is MSG bad for You??

For quite awhile back I've been made to understand that MSG, once found in Chinese food is bad for you, to the point many Chinese eateries ,have signs no MSG, but recently I've notice my feed is telling me that, nothing is wrong with MSG, even the FDA is giving slightly confusing information on it's use.
www.mayoclinic.org...

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is a flavor enhancer commonly added to Chinese food, canned vegetables, soups and processed meats. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has classified MSG as a food ingredient that's "generally recognized as safe," but its use remains controversial. For this reason, when MSG is added to food, the FDA requires that it be listed on the label.

So what gives?? what was the initial scare in the first place, kinda remind me of the gluten thing should I use it as an enchancer??

a reply to: Spider879

It makes stuff taste good. Like adding salt to a dish. Actually from what I know its healthier than salt.

So I guess it can make you over eat? That's kinda bad for you.

a reply to: Spider879

Yes.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov...

Evidence is reviewed pertaining to excitatory neurotoxins (excitotoxins) encountered in human food supply. The most frequently encountered food excitotoxin is glutamate (Glu) which is commercially added to many foods despite evidence that it can freely penetrate certain brain regions and rapidly destroy neurons by hyperactivating the NMDA subtype of Glu receptor. Hypersensitivity of NMDA receptors during development makes the immature nervous system especially sensitive to Glu excitotoxicity. On the other hand, elderly consumers are particularly sensitive to domoic acid, a powerful excitotoxic Glu analog that activates both NMDA and non-NMDA receptors. A high content of domoic acid in shell fish caused a recent food poisoning incident that killed some elderly victims and caused brain damage and memory impairment in others.

pdfs.semanticscholar.org...

I personally experienced the symptoms of a heart attack [ chest pain nausea shortness of breath ] after eating at a Chinese buffet years ago. My ex Father in Law has to be careful where he eats because he has asthma and has shown a sensitivity to MSG in the past..

HEART palpitations, nausea and sweating are just some of the side effects people suffer just one hour eating foods laced with the common additive monosodium glutamate - more commonly known as MSG.

www.express.co.uk...

Several other studies have found no reactions to MSG, however, even in people with a history of developing an asthma attack within a Chinese restaurant, where high amounts of MSG are typically used during cooking. “Some researchers believe these discrepancies are because people who are most sensitive are only those with a vitamin B6 deficiency. “Another reason is that symptoms may only come on in after consuming MSG on an empty stomach, or with alcohol – these hasten MSG absorption and therefore increase the severity and rate of onset of symptoms.” Dr Brewer said people with MSG sensitivity may develop the classic asthma symptoms of wheezing, chest tightness, shortness of breath and difficulty breathing after consuming food or drinks containing monosodium glutamate.

a reply to: Spider879

You won't find it in most quality foods. It is generally addictive, causes headaches in large amounts, and increases hunger. Food scientists realized long ago that it highly activates the pleasure center in our brain.

It can make people think crappy food tastes good, and encourages most people to eat more or at least more often. Fast food industry especially loves this designer drug.

Last I checked the biggest users in America were KFC followed by Taco Bell.

You guys are awesome, thanks for the feed back, will continue to leave it off my spice rack..

a reply to: Spider879

I would say in general, stay away from it when you can. I didn't find out it was bad until around 2008 when a chef I worked with showed me studies on rats and how over time MSG caused brain lesions and other ailments, though in higher amounts than we would normally eat in a day. From a 2011 HuffPo article.
www.huffingtonpost.com...

When scientists inject the rodents at birth with MSG, like magic, they produce obese test subjects. Because MSG triples the amount of insulin the rat’s pancreas creates, the results are perfect MSG-Treated Rats equals fat rats. When you search under “MSG Obese” at the National Library of Medicine, at www.pubmed.com, you find over 100 studies to substantiate this.

Obesity is not the only health issue MSG is linked to, as Dr. George Schwartz in his book, In Bad Taste: The MSG Syndrome Complex, identifies research that links MSG and the dramatic rise in cases of asthma, ADHD, migraines, Parkinson’s disease and heartbeat irregularities too. Ingesting MSG can result in a wide range of symptoms like facial flushing and headaches, with gastrointestinal symptoms, anxiety and depression reported by individuals as well.

