This topic has been bothering the crap out of me. Is MSG good for you? Will it kill brain cells? This is a myth I want to derail.

MSG = Good(as in no problems or issue) or Bad?
BTW....I'm Chinese (Just in case people think I'm hiding something)

I've heard all the stories.
They all happen in Asian restaurants. I have several friends that worked at asian restaurants including myself. Its the same thing every time.

"Do you use MSG? It gives me headache"
"It gives me heart attacks."
"I'm allergic to MSG."
"MSG gives me upset stomach."

Myth
Only Asian restaurant use MSG - FALSE
The media basically did an awesome job labeling Asian, especially Chinese restaurant as being a primary MSG user. The fact is, and I quote...

"You may think that you are actually avoiding MSG if you avoid Chinese restaurants, but this factory created flavor enhancer is in almost every bottled, bagged, frozen, or canned processed food on super market shelves. But since MSG is often a component of a formulation, it is not labeled as such. You've seen words like autolyzed yeast, hydrolyzed protein, and whey protein. Each of these substances contain a percentage of glutamate, the component of MSG."


I did the internet research.
Apparently, there are no link that MSG will cause cancer or whatever with normal consumption. All MSG does is simulate the taste buds. There are numerous studies and test that shows MSG cause problems in lab mice, but they use an enormous amount of it. Enormous amount of anything will all give you problems. If the same amount of salt was given to anybody, they will die of dehydration before anything.

My Conclusion
When searching around the internet, there are just as many good as there are bad. However, all the bads are bunch of people with their own opinions or psychological reactions. At best, there are doctor's opinion's with no studies or lab test to back them up. They just got it from reading all the other personal opinions of MSG on the web. And the more you read about one subject, the more you will you-know-what (Example, Aliens, lake monsters and big foot). And like I mentioned above, the test that reviled to cause problems are the one that uses insane amount of it. Because of the researcher being curious, they keep adding the amount till a problem comes up in order to see what it can cause. This is like the myth buster show where the myth is busted, but in order to have fun or just for the heck of it, they multiple the amount of gun powder to an insane amount.........because they can and they want.

What about the people that complaint about having a reaction from MSG? I say what about 1/4 of the world population that don't? Not to mention the other Asia countries...like Japan, Korean and all the other countries south of China. That will probably bring it to 1/3 of the world's population. Apparently they are all immune to this god forbidden "chemical". From my own observation, I truly believed that these so-called allergic reaction are no more than their own psychological reaction.........in a Asian restaurant. They keep thinking about a headache, sooner or later....they're gonna get a headache. Just like any other sickness.

Now, I'm not saying that there's absolutely no way someone can be allergic to it. People will be allergic to something like...sugar, peanuts, carrots, etc..etc. The percentage are small. But the amount of people that comes in to an Asian restaurant claiming allergic reaction is out of this world,....which brings me to another point/story. I ran across a study on a group of people that claim allergic reaction to MSG in an Asian restaurant, and yet they have no problem taking down a can of Cambell chicken noodle soup. Do you people know the amount of MSG they put in those cans? They also used couple another "American" food with MSG as part of the ingredient, and yet no allergic reaction. Because they were not informed/award of it, ......the psychological effect could not take place...hence no allergic reaction. Oh yeah, you bet I did it to one of my friend that claimed the same BS. We order Pizza and spaghetti/meatball to my house, and I sprinkled some MSG on it....and BAM....nothing, naaada!! He said something tasted weird on the pizza, but that was the most of it. Spaghetti/meatball were fine. I have 6 other friends as my witness.

Bottom line is...if MSG is that bad, someone will do something about it. Like the FDA. Because there are no proof that MSG have direct link to cancer or other problem, they have no reason to pull it off the market. And yes, its been in the US market since WWII. However, its know to have an indirect link to obesity, since it makes the food so damn good.


Input your views. Keep this racially clean please.

 

On the side note...

You guys are welcome to do your own searching around. But let me give you a few tips since I became somewhat of an expert in researching on this topic.

When a website say that MSG is bad....
-Pay attention to what they are saying ...or if they are misleading you.
-Do they try to hide words/phrase like "high amount", "large portion", etc etc
-Who's the author? Do they have something to support what they are saying? Or is it their opinion or something they heard from a friend of a friend of a friend thing.
-Look at the web site. Is it a personal web site or a scientific researching website. We're not talking about elementary science fair here.

 

msg makes me hot and bothered

 

I get migraines every once in a while. MSG, I think, is a trigger. I'm not 100% certain, migraines are notoriously difficult to diagnose, but the circumstantial evidence is strong enough that I avoid MSG as much as possible.

 

i love msg

 

MSG has never given me any problems. I don't try to avoid it nor do I actively seek food that contains it.

 

People who think they are reacting to MSG are clearly mistaken.

They are reacting to something else in the food, probably the general lack of cleaniness it was prepared with or some other preservative that is abundant in packaged foods with MSG. Usually foods packed with MSG aren't exactly awesome for you to begin with.

As D.H stated MSG is just a buzz word for glutamic acid, one of the most common amino acids in nature. Unless you are not eating any protein at all, chances are you are getting huge amounts of glutamic acid from eating meat. In fact it is the free form of glutamic acid that gives proteins their distinctive savory taste. Do you like fish and meat taste? That's the delicious taste of glutamic acid that your taste buds are responding to. Ultimately free or bound in polypeptides, the body will cleave them down, so it makes no difference.

All the "studies" to show that MSG has some effect have been witch hunts at best, to the point that the NIH and FDA pretty much stopped funding any legit research now. All the quoted "research" basically involved introducing absolutely ridiculous amounts of MSG and observing ill effects. Hell I could artificially introduce, in ridiculous amounts, any substance we intake, including water (actually especially water), and there will be a concentration that seriously messes you up.

Still there are groups that maintain that MSG is bad (even though glutamic acid is an animo acid and such a major component of all proteins). Those are probably the groups that make the most money from labeling their products as "MSG free."

Basically the public is highly gullible when it comes to these dietary buzz words that they have no clue what it means. Another example is this latest witch hunt against Trans fats.

I love it when I see like fatty meat products loaded with saturated fat advertised as "Zero Trans Fat" in HUGE letters on the front, in the hopes of trying to get people to think it's healthy.

No shit, it's not going to have Trans fat, considering that Trans fat usually comes from the processing of unsaturated plant oils. Why would Meat have it to begin with? Fatty meat products will be rich in saturated fats instead.

The reason why Trans Fat is so bad is that it is a unsaturated fat that mimicks the conformation of saturated fat. That still means it's only about as bad as saturated fat.

I could take a cut of fatty pork, and then smother it with lard, and then still advertise it as 0 Trans Fat in huge letters. I especially love it when I see people eating a huge greasy bucket of KFC that says 0 Trans Fat right on the bucket. The hunt for Trans Fat is probably the worst thing to happen to dietary health in a long time.

People see these words like MSG and Trans Fat and know absolutely nothing about them except that they are supposed to be "bad".

 

i love msg.

but the only "reaction" i get is that i get extremely thirsty afterward. Is that all in my head too?

I'm glad to see Im not the only annoyed by the "fear" of MSG.

 

No that's real as MSG is also a sodium salt. It's the same as if you ate a bunch of table salt.

 

oh, gotcha.