I found an expert who GETS my frustration: Dr. Mercola, who has enough a-b-c's behind his name to pack a wallop. I have no alphabet soup behind my name; I'm a mom, blogger, foodie, health nut, among other things. Both Dr. M and I are so totally and completely OPPOSED to the use of MSG.
I am so old that I recall the introduction in the middle of this century of a product called "Accent." It was marketed in attractive packaging and touted as a meat tenderizer and flavor enhancer.
MSG was actually identified by Kikunae Ikeda, a Japanese man in 1908. They took the natural flavor that enhanced the taste of seaweed and created a man made version, which was called MSG. He and a business partner formed the world's largest producer of MSG and a line of pharmeceuticals! They call their company Ajinomoto.
MSG is made up of 78% glutamic acid, 21% sodium, and 1% contaminants! THAT IS NOT MEAT TENDERIZER! Nor is it a "flavor enhancer." MSG has little flavor on its own. It 'tricks' your brain into thinking the food you are eating has more protein and tastes better. SIDEBAR: UGH! How disgusting! END SIDEBAR. The feature behind that result comes from a relatively unknown 5th basic taste: umami.
Umami is the flavor of glutamate, which is a savory flavor found in many Japanese foods, bacon and in the toxic food additive MSG. It is because of umami that foods with MSG taste heartier, more robust and generally better to a lot of people than foods without it. This is the very reason why using products containing MSG to save money is false economy!
In 1959 our United States government's Food and Drug Administration deemed MSG as "Generally Recognized as Safe." Once again, our tax dollars at work.
Dr. Mercola consulted with a board-certified neurosurgeon and author, Dr. Russell Blaylock about the detrimental effects of MSG. Here is what Dr. B had to say about what can happen to the body when MSG is ingested:
“When an excess of food-borne excitotoxins, such as MSG, hydrolyzed protein soy protein isolate and concentrate, natural flavoring, sodium caseinate and aspartate from aspartame, are consumed, these glutamate receptors are over-stimulated, producing cardiac arrhythmias. When magnesium stores are low, as we see in athletes, the glutamate receptors are so sensitive that even low levels of these excitotoxins can result in cardiac arrhythmias and death.”
Dr. Blaylock and Dr. Mercola have much more to say about this. I am going to give you time to check your kitchen pantry before I dump the whole load on you. If you have any thing in your house containing any item on the following list, PLEASE DO NOT USE IT.
- Autolyzed Yeast
- Calcium Caseinate
- Gelatin
- Glutame
- Glutamic Acid
- Hydrolized Protein
- Monopotassium Glutamate
- Monosodium Glutamate
- Sodium Caseinate
- Textured Protein
- Yeast Extract
- Yeast Food
- Yeast Nutrient
You may have your own ideas or bad experiences with MSG. Feel free to place a message in the Comments box, accessed below this post.
We hope you will be interested to visit any or all of our partners, as well. Their banners appear all the way to the bottom of this very long page. When you visit their sites, you will soon see that they have solutions for every one of your health issues.
Connie Baum
