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What is it ?
Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is the sodium salt of the naturally occurring amino acid, glutamic acid which is thought to make up 10 to 25 % of all food protein, from both animal and vegetable sources. Bound Glutamate is a natural part of protein-containing foods such as meat, vegetables, poultry, and milk.
MSG is found in two forms: bound glutamate, which is linked to protein, and free glutamate, which is not linked to protein.
Bound Glutamate occurs as a natural part of proteins, including vegetable and animal proteins. These proteins, when broken down (i.e.: by cooking) release free glutamate. Cooking DOES make some foods tastier. Only free glutamate improves the flavour of food. It is the naturally occurring free glutamate in Parmesan cheese, ripe tomatoes, and mushrooms that gives these foods their distinctive flavour.
In 1908, Dr. Kikunae Ikeda of Tokyo Imperial University discovered MSG while searching for the origin of a particular taste of a type of seaweed called Kombu. His intent was to commercialize a chemically derived form to be used as a taste additive to other foods. Dr. Ikeda found that by fermentation of products such as molasses derived from sugar cane or sugar beets, and starch from tapioca or cereals, ... fine, white crystal product conveyed the flavor in its purest form.
Production of this commercial form of monosodium glutamate was carried out by Saburosuke Suzuki, the founder of Ajinomoto Co., Inc., under request from Kikunae Ikeda. Dr. Ikeda's invention, sold under the Ajinomoto name, became popular as a seasoning not only in Japan and China, but worldwide.
Common symptoms of toxicity.
Governments with health and food regulatory agencies typically do not place any cautions or limitations on the use of MSG.
The fact that only a minority people experience significant health threatening symptoms, is no justification for such a conclusion.
The "minority" excuse has been rationalized to permit the use of many pharmaceuticals known to contribute to acute health threatening responses, even fatalities, in numerous persons. Neither is MSG considered an "additive" by many such government departments despite the fact that it IS added to many commercially prepared foods.
The excuse of cultural sanction has also been used to justify the use of MSG.
Popular in the Chinese culture, where many have reported chronic symptom experiences, many North American and other bureaucrats assume a position of fear against regulating something that is known to be dangerous, yet is popularly consumed. This was also historically true of the use of tobacco, and, mercury amalgam dental fillings.
Symptoms may be experienced within seconds following ingestion of minor amounts of the "spice".
Some persons may have to be rushed to hospital to avoid critical resolution of the symptoms.
Symptoms from MSG sensitivity ..
- a burning sensation,
- flushing,
- sweating,
- facial pressure,
- migraine headache,
- disorientation,
- nausea,
- chest pains,
- bronchospasm (difficulty breathing)
- weakness
- fainting,
- can trigger asthma
- heart palpitations,
- low blood pressure,
- drowsiness
- stuffy nose
- vomiting,
- a mimic of a heart attack or stroke
- burning sensation in the back of the neck, forearms, and chest
- numbness in the back of the neck, radiating to the arms and back
- tingling, warmth, and weakness in the face, temples, upper back, neck, and arms
- seizures
- depression
MSG: An ingredient that may be added to these:
- drinks,
- candy,
- soups,
- hot dogs,
- sausages,
- potato chips,
- breakfast sausage,
- salad dressings,
- infant formula,
- gelatin,
- low-fat milk,
- chewing gum,
- canned tuna,
- crackers,
- frozen meals,
- fast foods,
- whey protein,
- malted barley,
- rice syrup or brown rice syrup,
- over-the-counter medications,
- some manufactured vegetarian foods
When governments and institutions acknowledge the concerns of their citizens and members about these troblesome symptoms, it is common for them to advise those so influenced, to avoid MSG. This is often difficult when its use is deceptively hidden behind technical and marketing names which suggest safety.
Other Hidden Names for MSG can be found at this LINK.
http://www.msgmyth.com/hidename.htm
A poison by other names.
MSG was originally thought to be safe since the original and natural form of it was an amino acid.
Most laboratory derived food colorings, odours, tastes, and preservatives have also carried this assumption until proven dangerous to health many decades later. A parallel example is that chemically derived sugars, such as aspartame and sucralose, are assumed, by many, to be no different than the multi-nutritional natural sugar sources of honey, and unrefined cane sugar. The amount of MSG alone added to foods has doubled in every decade since the 1940's and by 1972 ... 262,000 metric tons of MSG were produced.
It can be very difficult to avoid MSG in your diet.
