Restaurants blare it out loud – NO MSG! An assurance that the compound will not get in your system. A statement that declares MSG is harmful.

But wait a minute, the acronymic named ingredient standing for Monosodium Glutamate is as natural as salt or sugar. No one can be allergic to amino acids such as MSG because they are naturally present in the human body. Glutamate is an amino acid that is used to make proteins in food and our body. Glutamate is in parmesan cheese, tomato sauce, soy sauce or by spreading Marmite yeast extract on your toast, if you like Marmite. That is why pasta with cheese and/or with tomato sauce is popular.

The misunderstanding and legend started in 1968 when there were reports that one person, just one, Dr. Robert Ho Man Kwok, a Chinese-American biomedical researcher, wrote a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine that he had a bad reaction to a restaurant serving Northern Chinese food with numbness at the back of the neck, heart palpitations and a headache. Dr. Kwok surmised the cause to be the Chinese cooking wine or the high sodium content or the common use of MSG. For some unknown reason, MSG was zeroed in as the culprit. Since then it has been dubbed the Chinese Restaurant Syndrome or the MSG Symptom Complex supposedly because the restaurant in question was using MSG on its dishes. The question is, "Why hadn't anyone noticed the effects of MSG on other food or other Chinese restaurants before?" "Why is not anyone complaining when eating Japanese cuisine which often has MSG? Or how about KFC chicken or Doritos"

You know what, since 1968 scientists have not been able to prove the connection between the symptoms and MSG.

Glutamates are naturally present in discernible quantities in ripe tomatoes, corn, broccoli, mushrooms (that’s why they taste meaty), fish, cheese, yogurt, red wine (actually, in anything fermented), meat, and seaweed. Many prepackaged goods in the supermarkets contain MSG such as cookies and crackers, condiments, salad dressings, cans of soup, potato chips, baby food, cured meats, frozen dinner plates to name a few. You can’t escape it. You are consuming it whether you know it or not.

Seaweed is the original source that led to the discovery of glutamates. In the early 1900s, Mr. Kikunae Ikeda, a Japanese biochemist, noted that the savory, meaty, and ultimately satisfying taste of his favorite dried kombu seaweed broth was not represented by the four tastes (sweet, sour, salty, and bitter).Mr. Ikeda identified and named the fifth taste as umami.

In 1908, Mr. Ikeda isolated the protein responsible for the umami taste sensation AND started a year later the Ajinomoto company producing glutamate salt which we now see in grocery stores.

Glutamates like MSG bump the flavor of the ingredients up a notch, that umami sense and that’s all they do. If ever, the worse thing MSG can do is to invigorate your appetite and make you eat more.

Here are some findings from a Harvard University study in 2005, see Fact or Fiction? The MSG Controversy

Neurological Effects

p, 15

“In addition to serving more generally in protein and energy metabolism, glutamate also plays a key role in the neurological system, acting a a nerve impulse transmitter to the brain.”

p. 17
“Research done by Dr. John Fernstrom, Professor of Psychiatry, Pharmacology and Neuroscience at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, has shown that the glutamate receptors found in the brain are different from those that have been discovered in the tongue. The brain generates its own glutamate through glucose and other amino acids, and has an intricate transport system to protect the brain cells. As Fernstrom states, 'while it was earlier thought that circulating glutamate in the body might enter the brain and cause damage, it is now clearer than ever that circulating glutamate is kept strictly separate from the glutamate inside the brain that is used for normal neural function.'”

Bottom Line: MSG will not enter nor affect the brain

===================

Pregnant / Lactating Women

p. 18

Researchers have found that the placenta is “virtually impermeable to glutamate, even at high levels. The same study covered women who are breast-feeding, with research indicating that increased levels of MSG in the lactating woman did not increase the level of glutamate in the breast milk.”

p. 18 Footnote

“Moreover, free glutamate is 10 times more plentiful in human breast milk than in cow's milk, and therefore a newborn infant who is being breastfed will ingest more free glutamate per kg of body weight than during any other period is his/her life.”

Bottom Line: MSG is safe for Pregnant and Breast-feeding Women

===========================

Asthma

p, 18

Dr. Donald Stevenson of the Division of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology at the Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation in La Jolla, CA summarized the current research, stating “we know from numerous well-designed clinical studies that MSG or glutamate cannot trigger or exacerbate asthma, even among individuals who believe their asthma is caused by MSG.

Bottom Line: MSG does not affect asthma and it is safe for asthmatics to ingest glutamate-containing foods

Health Canada has declared that MSG is not a health hazard. The US FDA has given MSG a GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) designation – meaning there are no tolerance amount limits.But in the first place, why would you overdose with salt or sugar? You can’t do it – the same with MSG.

Although there are reports that MSG is an excitotoxin, which when overly abundant in the brain can cause neurons to die. However the FDA has found out that the glutamate in MSG (monsodium glutamate), although related to brain glutamate does not appear to get into the brains of adults very well. The FDA in its website:

What’s the difference between MSG and glutamate in food?
The glutamate in MSG is chemically indistinguishable from glutamate present in food proteins. Our bodies ultimately metabolize both sources of glutamate in the same way. An average adult consumes approximately 13 grams of glutamate each day from the protein in food, while intake of added MSG is estimates at around 0.55 grams per day.

Jon Sufrin of The Globe and Mail (November 4, 2014) wrote
"Researchers have found that when you eat MSG, the salt dissolves and is treated by the body like regular salt, and the glutamate is treated in the same way as it treats glutamate from such natural sources as tomatoes or mushrooms." The FDA has not approved it for use in baby food. However glutamate is present in human milk.

So next time you’re eating out, to make your order yummier, ask for seasoning Accent, Ajinomoto, Vetsin or Sazon (in Latino menu), all MSGs. This will shock and educate your company. And if you feel bloated, groggy to the point of feeling drugged, most likely it’s because you overate.

MSG comes in many names:

Additives that always contain MSG:

· Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein

· Hydrolyzed Protein

· Hydrolyzed Plant Protein

· Plant Protein Extract

· Sodium Caseinate

· Calcium Caseinate

· Yeast Extract

· Textured Protein

· Autolyzed Yeast

· Hydrolyzed Oat Flour