MSG by Any Other Name

I am writing this because I had a whopper of a headache after eating some seemingly innocent “all natural” onion ring snacks.  Man were they tasty!  Sure, I probably ate more than I should have, but they were soooo good.  Shortly thereafter, my migraine set in which prompted me to look at the ingredients on the bag of my delicious new friends.  I wondered what could have been in them that made me feel so awful.  I had suspected  monosodium glutamate (MSG) since I know I am sensitive to it, but MSG didn’t pop out at me on the ingredient list.  What did catch my eye was modified food starch.  Guess what?  It’s MSG.

---

Time for a little history lesson.   MSG is a flavor enhancer or food additive that was discovered in Japan in the early 1900s and was introduced to the U.S. in 1947.  It is produced by the fermentation of starch from plants like sugar beets, sugar cane and molasses.  In 2001, over 1.5 million tonnes (metric tons) were produced with an expected annual increase of 4%.  That’s a lot of MSG, my friends.  You may be asking yourself why that’s such a big deal.  If you’re not sensitive to MSG’s effects, then it’s probably not.  But… check this out:  MSG and its posers have been linked to the following diseases and disorders (and it’s not pretty):

• Obesity
• Alzheimer’s Disease
• Petit Mal seizures
• Migraine Headaches (uh, hello!)
• Children’s Disorders
• Insomnia
• Cancer
• Fibromyalgia
• ADHD and Autism
• Numbness

(Read more on the above here).

Yikes! So how can we stay away from this nasty stuff?  Well, it’s hard.  MSG (and posers) is found in many of the foods in our modern society such as fast foods, prepared and processed foods, salad dressings, sauces, soups, cooking stocks, snack foods and chips.  Your best bet is to avoid these foods as much as possible and to arm yourself with information.  You can do that by always reading the labels.

Foods always contain MSG if the following are on the label:

• MSG
• Monosodium glutamate
• Monopotassium glutamate
• Glutamate
• Glutamic acid
• Gelatin
• Hydrolyzed vegetable protein
• Hydrolyzed plant protein
• Autolyzed plant protein
• Sodium caseinate
• Calcium caseinate
• Textured protein
• Yeast extract
• Yeast food or nutrient
• Autolyzed yeast

Of course, there are all sorts of conflicting studies, stories, and everything in between on the relative “safety” of MSG.  Believe what you will.  I know for certain that I suffer from migraines when I eat MSG-laced food so I do my best to stay away from the stuff.

Learn more about MSG and its effects here: MSG by Any Other Name: Part II.