Monosodium glutamate is legally required to be listed as such in the ingredients when it is added to food in that form, but it can also appear in low sodium foods with the name monopotassium glutamate. Hydrolyzed vegetable protein, or hydrolyzed plant protein, includes up to 20 percent free glutamate and aspartate. The hydrolyzation process frees glutamic acid and aspartic acid from the protein, and these act the same way as MSG on the brain. The hydrolyzed plant protein can legally be listed as natural flavorings or spices, so even "all natural" products might contain glutamates. As history amply demonstrates, laws are only as good as they are consistently and fully enforced.
Truth in Labeling (truthinlabeling.org) publicize that while naturally derived free glutamate has no toxic effects, synthetically produced glutamate contains toxic impurities. More dramatically, they connect MSG to the spread of obesity and increased incidence of neurological disorders in North Americans.
The Truth in Labeling Campaign relies extensively on the research of
Dr. Russell Blaylock, a board-certified neurosurgeon in the US who describes MSG as an excitotoxin (a substance that overexcites neurons in the brain to the point of cell death), which causes lesions (injuries) on the hypothalamus. These lesions on the hypothalamus are linked with abnormal development, including, obesity, short stature, and reproductive problems.
Carol Hoernlein, the principal writer for MSGTruth.org and former food process engineer and food scientist, links glutamate to obesity and type 2 diabetes. She has found that higher levels of glutamate in the blood can cause an increase in insulin levels that triggers hunger, and that continued exposure to high insulin levels leads to insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.
..... Life Enthusiast
The 'neuron system' within the hypothalamus appears to use glutamate as a neurotransmitter.
The pituitary gland "Master Gland" controls the other endocrine glands, such as the adrenals, the thyroid and reproductive organs by releasing small amounts of it's controlling hormones into the blood.
What controls the pituitary gland, the hypothalamus - it controls hormone releasing factors that stimulate the pituitary to release hormones. By the feed back control, the hypothalamus "regulates" the hormone balance in the body.
Sort of a hormone thermostat.
The discovery by Dr. Olney was particularly important, because the hypothalamus plays an important role in "controlling" so many areas of the body.
The hypothalamus regulates growth, the onset of puberty, most of the endocrine glands, appetite, sleep cycles and waking patterns, the biological clock and even "consciousness" itself. When MSG feed in doses similar to those found in human diets, destroys hypothalamic neurons. Later experiments demonstrated that MSG could cause the hypothalamus to secrete excessive amounts of a reproductive hormone (luteinizing hormone) which is associated with an early onset of puberty. Many of these endocrine effects appeared at an older age.
The primary purpose of us eating is to support the chemical reactions of the body.
Many of the substances absorbed from our food plays a vital role in the overall metabolic process of life.
When adult humans are fed 100-150 milligrams per kilogram of body weight of MSG, their blood levels rise 20 times higher than normal as compared to a four fold rise seen in experimental mice fed a comparable dose. A child's brain is four times more 'sensitive' than an adult brain to these toxins.
Glutamate and aspartate are "s" neurotransmitters (the keys) found normally in the brain and spinal cord and even though they are two of the most common transmitter chemicals in the brain and spinal core, when their concentrations rise above a critical level they become deadly "toxins" to the neurons containing "glutamate receptors" (the locks).
What this means is that excessive glutamate will not only kill the 'neurons' with the receptors for glutamate, but it will also kill any neuron that happens to be connected to it, even if that neuron uses another type of transmitter. Both glutamate and aspartate can cause neurons to become extremely 'excited' and if given in large enough doses, they can cause the cells to degenerate and die. It is for this reason that the nervous system carefully controls the concentration of these two amino acids in the fluid surrounding the neurons (called the extracellular space). Even small doses can damage these neurons without actually killing them. Within 15-30 minutes after being exposed to high doses of MSG, neurons suspended in tissue culture are seen to 'swell' like balloons. Within 3 hrs. those neurons are not only dead, but the bodies defense mechanism begins to haul away the "debris".
Other terms used on labels for MSG ..
- hydrolysed vegetable protein (HVP)
- hydrolysed plant protein
- ancoma
- autolyzed yeast extract
- L-glutamic acid, monosodium salt
- D02280
- disodium guanylate or inosinate
- DL-monosodium glutamate
- hydrolyzed soy protein
- hydrolyzed vegetable protein
- hydrolyzed yeast
- monoammonium glutamate
- monohydrate
- monopotassium glutamate
- monosodium glutamate (NF)
- monosodium glutamatemonohydrate
- MSG monohydrate
- protein isolates
- sodium glutamate
- sodium glutamate monohydrate
- sodium hydrogen glutamate
- soy extracts
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