Curious about how MSG causes obesity? Like aspartame, which is present in many diet foods and diet sodas, it is an excitotoxin. Excitotoxins over excite neurons to the point of cell damage and eventually cell death. (1) Dr. Russsell Blaylock in his book Excitotoxins..The Taste that Kills, reports that in animal studies MSG creates a lesion in the hypothalamus that correlates with abnormal development, including obesity, short stature and sexual reproduction problems.

There are many journal articles you can find on MSG. Here is one where the researchers gave rats small amounts, similar to what humans would ingest on a regular basis www.feingold.org...

Conclusion from article:

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is one of the world’s most widely used food additives which enhances the flavor of food. MSG toxic effects on central nervous system, adipose tissue, hepatic tissue and reproductive organs were shown in numerous animal studies, however the method of administration and the used doses in most of them were not comparable with human MSG intake. Animal studies in which MSG was administered perorally in doses similar to average human intake or intake of extreme users showed that MSG led to disturbances in metabolism with the increase in more parameters including insulin, fatty acids and triglycerides in serum, MSG increased the expression of several genes implicated in adipocytes differentiation, it affected the liver function resulting in elevation of transaminases` levels and bile synthesis, it also led to oxidative stress in liver and to the pathological changes in ovaries and fallopian tube.

a reply to: Spider879

YES it is actually bad for you but no where near as bad for you as another widely used substance the artificial sweetener Aspartame, Monosodium Glutamate has been around for well over a hundred years now but it is like all artificial compound's something that is not natural to our body's a foreign substance for which our biological digestive process is not constructed to deal with but like all hugely profitable artificial food additives while there is evidence that it is actually harmful and more so to some people than to other's the company's that manufacture and rely upon the substance have large lobby's who will claim the opposite and even like the tobacco industry run there own independant studies to back up there claim.

In moderate use glutamates are not bad for the majority of people. They are the ummami taste. There is a lot of free glutamate in certain foods, aging of foods boosts free glutamates. Soy sauce and other aged sauces have lots of free glutamates, so do many aged cheeses. Parmesan cheese is naturally high in free glutamates, so are green peas, like in pea soup. Tomatoes are moderate in free glutamates but higher in bound glutamates. Free glutamates, like MSG and Parmesian and some aged sauces give you a quick buzz, they make you feel good within five minutes. Bound glutamates take a while to process, it happens in the gut and the feeling takes longer to hit you, having bound and free spreads the buzz out for up to twelve or more hours depending on your ability to produce enzymes to break these Monoamines. Some people need more of the tyramine foods to be normal, others who cannot break them down cannot eat much or they stay dopey for a long time with brainfog or other symptoms.

MSG is recognized just like any free glutamate in the bodies metabolism. Having a sodium ion without a chloride is a negative though, if you eat a lot. Tyramines, including glutamates, can increase blood pressure, moderation needs to be observed. If you eat a lot of glutamates the enzyme that breaks it down increases, this leads to a crash if the glutamates disappear, it is addicting. Glutamates dope us up if we eat more than we can properly metabolize, and genetic factors are involved in that process.

Tyramines are more of an issue if there is a lot of salt in the diet, I prefer to limit glutamates and eat adequate salt, by salt, I mean real salt, I avoid sodium based chemical additives if I can.

most lab rat test are injected ... thats how i take my coffie black and straight to the blood

but there is alot of natraly occuring msg in ... everything

lots of people have some insane notion msg makes them sick tho all other sorces of msg do not i doubt the human body cares of the sorce if it makes you sick

even water will kill you in large amounts theres definitaly a ld50 for msg

if u fell ill RIGHT after eating anything GET IT TESTED falling ill right after eating something is probly chemical contamination since the FOOD CAN NOT DIGEST THAT FAST

oh btw chinese resturants are notoriusly gross expeshaly the buffets i wouldent eat from one if i was literaly starving to death

i dont use msg much anymore instead i just make mushroom powder loaded with msg just "natral"

not to mention in a dubble blind test no one can tell if they ate msg .... so again if u get sick have your food tested u might have eaten bug spray or chemical cleaner or blame msg and posibly die ur call

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov...

www.washingtonpost.com... 9f2c7226

MSG has never bothered me that I can recall, but I do know that the preservatives in beef jerky that is sold up here will give me a migraine to beat all migraines and I'll end up with a nasty sulferous taste in mouth for hours after. Sadly, it took me two incidents of being very sick on trips before I made the connection with beef jerky. I don't buy it anymore.

a reply to: Spider879

It triggers my migraines.