MSG Flavoring - Spice

MSG as a flavor enhancer and health destroyer.
An e-mail which was forwarded to me in mid-September, 2005.

I wondered if there could be an actual chemical causing the massive obesity epidemic, so did a friend of mine, John Erb. He was a research assistant at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, and spent years working for the government. He made an amazing discovery while going through scientific journals for a book he was writing called "The Slow Poisoning of America".
In hundreds of studies around the world, scientists were creating obese mice and rats to use in diet or diabetes test studies. No strain of rat or mice is naturally obese, so the scientists have to create them. They make these morbidly obese creatures by injecting them with MSG when they are first born. The MSG triples the amount of insulin the pancreas creates; causing rats (and humans?) to become obese. They even have a title for the fat rodents they create: "MSG-Treated Rats".
I was shocked too. I went to my kitchen, checking the cupboards and the fridge. MSG was in everything! The Campbell's soups, the Hostess Doritos, the Lays flavoured potato chips, Top Ramen, Betty Crocker Hamburger Helper, Heinz canned gravy, Swanson frozen prepared meals, Kraft salad dressings, especially the 'healthy low fat' ones. The items that didn't have MSG marked on the product label had something called ''Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein'', which is just another name for Monosodium Glutamate. It was shocking to see just how many of the foods we feed our children everyday are filled with this stuff. They hide MSG under many different names in order to fool those who carefully read the ingredient list, so they don't catch on. (Other names for MSG: 'Accent' - 'Aginomoto' - 'Natural Meat Tenderiser' etc) But it didn't stop there.
When our family went out to eat, we started asking at the restaurants what menu items had MSG. Many employees, even the managers, swore they didn't use MSG. But when we ask for the ingredient list, which they grudgingly provided, sure enough MSG and Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein were everywhere. Burger King, McDonalds, Wendy's, Taco Bell, every restaurant, even the sit down ones like TGIF, Chilis', Applebees and Denny's use MSG in abundance. Kentucky Fried Chicken seemed to be the WORST offender: MSG was in every chicken dish, salad dressing and gravy. No wonder I loved to eat that coating on the skin, their secret spice was MSG!
So why is MSG in so may of the foods we eat?
Is it a preservative or a vitamin?? Not according to my friend John. In the book he wrote, an expose of the food additive industry called "The Slow Poisoning of America" he said that MSG is added to food for the addictive effect it has on the human body. http://www.spofamerica.com
Even the propaganda website sponsored by the food manufacturers lobby group supporting MSG at: http://www.msgfacts.com/facts/msgfact12.html explains that the reason they add it to food is to make people eat more. A study of the elderly showed that people eat more of the foods that it is added to. The Glutamate Association lobby group says eating more benefits the elderly, but what does it do to the rest of us? 'Betcha can't eat just one', takes on a whole new meaning where MSG is concerned! And we wonder why the nation is overweight? The MSG manufacturers themselves admit that it addicts people to their products. It makes people choose their product over others, and makes people eat more of it than they would if MSG wasn't added.
Not only is MSG scientifically proven to cause obesity, it is an addictive substance! Since its introduction into the American food supply fifty years ago, MSG has been added in larger and larger doses to the pre-packaged meals, soups, snacks and fast foods we are tempted to eat everyday. The FDA has set no limits on how much of it can be added to food. They claim it's safe to eat in any amount. How can they claim it safe when there are hundreds of scientific studies with titles like these? :-
' The monosodium glutamate (MSG) obese rat as a model for the study of exercise in obesity'.
Gobatto CA, Mello MA, Souza CT, Ribeiro IA.
Res Commun Mol Pathol Pharmacol. 2002.

' Adrenalectomy abolishes the food-induced hypothalamic serotonin release in both normal and monosodium glutamate-obese rats'.
Guimaraes RB, Telles MM, Coelho VB, Mori C, Nascimento CM,
Ribeiro Brain Res Bull. 2002 Aug.

' Obesity induced by neonatal monosodium glutamate treatment in spontaneously hypertensive rats: an animal model of multiple risk factors'.
Iwase M, Yamamoto M, Iino K, Ichikawa K, Shinohara N, Yoshinari Fujishima
Hypertens Res. 1998 Mar.

' Hypothalamic lesion induced by injection of monosodium glutamate in suckling period and subsequent development of obesity'.
Tanaka K, Shimada M, Nakao K, Kusunoki
Exp Neurol. 1978 Oct.

