Tuesday Oct 1, 2013 (foodconsumer.org) -- A new study in Experimental and Toxicologic Pathology suggests that drinking a glass of orange juice which is high in ascorbic acid or vitamin C or simply taking a vitamin C pill after eating monosodium glutamate loaded meal can reduce the potential liver injury induced by the food ingredient.

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is the food ingredient or taste enhancer that can make a food more palatable or taste savory or umami.  But exposure to high doses of added MSG for a long term can cause liver injury.

Maha Hasan Daghestanid from Department of Zoology, King Saud University, Women Students-Medical Studies and Sciences Section in Saudi Arabia and colleagues conducted the study and found rats exposed to MSG suffered unfavorable histological, histochemical, ultrastructural, and immuohistochemical changes and vitamin C supplementation improved the pathological architecture of the liver.

For the study, researchers gave one group of rats a diet with 0.9% salt, one group MSG in a dose of 6 mg/gram of body weight and still another group vitamin C in a dose of 500 mg/kg of body weight after eating the diet with MSG.

The researchers concluded "The present data point to the ameliorative effect of vitamin C against MSG induced liver injury."

Vitamin C can help prevent or treat many diseases or medical conditions including breast cancer, Alzheimer's disease, hypertension, heart failure, lead toxicity, common cold, influenza, muscle damage, damage induced by breast cancer chemotherapy, mutation, cholesterol, autism, cell phone radiation, prostate cancer, pancreatic cancer, pneumonia, leukemia, polio, heart disease, gastric or esophageal cancer, diabetes, stomach cancer, lung cancer, gout, and bone loss. (DL)

Keywords: Monosodium glutamate, MSG, Vitamin C, ascorbic acid, liver injury

Reference:

Ayman EL-Meghawry EL-Kenawya, Hosam Eldin Hussein Osmanb,   Maha Hasan Daghestanid (2013), The effect of vitamin C administration on monosodium glutamate induced liver injury. An experimental study - Experimental and Toxicologic Pathology