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2. PHD Thesis / Tesis PHD
3. Faculty of Health Sciences / Fakulti Sains Kesihatan

Title:	Effects of monosodium glutamate on appetite and energy intake of primary school children in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor
Authors:	Lim Sim Yee (P90234)
Supervisor:	Poh Bee Koon, Prof. Dr.
Keywords:	Appetite Eating Sodium Glutamate Child Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia -- Dissertations Dissertations, Academic -- Malaysia
Issue Date:	26-Sep-2021
Description:	Appetite is a determinant of food intake. Glutamate has been shown to enhance satiety and reduce hunger sensations among infants and adults. However, its effect on Asians appetite, particularly Malaysian children is unknown. This study aimed to investigate the effects of glutamate in the form of monosodium glutamate (MSG)-added soup on appetite and energy intake among primary school children in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. The study was conducted in three phases. Phase I was a cross-sectional study that involved 301 children with the aim of investigating the nutritional status, eating behaviour, dietary habits and consumption of glutamate-rich food among children. Data on socio-demography, dietary habits and eating behaviour of children were assessed using questionnaires. Anthropometric measurements including body weight, height, waist and hip circumferences, and blood pressure were conducted. Approximately one-third of the children were classified as overweight (10.3%) and obese (27.2%). Glutamate-rich local foods that frequently consumed by children according to meat/fish/seafood, cereal and cereal products, and vegetables categories were: fried chicken (32.8%), fried rice (22.9%), and vegetable soup (22.4%), respectively. Indian children had significantly lower (p<0.05) mean scores for food responsiveness and food fussiness. However, satiety responsiveness score of Indian children were significantly higher (p<0.05) than Malay and Chinese. In Phase II, taste perception of MSG was determined using two-alternative forced choice (2AFC) procedure on 140 children. Besides that, Phase II also involved formulation of soup based on children's preferences for use as preload in the following phase of study. Results showed no significant difference in MSG taste threshold between sexes (p=0.054) and ethnic groups (p=0.759). The newly developed vegetable soup with extra carrots received good acceptance from children and was selected as the preload in Phase III study. Phase III was a crossover study that involved 92 children from the three main ethnicities. Preload soup (MSG- or MSG+) was served to participants, followed by an ad libitum meal served buffet-style 45 minutes later. Sensory evaluation was evaluated using seven facial hedonic scales. Appetite ratings of hunger, fullness, desire to eat, desire to snack and thirst were recorded using visual analogue scale. Objective satiety was assessed by calculating total energy intake consumed during the ad libitum meal by food weighing method. The addition of MSG to preload did not influence the appetite ratings of children. Ethnicity may interact with MSG to influence the ratings of desire to snack and fullness but this result did not affect the total energy intake of children from different ethnicities during the ad libitum meal after the consumption of different preload soup (MSG- or MSG+). In conclusion, the addition of MSG to preload of low energy and protein contents neither influenced the perception of appetite nor total energy intake among children. Future studies are warranted to examine whether MSG-containing protein-rich preload with repeated ingestion has potential long-term effects on appetite and subsequent meal intake among children from different ethnicities.,Ph.D.
Pages:	276
Publisher:	UKM, Kuala Lumpur
Appears in Collections:	Faculty of Health Sciences / Fakulti Sains Kesihatan

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