Monosodium glutamate and skin pathology in pediatric allergology.

This study presents the cases of five children who consulted us because of skin pathology, in which a hypersensitivity to monosodium glutamate (MSG) was detected. In four children, the motive for consultation was urticaria; in two children, urticaria was accompanied by angioedema, while the fifth child presented with atopic dermatitis and urticaria. In the four cases of urticaria, the etiological diagnosis was probable drug allergy. The oral provocation test (OPT), carried out with monosodium glutamate (MSG) in opaque capsules containing 50 and 100 mgr., was positive in two hours in four of the five children. MSG's mechanism of action is unknown, and though its use is world-wide, no evidence of hypersensitivity with cutaneous symptomatology has been found in any of the studies carried out to date.