Last year, I was feeling kind of relieved to be getting away from a place where Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) is often added to the food, especially in restaurants and in packaged food and snack food. I'm sensitive to MSG. Besides often making my head ache and feel spacy, it tends to make my heart palpitate or race (any nervous system stimulant does because of my heart defect), which also makes me tired.
After arriving home, I naively thought that, if the package doesn't have MSG listed on it, then it doesn't have MSG in it. I started researching about MSG the other day, though, and was shocked to find out that MSG, according to the FDA, is only glutamate that is at least 99% pure. MSG goes by other names when it is 98% or less pure. The first source that I looked at was truthinlabeling.org, which has several articles about MSG. A few ingredients that always contain MSG are (to see more, go to: http://www.truthinlabeling.org/hiddensources.html):
hydrolyzed protein of any kind, also known as pea protein, whey protein etc.
textured protein of any kind
gelatin
yeast extract, yeast food, and autolyzed yeast
sodium or calcium caseinate
glutamic acid
A few of the many ingredients that often contain MSG are:
spice, flavor, natural flavoring,
milk solids
citric acid
carageenan
malt extract or flavoring or barley malt
maltodextrin
soy and/or protein of various kinds
pectin
I was kind of skeptical of this, but looked it up in several books and a textbook on Amazon.com and read other websites about it. As it turns out, the FDA considers MSG to be natural because it's an amino acid, which is why it can be listed as natural flavor or spice. The problem is that it is a free amino acid that, in it's free form only (not when it is bound to other proteins) is able to cross the blood brain barrier and stimulate the neurons in the brain (and give me a headache), which causes the tongue and mouth to better appreciate the food in it and not pick up on staleness or off-tasts. It causes brain cell and neuron death in rats. It is suspected to do the same in humans, but this has never been verified. It is also a central nervous system stimulant, which makes it addictive, casues people to eat more (according to some studies), and upsets my heart because of my Mitral Valve Prolapse.
Of course, the increase in taste perception and decrease in staleness and off-tastes, the addictiveness, and the increase in the amount eaten are all reasons that the food industry loves to add MSG to our food. The bad reputation that MSG has, likewise, is the reason that food manufactures like to hide MSG under names such as natural flavoring or hydrolized protein. It makes sense, but for all of the people like me who are sensitive to it and who value the health of their brains and bodies, it is an evil deception.
After arriving home, I naively thought that, if the package doesn't have MSG listed on it, then it doesn't have MSG in it. I started researching about MSG the other day, though, and was shocked to find out that MSG, according to the FDA, is only glutamate that is at least 99% pure. MSG goes by other names when it is 98% or less pure. The first source that I looked at was truthinlabeling.org, which has several articles about MSG. A few ingredients that always contain MSG are (to see more, go to: http://www.truthinlabeling.org/hiddensources.html):
hydrolyzed protein of any kind, also known as pea protein, whey protein etc.
textured protein of any kind
gelatin
yeast extract, yeast food, and autolyzed yeast
sodium or calcium caseinate
glutamic acid
A few of the many ingredients that often contain MSG are:
spice, flavor, natural flavoring,
milk solids
citric acid
carageenan
malt extract or flavoring or barley malt
maltodextrin
soy and/or protein of various kinds
pectin
I was kind of skeptical of this, but looked it up in several books and a textbook on Amazon.com and read other websites about it. As it turns out, the FDA considers MSG to be natural because it's an amino acid, which is why it can be listed as natural flavor or spice. The problem is that it is a free amino acid that, in it's free form only (not when it is bound to other proteins) is able to cross the blood brain barrier and stimulate the neurons in the brain (and give me a headache), which causes the tongue and mouth to better appreciate the food in it and not pick up on staleness or off-tasts. It causes brain cell and neuron death in rats. It is suspected to do the same in humans, but this has never been verified. It is also a central nervous system stimulant, which makes it addictive, casues people to eat more (according to some studies), and upsets my heart because of my Mitral Valve Prolapse.
Of course, the increase in taste perception and decrease in staleness and off-tastes, the addictiveness, and the increase in the amount eaten are all reasons that the food industry loves to add MSG to our food. The bad reputation that MSG has, likewise, is the reason that food manufactures like to hide MSG under names such as natural flavoring or hydrolized protein. It makes sense, but for all of the people like me who are sensitive to it and who value the health of their brains and bodies, it is an evil deception.
No comments:
Post a Comment