Supplementing chicken broth with monosodium glutamate does not affect energy intakes but may promote satiety in women

The relative effects of four chicken broths with or without added monosodium glutamate (MSG) on motivational ratings and energy intakes at the next meal were compared using a double blinded within‐subject design. Thirty‐five normal weight women, aged 20–40y, took part in four study sessions. The four broths were base chicken broth (63 kJ); broth with added MSG (1.19g) and nucleotides (0.03 g); broth with added MSG (1.22g) and broth with added fat (681 kJ). The preloads were presented twice at 0900 h and 1115 h for a 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 1200h 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. However, only the broth with added fat significantly suppressed energy intakes at lunch as compared to the base broth control condition.