What is MSG?
What exactly is MSG? It stands for monosodium glutamate. It is a chemical extracted from seaweed and used as a flavor enhancer in foods. Does it actually enhance the flavor? I’ve tasted several foods with MSG, and then tasted their non-MSG equivalents. I can definitely say that MSG improved the taste, but that doesn’t mean I’d recommend eating it. It’s actually a pretty potent chemical.
Now someone asks, “But it comes from seaweed. Doesn’t that mean it’s natural?” Sure, but natural doesn’t always mean safe. Arsenic is natural, but you don’t see people sprinkling it over their morning Cheerios.
MSG is made by extracting and crystallizing glutamic acid (glutamate) from the seaweed. Eating seaweed is entirely different from eating highly concentrated glutamic acid. Likewise, eating a poppy seed muffin is different from using heroin.
So is it safe or not?
The FDA has classified MSG as “generally recognized as safe.” For some reason, that didn’t make me feel better about it. Instead, I decided to look at the research myself. Here’s what I found.
Obesity – “We found that prevalence of overweight was significantly higher in MSG users than in non-users.” (Dr. Ka He, University of North Carolina)
I came across multiple obesity studies that were done on rats. Before doing the studies, scientists first had to make the rats obese, which they accomplished by giving the rats glutamate.
Nervous System Damage – Glutamic acid is found naturally in our nervous system, and when its balance is thrown off, bad things can happen. Multiple studies have shown that too much glutamic acid can destroy nerve, brain, and spinal cells. As you might imagine, that can lead to other complications.
“Excess glutamate is also responsible for brain damage from stroke.” (Dr. Michael Walker, consulting professor at Stanford’s Center for Biomedical Informatics Research)
Behavior – Another study found that a single dose of MSG “is sufficient to produce dramatic behavioral alterations.” (Neurobehavioral Toxicology & Teratology, Vol 5(4), Jul-Aug 1983, 399-406)
Chronic Pain – Four patients were diagnosed with fibromyalgia. No treatments had relieved their symptoms, until they cut MSG out of their diet. After the MSG was gone, their symptoms began to disappear. Just to be sure, they tried eating MSG again to see what would happen. Sure enough, their symptoms immediately returned.
MSG Complex – I found some interesting things in the Hazardous Substances Data Bank. Apparently there’s something known as MSG Symptom Complex. Some of the symptoms include abnormal swelling, increasing asthma symptoms, headache, muscle tightness, numbness/tingling, weakness, burning sensation on the back of the neck, facial pressure, chest pain, nausea, drowsiness, and rapid heartbeat. One study noted that, “Two hundred mL of wonton soup alone was sufficient to provoke an attack.”
Doctor’s Office – I was surprised to learn that MSG is not only served at Chinese restaurants. It’s also served in a number of vaccines, according to the CDC.
Well, that’s what I’ve learned about MSG. If you’re concerned about it, you might want to be more choosy about where you dine out and what type of snacks you eat. Also, vitamin B6 can help counteract some of MSG’s negative effects.
Sources:
Association of monosodium glutamate intake with overweight in Chinese adults: the INTERMAP Study (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18497735)
Reduced, Positive Nitrogen Balance and Elevated Plasma Free Fatty Acid Concentration in Growing, Glutamate-induced Obese Rats (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7906147)
Postprandial thermogenesis of rats with glutamate induced obesity in relation to energy intake (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8097901)
Nitrogen Metabolism in Obesity Induced by Monosodium-L-Glutamate in Rats (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1326485)
Glutamate neurotoxicity and diseases of the nervous system (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2908446)
The role of glutamate neurotoxicity in hypoxic-ischemic neuronal death (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1970230)
Attenuation of glutamate-induced neuronal swelling and toxicity in transgenic mice overexpressing human CuZn-superoxide dismutase (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1982480)
Micromolar L-glutamate induces extensive apoptosis in an apoptotic-necrotic continuum of insult-dependent, excitotoxic injury in cultured cortical neurones (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9849677)
Tumour associated epilepsy and glutamate excitotoxicity in patients with gliomas (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24746886)
Protective effects of N-acetylcysteine against monosodium glutamate-induced astrocytic cell death (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24556569)
Oxidative stress, glutamate, and neurodegenerative disorders (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7901908)
Stanford Biostatistician Talks about Saving Your Aging Brain (http://scopeblog.stanford.edu/2011/06/14/qa-with-stanford-biostatistician-on-how-to-save-your-aging-brain/)
A behavioral assessment of arcuate nucleus damage after a single injection of monosodium glutamate (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6646313)
Hazardous Substances Data Bank (http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/search/r?dbs+hsdb:@term+@rn+142-47-2)
Relief of fibromyalgia symptoms following discontinuation of dietary excitotoxins (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11408989)
Foreign body granuloma caused by monosodium glutamate after BCG vaccination (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16843115)
Ingredients of Vaccines - Fact Sheet http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vac-gen/additives.htm
Drug-pyridoxal phosphate interactions (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6087425)