ABSTRACT
Umami (the Japanese term for deliciousness) is a characteristic taste imparted by monosodium glutamate (MSG) in seaweeds, inosine 5′-monophosphate (IMP) in meat and sh, and guanosine 5′-monophosphate (GMP) in mushrooms. A unique characteristic of umami is its synergism. Purine nucleotides, such as IMP and GMP, strongly enhance the intensity of umami taste. In human taste tests, IMP, which does not elicit any umami taste by itself, can increase one’s sensitivity to umami taste in MSG. Inversely, the detection threshold of IMP is dramatically lowered in the presence of MSG. This suggests that IMP by itself has no umami taste and simply acts as an enhancer of a modulator, whereas MSG acts as an agonist for umami receptors in humans [1,2]. GMP also does not have the specic umami taste by itself but strongly enhances many other avors.
