Health Food Guide

 

Doctors labeled a number of symptoms from heart palpitations to numbness the “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome” in the 60’s. It didn’t take long to discover the cause was MSG. MSG is a flavor enhancer used in many different types of foods.

It was discovered by a Japanese scientist named Kikunae Ikeda in 1908 when he isolated the ingredient in seaweed that made other food more flavorful,  but didn’t make it’s way to America until after WWII. The returning soldiers told that the rations the Japanese received were tastier, this prompted the military to find out why. Eventually the first MSG product, “Accent” hit the shelves so every American housewife could make her meal taste better.

 

The enhanced flavor comes with a price. MSG tricks the body so it believes there’s more nutrition in the product than really exists. MSG capitalizes on a process that the body has to signal that the food contains protein. This “fifth taste”, called umami, tricks the body.

 

The body uses the presence of specific ingredients to tell the brain that the body needs to prepare to digest that ingredient. It has carbohydrate sensors that tell you when you’ve consumed something sweet, fat sensors for fat and protein detectors.

 

MSG has no actual taste, but the glutamic acid in it triggers the sensors so you believe you’re eating something far more flavorful. While the taste bud trick seems like false advertising, it isn’t the reason that you need to hold MSG up to scrutiny.

 

MSG is an excitotoxin that over stimulates the cells, sometimes to the point that it kills or causes irreversible damage. Glutamate is a neurotransmitter that carries signals to all parts of the body. In this case, you can get too much of a good thing.

 

Some of the potential problems include learning disabilities, Alzheimer’s disease, Lou Gerhig disease, Parkinson’s, heart arrhythmia, eye damage, obesity, fatigue, disorientation and headaches. There’s a group of symptoms already identified by the FDA as being the “MSG Symptom Complex”, which include a burning sensation, facial pressure or tightness, numbness and tingling, chest pain, difficulty breathing, nausea, headache, weakness, drowsiness or rapid heartbeat

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Of course, the simple way to stop any problems would be to eliminate the product from the diet, and that’s what many Americans did once the information was public.

 

In an effort to conceal the glutamic acid, the ingredient that gives the flavor enhancement to MSG, monosodium glutamate, they simply used a different product that contained the offending substance. Rather than list MSG on the label, as requested by the FDA, manufacturers found alternate glutamic acid containing ingredients that acted the same way.

 

The ingredients that always contain glutamic acid include: calcium caseinate, autolyzed yeast, glutamate, glutamic acid, hydrolyzed protein, sodium caseinate, monopotassium glutamate, textured protein, yeast food, yeast extract, yeast nutrient and gelatin. No wonder everyone always has room for Jell-O.

 

Other names for ingredients are sometimes indicators that your “healthy meal” may contain MSG. Natural chicken flavoring and broth sound very healthy but they may just be a disguise for glutamic acid. Powdered milk and broth sound innocuous and yet they could be MSG in disguise.

 

While it might not shock you that the makers of frozen meals often use MSG or their substitutes to enhance the flavor of their meal, you might find that it’s an unusual additive for ice cream, cookies, beverage, candy, chewing gum and food supplements.

 

MSG is in medications and IV materials also. The worse example of products containing MSG is cigarettes, the poor smoker already has dozens of other health hazards facing them, only to be hit by one more. By the way, do you know anyone that eats the cigarettes? Sometimes, it just doesn't make sense.