Yes, that last study was not a typo, it WAS written in 1978.
Both the "medical research community" and "food manufacturers" have known about MSG's side effects for decades! Many more studies mentioned in John Erb's book link MSG to Diabetes, Migraines and headaches, Autism, ADHD and even Alzheimer's.? But what can we do to stop the food manufactures from dumping fattening and addictive MSG into our food supply and causing the obesity epidemic we now see?
Even as you read this, G. W. Bush and his corporate supporters are pushing a Bill through Congress called the "Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act" also known as the "Cheeseburger Bill", this sweeping law bans anyone from suing food manufacturers, sellers and distributors. Even if it comes out that they purposely added an addictive chemical to their foods. Read about it for yourself at: http://www.yahoo.com. The Bill has already been rushed through the House of Representatives, and is due for the same rubber stamp at Senate level. It is important that Bush and his corporate supporters get it through before the media lets everyone know about 'MSG, the intentional Nicotine for food'.
Several months ago, John Erb took his book and his concerns to one of the highest government health officials in Canada. While sitting in the Government office, the official told him "Sure I know how bad MSG is, I wouldn't touch the stuff!" But this top level government official refused to tell the public what he knew.
The big media doesn't want to tell the public either, fearing legal issues with their advertisers. It seems that the fallout on fast food industry may hurt their profit margin. The food producers and restaurants have been addicting us to their products for years, and now we are paying the price for it. Our children should not be cursed with obesity caused by an addictive food additive. But what can I do about it?... I'm just one voice! What can I do to stop the poisoning of our children, while our governments are insuring financial protection for the industry that is poisoning us!
This e-mail is going out to everyone I know in an attempt to tell you the truth that the corporate owned politicians and media won't tell you. The best way you can help to save yourself and your children from this drug-induced epidemic, is to forward this email to everyone. With any luck, it will circle the globe before politicians can pass the legislation protecting those who are poisoning us. The food industry learned a lot from the tobacco industry. Imagine if big tobacco had a bill like this in place before someone blew the whistle on Nicotine?
If you are one of the few who can still believe that MSG is good for us, and you don't believe what John Erb has to say, see for yourself. Go to the National Library of Medicine, at http://www.pubmed.com.
Type in the words "MSG Obese" and read a few of the 115 medical studies that appear.
We the public, do not want to be rats in one giant experiment and we do not approve of food that makes us into a nation of obese, lethargic, addicted sheep, feeding the food industry's bottom line, while waiting for the heart transplant, diabetic induced amputation, blindness or other obesity induced, life threatening disorders.
With your help we can put an end to this poison. Do your part in sending this message out by word of mouth, e-mail or by distribution of this print-out to all your friends all over the world and stop this 'Slow Poisoning of Mankind' by the packaged food industry.
Blowing the whistle on MSG is our responsibility, get the word out.
Our souls always want to and can fly higher than we allow them to do,
Anna Christine
e-mail address and contact info
unfortunately Not forwarded to me with the e-mail.

COMMENT
In 1975 I sustained a severe whiplash in a car accident and was in a coma for 3 days. During my recovery, I noticed that MSG was one of the triggers which gave me an immediate migraine headache. As I had experienced few headaches to that point, I was motivated to find a way to bannish their incapacitating impact.
My associated influences included a drop of alcohol, bright light, infrequency of meal times, citrus foods, and MSG (monosodium glutamate). Together with dairyfoods , and chocolate, the Migraine Foundation acknowledged these as common triggers for migraines -- in the coming year or two. For me, no pharmaceutical or painkiller medications had any positive effect. Most herbal painkillers and anti-inflammation supplements were largely still unknown and poorly available at the time. Awareness and Avoidance were the only effective strategies.
In the late 1980's, I founded the form of Balancing Therapy described on Earthtym.net, and in the Health-4-All Package. I discovered that following the release of a number of energy blocks, I no longer had migraines, even when I exposed myself to the original triggers and regardless of duration or strength of exposure. As a point of principle, I continued to avoid those factors which had directly and immediately stimulated a migraine headache. I considered them to be an adverse stress for my body type and a usual added expense for dubious health benefit.
Now, many years later, I find that my avoidance of MSG likely facilitated my endurance of health against a group of severe chronic illnesses, from which many individuals never recover and with which many die. Certainly, there were a combination of such factors, yet the symptoms of MSG would have made treatment of those more troublesome. It was an easy enough choice for as I gained the awareness that Spiritual Guidance could be accessed for the optimum selection of foods for one's diet, I was most seldom Guided to buy or use anything with MSG in.

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