Naturopathic Perspectives » The Hidden Dangers of MSG

MSG (monosodium glutamate) is often added to prepared and processed foods as a flavour enhancer. By enhancing the flavour, food manufacturers are also ensuring that you will buy more and eat more. Foods that contain MSG include, but are not limited to: prepackaged food, junk food, soup, and fast food.

With increasing controversy surrounding MSG, food manufacturers have found a way to hide it under various names. (Source: www.msgmyth.com)

Foods always contain MSG when these words are on the label:

MSG	Gelatin	Calcium caseinate
Monosodium glutamate	Hydrolyzed vegetable protein	Textured protein
Monopotassium glutamate	Hydrolyzed plant protein	Yeast extract
Glutamate	Autolyzed plant protein	Yeast food or nutrient
Glutamic acid	Sodium caseinate	Autolyzed yeas

Foods made with the following products often contain MSG:

Annatto	Fermented “anything”	Protease
Vitamin enriched	Flavours, flavouring	Protease enzymes
Barely malt	Flowing agents	Protein fortified “anything”
Bouillon	Gums	Protein fortified milk
Broth	Lipolyzed butter fat	Reaction flavours
Carageenan	“Low” or “no fat” items	Rice syrup or brown rice syrup
Caramel flavouring (colouring)	Malt extract or flavouring	Soy protein
Citric acid (when processed from corn)	Malted barley	Soy protein isolate or concentrate
Corn syrup (solids)	Maltodextrin	Soy sauce or extract
Cornstarch	Milk powder	Spice
Dough conditioners	Modified food starch	Stock
Dry milk solids	Natural chicken, beef, or pork flavouring	Ultra-pasteurized “anything”
Enzyme modified “anything”	Pectin	Wheat, rice, or oat protein
Whey or whey protein	Whey protein isolate or concentrate	Yeast nutrients

Why should we avoid MSG?

In rats, it has been shown to triple the amount of insulin secreted by the pancreas, contributing to obesity.
Enhanced flavour often causes us to eat more, which increases obesity rates.
It is an excitotoxin: brain cells are over-stimulated until they die. Over-stimulation also contributes to hyperactivity and ADHD in children.
Approximately 25% of the population is sensitive to MSG and will experience symptoms of headaches, migraines, asthma, dizziness, and chest pains. Once sensitized to MSG, tolerance decreases and you are more likely to experience symptoms from smaller doses. Sensitization can occur by eating MSG on a regular basis, eating MSG after exercising or drinking alcohol, or eating MSG while you are sick and your immune system is compromised.
Exacerbation of neurological conditions, such as Alzheimers and Parkinsons, in those who are predisposed.
Researchers at Hirosaki Univeristy in Japan have found a correlation with vision loss.

By limiting processed and fast foods, and choosing unprocessed whole foods, it is possible to decrease your intake of MSG. Reading labels also increases awareness of the ingredients we are putting into our bodies. If you don’t know what an ingredient is or where it comes from, it’s best not to eat it!

13 Comments so far

Awesome blog Kerri!

I think I’ll print this one out for the fridge!

Hi I have come to believe that I am sodium sensitive. I was plagued by a chronic pain in my leg for over a year.I did some unrelated research on the internet to find out possibly why my neice chronically picks her nose and eats it. I had a feeling it was some kind of salt addiction (Iconfess when i was young I had this bad habit aswell).
In findings about salt it is clearly revealed we should have very little salt in our diet if any. Upon this revelation I removed almost all salt from my diet and within four days of doing so the pain in my leg ,which I had for over a year completely went away only to return when I eat salt.
My question is what other conditions are salt causing? Fibromyalgia, schizophrenia, rising accounts of autism? How deep does this rabbit hole go?
Best regards Alan

Sulphites (sulfites)are also a type of preservative. I have a deadly allergy to sulpha products and drugs.
Doctors often prescribe “sulpha septra” for bladder infections. (That’s when I found out about the allergy). Sulphites are also in most over the counter eye drops.
“stay fresh” (a sulph product)is often sprayed on salad bars to keep things looking fresh.
“sodium benzoate” again, another one. Usually found in most soft drinks. You are ok with 7up and “caffine free pepsi”. I think Sprite is ok.
Oh, and don’t forget wines!
Always make sure you request “NO MSG” when ordering Chinese food.
Sandy Fisher, Etobicoke

The above article on MSG is complete poppycock. Although anecdotal reports of MSG sensitivity have existed since the mid-1960s clinical research since that time has failed to find any link to any kind of MSG ill-effects or even the existence of an MSG sensitivity in the population. Placebo-controlled trials reveal that people who claim MSG sensitivity experience the same symptoms in the ABSENCE of MSG. Furthermore, MSG is NOT excitotoxic in the doses that people can encounter and has not been shown to contribute to dementia. Finally, in the rat studies mentioned above, researchers were injecting super-high doses of MSG in order to specifically create an obese rat model. The results do not suggest that normal human doses have similar effects and are therefore not applicable to normal human doses obtained in food. The author of the article really needs to do some research before contributing to the propogation of myths.

Brian,

Thank you for taking the time to read this column and comment. If you perform a MEDLINE search (www.pubmed.gov), you will see many peer-reviewed studies linking MSG (glutamic acid) to various health conditions, such as neurotoxicity, obesity, and diabetes.

Although MSG does not always cause detrimental health effects, it is never nutritious or beneficial to health, and should never be added to anything that will enter the body (food, vaccines, etc.)

Humans are remarkable at maintaining homeostasis, but over time, these small poisons do build-up in our system and cause serious diseases.

Thanks again for your interest!

Kerri-Lynn

Kerri, this is a lot of good information. My husband has a lot of nickel and MSG in his system and we are trying to detoxify him so I read everything I can get my hands on. In your comment to Brian you suggested doing a MEDLINE search (www.pubmed.gov). I got into that web site just fine but didn’t see anything called medline. I really would like to see those studies. If you could e-mail me or add a post to this blog with instructions I would very much appreciate it.

I don’t know about studies or placebo controlled experiments but if I have anything with MSG in it, especially McDonalds, soups, gravy mixes, hamburger helper and Chinese food, my throat thickens and I cough like a smoker and it feels like a knife is cutting my throat.Obviously i avoid MSG, but sometimes I can’t tell its in there until start to cough. I eat healthy, avoid all processed foods, and don’t get me started on aspartine and what that does to me.

hi interesting post thk you http://proxy.arts.uci.edu/agents/download/src/1/index..html see you

s1sY75 nice site thx http://peace.com

Wow, great article, its quite suprising what you find in food now a days.

the things we never know

i think i will just start eating dirt.

I think an organic whole foods diet will do. And it will taste better, too!

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The Hidden Dangers of MSG

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