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KELP tea, anyone? MSG-laden foods could help elderly people regain their appetite.
Five years ago, at Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan, found that some elderly people become less able to taste umami, while their ability to taste sweet, sour, bitter and salt remained intact. This coincided with a loss of appetite and weight loss, possibly because, of all the flavours, umami stimulates the most salivation, which in turn whets appetite. Now, Sasano has shown that MSG-rich kelp tea 鈥� which gives a huge umami kick 鈥� boosts elderly people鈥檚 umami taste, along with their appetite.
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MSG gets a bad rep, but the evidence that it is harmful is scant (Flavour, ).
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淟ost your appetite? Umami tea can help鈥