There are two types of glutamate. One is bound glutamate, glutamate tied or “bound” to other amino acids in protein.
Bound glutamate causes no damage in the brain or peripheral tissue. It triggers no adverse reactions.
Then there is free glutamate. Free glutamate does three things simultaneously, it:
1. Triggers glutamate receptors in the mouth and on the tongue causing them to swell, so to speak, giving the food with which they were ingested a more robust taste.
2. Triggers glutamate receptors in the brain. In well-regulated amounts, glutamate enables the brain to function properly. However, in excess amounts such as those presently available in processed food, glutamate becomes an excitotoxic neurotransmitter firing repeatedly until its targeted glutamate receptors die.
3. Triggers glutamate receptors in peripheral tissue.