That's something like 40 to 50 grams. Say it's an 8 liter pot, serving 16. That's like 2.5g to 3.1g per person, ouch! Then there is glutamate in that pot already from natural sources as well as possibly ingredients like processed meats and whatnot.
No, it's actually more like 24g to ~30g depending on how "heaping" the tablespoons were, you might be thinking of the specific gravity and using that to estimate the weight but an important consideration is that it's in a small crystalline form. 1/4 tsp of MSG is 1.0g which puts a tbsp at 12g. An estimate of only 16 servings is probably a bit on the low side as well. Even assuming all of that, that still only amounts to 24 mg/kg for a 70kg person whereas the paper you referenced indicated there was a threshold effect and used doses of 150 mg/kg.
> might be thinking of the specific gravity and using that to estimate the weight but an important consideration is that it's in a small crystalline form
I'm relying on the density of MSG being similar to that of sugar, and both being in crystalline form, then working from information around the web about the mass of heaped tablespoons of sugar.
(I know that not all crystals are of the same shape and not all pack the same. Something with needle-like crystals will end up fairly fluffy, unless mechanically crushed.)
