Clearing MSG's Name

[Webster]

(Yahoo Health) A single letter in 1968 ruined MSG’s reputation. Science is finally clearing its name. -- “So how did a completely natural flavor enhancer become one of the most misunderstood ingredients in modern history? It’s a recipe that calls for a bit of bad science, a dash of cultural bias, and a single letter written to a medical journal. In 1968, a doctor wrote a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine about several symptoms he was experiencing. He reported numbness and even heart palpitations after eating at local Chinese restaurants. This physician’s observation led him to a hypothesis: could MSG be the cause? This single query did not immediately prompt the medical community to conduct a peer-reviewed study. Instead, the media ran wild with the story. Local papers and news broadcasts associated MSG with the dubious term ‘Chinese Restaurant Syndrome.’ And just like that, a safe food additive used around the globe became a culinary villain. And the stigma has stuck around ever since. . . . When FDA scientists finally put MSG to the test in the ’90s, the “syndrome” myth quickly crumbled. Research shows that consuming MSG in normal amounts causes no adverse symptoms.”
-Read more: A single letter in 1968 ruined MSG’s reputation. Science is finally clearing its name.

 

[Frankj]

Some people would say that encouraging overeating and the resulting obesity could be considered an adverse symptom, at least on a population wide scale if not on any particular individual member of it.

Studies have been done in nursing homes showing the elderly tend to eat more if MSG is used in their food than if it isn't. While this is good for the elderly in terms of nutrition think about this in terms of, for instance, addition of MSG to fast food consider addition of them to such things as fast food and other less than desirable diet items to encourage higher consumption of them at the expense of better dietary choices that are more nutritional and less fattening.

 

[Webster]

Some people would say that encouraging overeating and the resulting obesity could be considered an adverse symptom, at least on a population wide scale if not on any particular individual member of it.

Everything, when eaten to excess, can cause adverse symptoms.

The problem, as the article points out, is that the bias agst. monosodium glutamate (MSG) was based on bad science. As the article points, MSG is naturally found in a lot of foods....ever eat tomatoes? Those have MSG.

Ditto with cheeses and mushrooms and even seaweed. The reason is that, when one eats a good containing MSG, it triggers the flavor profile known in Japanese as "umami" - that flavorful, savory taste we all know of.

What's ironic is that, for all the talk of how bad it supposedly is, MSG contains around 2/3rds the amount of sodium as regular table salt does and you and I both know people load down foods with that every single day and most people don't even bat an eye at that. But MSG?

You see where I'm going with that.

 

[Webster]

Studies have been done in nursing homes showing the elderly tend to eat more if MSG is used in their food than if it isn't.

A lot of that comes from the fact that, as we grow older, we tend not to eat as much and if you're already suffering from a nutritional deficit, not eating as much tends to amplify it. Thus, a little bit of MSG usually is enough to increase a person's appetite.

In and of itself, that's not a problem.
Its' the foods we eat that can become a problem, not the MSG.

 

[Frankj]

Webster, have you ever noticed that people who eat a bland diet free of taste enhancers of any kind are rarely among the obese?

Prepared food producers don't add taste enhancers, MSG among them and at the top of the list in some cases, to their foods to increase its nutritional value or make people consume less of their product.

It's easy enough to put to the test though, keep an accurate record of your total food consumption over a month in your normal diet then remove taste enhancers from your diet (MSG only if that is what you are testing and use high MSG foods now) and keep that accurate record again to compare with the first month. If you are among those who are more than just a few pounds overweight it might be interesting to add in daily weight to the routine.