[Mase]

MSG is the sodium salt of glutamic acid. Basically, it's glutamic acid with sodium attached. The important thing to understand in all of this is that glutamic acid is the same whether you get it from some guy throwing it in a wok in a Chinese restaurant or from eating a tomato. People who claim they react to MSG from added sources should also react to it from natural sources. The average American gets about ten times more glutamate from natural sources than they do from added sources so the whole idea of removing MSG from your diet, or claiming you react to it from added sources (but not from natural sources), is silly.

[IYAS9YAS]

The average American gets about ten times more glutamate from natural sources than they do from added sources so the whole idea of removing MSG from your diet, or claiming you react to it from added sources (but not from natural sources), is silly.

I know folks who claim the MSG gives them headaches and other issues. Could it be the combination of the sodium and the glutamate together in that compound and how the body breaks down that particular compound as opposed to simply consuming sodium and glutamates at the same time?

It's been a long time since I took chemistry and biology classes.