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Does monosodium glutamate really cause headache? : a systematic review of human studies

Overview of attention for article published in The Journal of Headache and Pain, May 2016
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About this Attention Score

  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • Among the highest-scoring outputs from this source (#32 of 1,547)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (98th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (99th percentile)

Mentioned by

news
14 news outlets
blogs
3 blogs
twitter
58 X users
facebook
6 Facebook pages
wikipedia
6 Wikipedia pages
video
7 YouTube creators

Citations

dimensions_citation
37 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
169 Mendeley
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Title
Does monosodium glutamate really cause headache? : a systematic review of human studies
Published in
The Journal of Headache and Pain, May 2016
DOI 10.1186/s10194-016-0639-4
Pubmed ID
Authors

Yoko Obayashi, Yoichi Nagamura

Abstract

Although monosodium glutamate (MSG) is classified as a causative substance of headache in the International Classification of Headache Disorders 3rd edition (ICHD-III beta), there is no literature in which causal relationship between MSG and headache was comprehensively reviewed. We performed systematic review of human studies which include the incidence of headache after an oral administration of MSG. An analysis was made by separating the human studies with MSG administration with or without food, because of the significant difference of kinetics of glutamate between those conditions (Am J Clin Nutr 37:194-200, 1983; J Nutr 130:1002S-1004S, 2000) and there are some papers which report the difference of the manifestation of symptoms after MSG ingestion with or without food (Food Chem Toxicol 31:1019-1035, 1993; J Nutr 125:2891S-2906S, 1995). Of five papers including six studies with food, none showed a significant difference in the incidence of headache except for the female group in one study. Of five papers including seven studies without food, four studies showed a significant difference. Many of the studies involved administration of MSG in solution at high concentrations (>2 %). Since the distinctive MSG is readily identified at such concentrations, these studies were thought not to be properly blinded. Because of the absence of proper blinding, and the inconsistency of the findings, we conclude that further studies are required to evaluate whether or not a causal relationship exists between MSG ingestion and headache.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 58 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 169 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 169 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Bachelor 43 25%
Student > Master 13 8%
Researcher 11 7%
Student > Ph. D. Student 7 4%
Student > Doctoral Student 7 4%
Other 24 14%
Unknown 64 38%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Medicine and Dentistry 31 18%
Nursing and Health Professions 25 15%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 8 5%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 4 2%
Chemistry 4 2%
Other 24 14%
Unknown 73 43%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 176. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 03 March 2024.
All research outputs
#231,335
of 25,540,105 outputs
Outputs from The Journal of Headache and Pain
#32
of 1,547 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#4,431
of 342,665 outputs
Outputs of similar age from The Journal of Headache and Pain
#1
of 30 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,540,105 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 99th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 1,547 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 19.1. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 97% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 342,665 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 98% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 30 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.