Dashi is so tasty that it excites the brain! Dashi” is a surprising scientific evidence that you can get rid of “skinny dieting”.
Dashi” is an ingredient that stimulates the brain along with “oil” and “sugar”–A Scintillating Mechanism
The most common cause of overeating in modern Japan is too much food. Considering the nutritional needs of today’s Japanese people, the key is “how to be satisfied and not overeat. The key to this lies in “dashi.
Research has shown that “dashi,” like fats, oils, and sugars, stimulates the brain’s reward system, making people “addicted” to it. We asked Dr. Toru Fushiki, professor emeritus at Kyoto University and president of Koshien University, about how this mechanism can be applied to the dietary habits of modern people.

The fundamental difference between dashi and low-calorie alternatives is “brain satisfaction.
Dashi, like oil and sugar, stimulates the brain’s reward system and makes us addicted to it. What does that mean?
The “addictive” taste is a feeling of wanting more, of being hooked, and of pleasure. One of the most important elements is that the taste should excite the brain.
The third factor, the presence of something important to you, is what excites the brain, and this is where oil, sugar, and broth come into the picture. Dashi.”
–Why is “dashi” categorized here?
Why is “dashi” classified here? Fats and oils are high in calories and nutrition. Sugar is very important because it is high in calories, maintains blood sugar levels, and is the only nutrition for the brain. The umami of dashi is thought to be a signal to detect the presence of protein.
Foods with a strong dashi umami taste are rich in nutrients. The presence of inosinic acid and amino acids means that protein is present in abundance. In short, what you need is good taste for you.”

Taste is a sense that all animals have. It is a basic sense that is needed to accurately consume the things that are important for life, and it is a very important sense for sustaining life.
–In the experiment with mice, they became “addicted” to bonito broth, while kelp broth did not produce the same results. What is the main type of dashi that stimulates the brain’s reward system?
In the case of humans, Japanese people, bonito, kelp, dried sardines, and shiitake mushrooms all stimulate the brain in the same way.
In the case of mice, eating kelp does not provide protein, and it is not directly connected to the point where the animal wants to eat it because it is essentially necessary, so it showed no interest. Nor are they attached to calorie-free oils or calorie-free artificial sweeteners.
The umami of kelp is the umami of glutamic acid, which the mice probably didn’t find tasty. It just so happens that Japanese people discovered kelp dashi and have been eating it for a long time because they thought it tasted good, but people around the world do not think it tastes good.