A research group led by Project Assistant Professor Shuhei Nomura at the Graduate School of the University of Tokyo has revealed that umami, which originated in Japan, is expected to have a 1% reduction in salt intake per day for adults.
Japanese people are said to consume more salt than other countries.The government aims to reduce the average daily salt intake of Japanese people to 2023g by 1, but the latest data (8) shows that the average salt intake exceeds 2019g, making it difficult to achieve.
On the other hand, the use of "umami" components such as glutamic acid, inosinic acid, and guanylic acid as salt substitutes has been widely proposed as a healthy and natural way to reduce salt intake. Umami is a fifth taste discovered by Japanese scientists in 4, in addition to the four classic tastes (salty, sweet, bitter and sour).
The research group used data from the National Health and Nutrition Survey to evaluate the impact of replacing the salt equivalent (sodium) in various foods with umami ingredients to the extent that the taste is not impaired.
その結果、楽観的なシナリオ※では、成人1日あたりの食塩摂取量（ナトリウムから換算した食塩相当の摂取量）は22.3%の削減が期待できた（10.0g から 2.2g減）。世界保健機関が推奨する1日あたりの食塩摂取量 5g の達成率は、現在の2.8%から最大で7.6%、さらに国民健康づくり運動「健康日本21（第二次）」で推奨される国民1日あたりの食塩摂取量の平均値8gの達成率も、28.7%から59.7%へ上がると推定された。
“Umami” is an important taste that supports Japanese food culture, and is being recognized worldwide as “UMAMI”.The results of this research will provide new data that show the potential of umami, which originated in Japan, as a way to deal with various chronic diseases that are prevalent in the world.
*This scenario assumes that low-salt foods are already distributed in some food groups, and that products using umami ingredients increase the market share of low-salt foods to 100%.
Paper information:[BMC Public Health] Modeling salt intake reduction with umami substance's incorporation into Japanese foods: a cross-sectional study
