topics by searching the WIKI and reading the PRIMER, and telling us more about you so we have context. I hope you find this site beneficial. Let us know how we can support you.

[NF52]

Should we avoid food high in glutamate, like yeast extract and monosodium glutamate?

Welcome BrainFrog! (Great name, by the way! I bet there's a story behind that.)

As Coach JD said, we're a community open to sharing lots of personal experiences as well as scientific research (and favorite podcasts). We sometimes label the personal experiments N=1, and recognize that as individuals we can often find what works best for us. So there's probably no firm answer to your question. Here is a post, though, by one of our members talking about how some people react to high levels of glutamate with anxiety and insomnia:

...If you are prone to anxiety, you might also want to take a look at the status of a gene called GAD1... If you have certain polymorphisms on GAD1, you can have high levels of glutamate, and excitatory neurotrasmitter, and low levels of GABA, an inhibitory neurotransmitter. The result can be anxiety, irritability, and waking up in the middle of the night and finding it difficult to go back to sleep.
Here are some of the SNPs: rs3749034, rs3791851, rs3791878 , rs3828275 , rs701492. If you have these variations, you should avoid MSG and other sources of increased glutamate.
Taurine, theanine (found in tea), glycine and NAC can help restore balance. You can also take GABA directly...

And here is a post from a forum member about monosodium glutamate:

Bouillon cubes are processed. They tend to include monosodium glutamate, a neurotoxin that increases amyloid-beta in the hippocampus (at least in animal studies)...In general, processed foods are not advisable for anyone.

And one final quote, from our founding member, Julie G:

... I totally agree with Dr. Gundry that the quality of bone broth is very important. I would only consider using 100% pastured bones. I found it helpful to read Chris Kresser's article on glutamate.

Glutamate is essentially the same compound as glutamic acid and is the most common form of glutamic acid in our bodies. Glutamate is not only beneficial, but essential for life. It is the most abundant neurotransmitter in the brain. (Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers that nerve cells use to communicate.) Glutamate thus activates—or excites—cells in the brain in order to communicate messages, and is particularly important in the growth and development of the brain, learning, and memory.

That said, I understand that too much can be just overstimulating and harmful. The take home message for me is to avoid processed food sources....

Now a few tips:
* You can do the kind of search I did to find those and other posts on glutamate. Simply click on the magnifying glass icon, located to the left of your user name in the upper right hand corner of the screen.
* To get really good tips on how to search and quote members so that they get an email notification of your questions, check out our "How-To" Get the most out of the ApoE4.info website
* For suggestions on what to prioritize in changes, browse through the Primer suggested by our Coach JD.

And if there is a good story behind your user name, or if you're a herpetologist with a great sense of humor, or if you'd like to share what brought you to our forum and what you hope to learn and share with us, feel free to post as much as you like on Our Stories. We welcome all brains--and all frogs!

[BrainFrog]

Thank you for the warm welcoming and advice! I couldn't sort out and write more extensive because of that frog blocking my thoughts. I will present myself on the our stories board.