Posted on 09/01/2014 10:31:37 AM PDT by blam
Kevin Loria
August. 26, 2014
Monosodium glutamate, more commonly known as MSG, gets a bad rap.
People claim that it's a toxin that causes headaches and sweating, and that it leaves you feeling lethargic and flushed. The thing is, most research shows that that's not true at normal dietary levels.
Despite its umami flavor boosting power, rumors have given MSG a reputation so bad that many Chinese restaurants frequently put up "No-MSG" signs to assuage customer's fear. Some customers then put soy sauce on their food, adding the missing MSG in after the fact. Because it's delicious.
The folks at the American Chemical Society decided to bust some MSG myths in their latest Reactions video.
What Is MSG And What Does It Do?
MSG's flavor enhancing properties were first discovered in 1908 by Japanese chemist Kikunae Ikeda, who wanted to understand how seaweed, which had been used by chefs for centuries, enhanced the flavor of foods.
Ikeda found that the key was a common amino acid — one of the building blocks for a protein — called L-Glutamate.
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
But where does the pain occur?
Aji-no-moto.
The science has been settled by someone on the internet.
No more debate!
So you have been eating MSG since you were a kid and it hasn’t bother you, so the rest of us are imagining it. No. It’s not fat and salt.
I too had eaten MSG occasionally and never noticed anything. I decided I was fat (I really wasn’t) so I went on Nurtisystems to lose 10 pounds.
After 3 weeks of eating that crap 3 X a day I felt horrible and threw the next weeks meals away. The next time I ate MSG I had a horrible reaction. I had sensitized myself to it in 3 weeks and it hasn’t gone away.
That doesn’t happen to everyone who eats Nutrisystems but the chemicals in that food are dangerous for some of us.
What ever.
When I eat it, I spend the next day “cleaning out.” Not fun - I avoid it.
Headaches? It’s all in your head.
What I think you’re looking for is Cane Sugar, which is compound sugar, but which doesn’t involve corn."
Oh no worries I know what HFC is BUT the FDA mandated that HFC be included on all food labels that contained it. BUT now, Big AGRA has apparently got permission to not call HFC by it's name and instead call it just plain "sugar"
MSG is more than dangerous for some people. It’s lethal.
Years ago people took MAO inhibitors for depression. Not many people take it now because it’s too dangerous. If the person ate certain foods or something with MSG it could be life threatening.
BTW - You never know when you are getting MSG. I knew someone who had a bad reaction to it at an Italian restaurant. It was in the spaghetti sauce.
I'd characterize it as an allergic reaction. My Mother has horrific problems with MSG - nausea, headaches, sweating, elevated BP and pulse. All of the symptoms of a heart attack. She's miserable for a couple of hours, then it passes.
She went to the doc the first time it happened. Wound up feeling stupid, since by the time he saw her, all of the symptoms had blown over. That's when she found out about "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome"...this would have been 25-30 years ago.
As I've gotten older, I'm more susceptible to MSG, as well. Not to her extent, but I can tell when I've eaten it.... same symptoms, just not as drastic. She'll get laid out flat, whereas I'll just say *@%$#%#. I shouldn't have eaten that.".
I think it's mostly found in sauces, though I'm no chef. I *do* know that if I skip the "Sweet and Sour" this, and the "Spicy (whatever)" that, I can usually eat Chinese without issue.
However, the last place Mom and I both ran into a MSG reaction was at, of all things, an Italian restaurant. Go figure.
LOL!!!! (see my post 70) GMTA, and all that. :-)
Anything with soy sauce will cause a problem. The soup can be the worst because you eat it on an empty stomach, it’s warm, and it absorbs quickly. arrrrrgggghhh
You can post all the scientific evidence you want, but if I ingest MSG, within a few hours I have a debilitating, vomit-your-socks-up, terrible light-and-noise sensitivity migraine. I figured it out after eating twice, in short order, at an Asian restaurant that used it liberally. A couple of times, I’ve traced an especially vicious headache back to an unsuspected source of MSG. Now that I avoid it (and a couple of other foods that I’m allergic to), I no longer have migraines. It may not be scientific, but it works for me!!
Bull bleeping poop.
I almost need hospitalization after eating MSG. I am so careful, eat very cleanly, don’t eat anything at restaurants that could have it, and if I slip up I know within seconds. It’s a neurotoxin and this article is full of it. It may be right in its description of glutamate etc, but even when a “natural” MSG is formed (concentrated from scratch natural broth or mushrooms etc) I get a gigantic migraine and am sick for hours.
True, most people don’t get that reaction, but since everyone’s brain is poisoned somewhat from it, maybe it’s better too get that reaction. Plus, your chip, cracker, and soup manufacturers are using secrets to get you to “desire” more of their products while they harm your brain cumulatively. I personally would prefer my end of life without alzheimers, ALS, or Parkinson’s.
I have found the following, due to my extreme sensitivity to MSG: 99.9% of every soup or broth in any store has MSG, even if it says “NO MSG ADDED” on the can/carton. 80% of all crackers and chips as well. The only soup that actually has none are the organic vegetable broths in the cartons where the ingredients are the vegetables, water, and sea salt. (This broth has no taste so don’t buy it - just boil any veggies in water for 20 minutes and your broth will be richer.) EVERY OTHER SOUP is MSG and water, with some wilted other ingredients as garnish.
MSG hides under a very many euphemisms and names in ingredient lists. The worst is “spices.” I can’t buy anything that says that on it; it will contain MSG. If the spices are listed: turmeric, oregano, garlic powder, then that is fine.
MSG has the exact same taste always. It is addictive and gets you to prefer it and find other, more subtler tastes dull. But its taste is like taking a cheap, loudmouthed hooker on a date contrasted with taking out the cute pretty girl next door.
To me it is poison and it should be to you as well.
But where does the pain occur?
It doesn’t matter where the pain “occurs”. I avoid MSG. Thanks, anyway.
Yes they lie. Real food already tastes good and doesn’t need to be adulterated.
Yeah its all in my head. As a thinking individual I realize what makes me feel like crap and don’t repeat.
Good, I was afraid everyone was describing throbbing migraines in their feet or something. /sarc
Really? That totally makes the splitting headaches worth it!
Sorry to hear many have a reaction. My family must have a high tolerance to eating msg. From infancy we ate seaweed, sushi, all seafood and seasoned food with msg. No after-effects. Do you know if Jews have a tolerance to it? I notice lots of Jewish people eat at Chinese restaurants. Maybe it's the Jewish genes in my blood. I can handle shellfish fine, while others I know are allergic. My favorite food is Italian, and I never had problems with any sauce or spice. So my apologies for my ability to handle it without symptoms.
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