Posted on 02/04/2022 8:05:59 PM PST by nickcarraway
Monosodium glutamate is deeply misunderstood, experts reveal.
Few ingredients inspire as much fear as MSG, or monosodium glutamate. While an overtly chemical name and a similarity in appearance to salt certainly don’t help its case, the food additive is especially reviled because some people believe that consuming it causes a slew of symptoms, from headache to palpitations to numbness.
But is MSG actually bad for you? Monosodium glutamate has a terrible rap due to decades of anecdotal reports and xenophobia—but it’s probably nowhere near as detrimental to your health as you think. Here’s everything you need to know about the misunderstood ingredient, according to experts.
What is MSG?
Monosodium glutamate is a food additive that enhances the savory flavor in food. In technical terms, MSG is the sodium salt of the common amino acid glutamic acid, per the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It takes the form of a white, crystalline powder. Importantly, MSG tastes really good—it can deepen flavor and make food taste more like itself, much like salt does.
You can find MSG at almost any supermarket in America, but it’s far more popular in Eastern Asia. The ingredient was first discovered by Japanese chemist and professor Kikunae Ikeda, who extracted it from dashi broth in 1908 and almost immediately began selling it, the FDA explains.G, too.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
My son called one evening saying he had had a reaction, probably to something he ate: flushing, itching, etc. He had a stir fry and kimchi. I don’t know why I thought of MSG, but I looked it up and his reactions were many of those possible. It was probably in the kimchi, which also produces its own MSG during the fermentation process. He eats a lot of Asian food since his new girlfriend, so I told him that some Asian places make a point of mentioning they don’t use MSG and he needed to look for that.
BTW, I saw in the article that the concern about MSG is in part because of an alleged xenophobia. China getting its feelings hurt again.
I get an intense, throbbing headache behind my eyes whenever I eat anything with MSG. It’s a specific kind of headache that I get from nothing else. I always check food labels to make sure I avoid it.
I guess I’m lucky. MSG has never given me even the slightest bit of trouble. I use Accent fairly often. No Chinese food I’ve ever eaten has caused me problems.
Don’t ever eat papaya
Who doesn’t like holes in their brains?
Weirdos, that’s who.
It’s like cocaine for your taste buds.
All it does it highly enhance taste receptors.
So nope.
Uncle Roger loves MSG.
Beware, now they’re “hiding” it under other names
https://www.glutathionediseasecure.com/other-names-for-MSG.html
They’ve done the same to that evil dog-killing franken-sweetener, Xylitol.
Now it’s harmless sounding “birch sugar”.
Creeps.
For fellow MSG victims, here’s some help:
https://www.truthinlabeling.org/hiddensources.html
Some surprising sources that will get you even though there’s no MSG in the label.
Chicken broth is naturally high in MSG, but because it’s natural it doesn’t have to be shown on the label. Very common ingredient in canned soups that don’t even say chicken on the label. (Campbell’s especially bad. Even Progresso which claims “no added MSG” has a lot of soups I love but can’t eat because they are based on chicken stock.) This started me making my own soups in large batches. So I not only evade the MSG monster, I save a lot of money, too. Win-win.
It’s hard to make tasty fried chicken without MSG.
Thanks for the link. Very helpful!
I used to be able to consume MSG with ease when I was younger.
As the years have moved on I can hardly tolerate it. I can eat a little of it, but not much. The reactions are brutal. I get throat constriction & vomiting if I eat too much.
A marketing article distributed by the Hearst & Microsoft media empires on a corporate food matter?
Seriously? C’mon man.
Oregon Health Sciences University commissioned a clinical trial to measure the ABSENCE of MSG & other food additives over a 30 day period in a study on the effects of some common gut maladies.
That was a decade ago. They updated 4 years after the study was posted.
No results posted.
Gee...I wonder why? /s
https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00829218
This 2014 study on the neurological effects, however...not so good for MSG.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24556450/
Glaring red flag alarm: If MSG is healthy yet so threatened by ‘misinformation’, when was the last time you heard about it???
In my case it was over a decade ago, and only because I was looking for information.
Why do they even need to add MSG to food if it makes people sick??
Well, some people say it’s addictive.
She’s my favorite congressperson, actually.
No one should tell me not to be afraid of something that adversely affects me. What obnoxious b s.
MSG causes intense burning on the back of my neck. I have no problem with others consuming it. Just keep it away from me.
I see no references to substantiate any of their claims. Just looks like a laundry list of about every possible ingredient ever used. You just taking the word of this site as gospel or have you done any research on your own? I’m not saying they are wrong, just not offering any proof here
Ping to post 29 for an excellent resource about MSG and reactions to it.
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