MSG Is NOT BAD FOR YOU

[ShamanSaid]

"fear of MSG is a form of mass psychosis - you suffer the symptoms you've been told to worry about."

"at no time has any official body, governmental or academic, ever found it necessary to warn humans against consuming MSG."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/ ... .features3

The bottom line in the story is that Glutamate is a naturally occuring chemical compound and it is the part responsible for flavour enhancement, the mono sodium part is because table salt is normally used as a stabilizer for the glutamate. Glutmate is not harmful and MSG is only as harmful as the crap table salt or whatever else they use as the stabilizer.

Typical Jew nonsense, convincing us things that help or enhance our lives are harmful and the poisons are beneficial.

Free glutamate content of foods (mg per 100g) roquefort cheese 1280
parmesan cheese 1200
soy sauce 1090
walnuts 658
fresh tomato juice 260
grape juice 258
peas 200
mushrooms 180
broccoli 176
tomatoes 140
mushrooms 140
oysters 137
corn 130
potatoes 102
chicken 44
mackerel 36
beef 33
eggs 23
human milk 22

Also see www.msgmyth.com, www.msgtruth.org

[jai_mann]

"You will know them by the fruits of their labor...."

To be quite frank, I could give a rats ass about mainstream, controlled government, academia, science/medicine warning the consumer. Those mechanisms are all top down controlled which has a serious impact on what is or is not accepted.

Glutamate can be found endogenously in the brain but the problem is that when it is in excess it causes cell death. What may be a normal process at a given level is not normal at a higher level. Whether this is a concern depends upon the effects in the brain. Anandimide is an endogenous cannabinoid in the brain. If we smoke some weed we add various cannabinoids to the brain. None of these are neurotoxic (in fact it has been found to be neuroprotective). On the other hand something like glutamate which causes cell apoptosis in high levels is of concern. Artificially increased levels of cell apoptosis are going to occur if you introduce concentrated glutamate.

What you are not acknowledging by posting a list of foods w/ glutamate in them is that antioxidants which may neutralize the effects of glutamate neurotoxity are naturally found in some of those foods. Soy sauce and parmasean cheese are not naturally occurring substances. Broccoli, tomatoes, grape juice (not heavily processed), and peas all have antioxidants and are naturally occurring.

You should promote cannabis =). It's more controversial than MSG but it has real benefits whereas MSG has none.

http://www.pnas.org/content/95/14/8268. ... /8268.full

This stuff also protects against certain chemical agents used in nerve gases. Oh how I wish I had access to some.... :mrgreen:

[MikeWB]

Yeah, mercury's good for you too!

Such bullshit.  Go read some Dr Blaylock reports on MSG and excitotoxins.

http://www.naturalnews.com/020550.html

[ShamanSaid]

Mike,

"So, when you're consuming MSG, the level of glutamate in the blood can rise as high as 20-fold. You get very high glutamate levels in the blood after eating a meal containing MSG. You're stimulating all of the glutamate receptors. That's why some people get explosive diarrhea, because it stimulates the receptors in the esophagus and small bowel. Others may develop irritable bowel, or if they have irritable bowel, it makes it a lot worse. If they have reflux, it makes that a lot worse. The thing about the cardiac conduction system glutamate receptors is this may explain the rise in sudden cardiac death. "

What I got from the article you posted - is that he's saying MSG can excite and accelerate pre-existing conditions, it doesn't say that it specifically causes them.  Which is the point of the article I posted. WHERE IS THE STUDIES AND HARD EVIDENCE LINKING MSG AS A CAUSE OF ANYTHING HARMFUL?

Also keep in mind anything that accelerates WORKS both ways, SPEED type effects on the body can accelerate your uptake of nutrients as well as spread the toxic things far and fast.  

He's right about SOY but seems he's just parroting empty nonsense with regards to MSG.

[jai_mann]

Care to address my comments or would you rather ignore the guy who has a background in neuroscience?  

[Milton]

Thanks for debunking this jai_mann.

[Jenny Lake]

I read a few years ago that Alois Alzheimer had consistently found an excess of glutamate in the brains of mental patients --it led me to an insight in the nature of glutamates as the brain's equivalent of "virus", there to dissolve decaying cell material for elimination.

[sullivan]

Care to address my comments or would you rather ignore the guy who has a background in neuroscience?  

You'll have to address that to The Guardian, as I think the O.P. was posting it as an example of disinformation and deceit.

[LordLindsey]

MY GOD IN HEAVEN!

What a completely bat-shit in-sane world in which we are all forced to live; I honestly-to-God can not believe that ANYONE would believe that msg is anything but a deadly poison.

LINDSEY

[Wimpy]

There is a difference in atomic weights and melting points between: Glutamine (an abundant non-essential amino acid; the highest amino acid concentration found in blood), Glutamic Acid (commonly found in many foods we eat; 30% of wheat protein for example) and Mono Sodium Glutamate.  These basic definitive differences result or reflect different reactive properties.

Mono Sodium Glutamate is created by substituting a Sodium atom for one of the Hydrogen atoms in Glutamic Acid, and by definition this is now a salt.  This salt -MSG- is or should be the topic for the discussion of harmful.  IMO.   MSG has unique properties compared to the other two mentioned above and most of these properties aren't good for human health.

[Timothy_Fitzpatrick]

MSG is shit. No question. It is especially toxic when combined with artificial sweeteners.

[CrackSmokeRepublican]

It is actually hard-wired into the brain and addictive to a degree.

======

http://www.msginfo.com/about_taste_umam ... 1327109598

Umami: The 5th Taste

When we were in grade school, many of us learned that there were four basic tastes: sweet, sour, salty and bitter. Now there's a new taste to learn and it's called umami (pronounced "oo-mommy"). Actually, while the term is new to us, it's not new to the Japanese, who have used the term to describe the "fifth taste" since the early 1900s. What exactly is the umami taste? Well, there's no English word that's synonymous with umami, however it's most often described as a "savory" or "meaty" taste.

Being able to distinguish the umami taste takes some practice because it's not as obvious as other tastes, such as sweet or bitter. For example, when tasting a homemade chicken broth made without salt or seasoning of any kind, you may find it bland and practically tasteless. If you added a small amount of monosodium glutamate to that same broth, the umami taste it provides may lead you to describe the "enhanced" broth as tasting "more like chicken" than the first broth. This taste is not as simple as making something taste more salty (salt alone can do that). Rather, the umami taste is one of richness, fullness and complexity. Simply put, it just makes the food taste more delicious.

Glutamate's the key

The amino acid glutamate could well be called "nature's flavor enhancer" because it conveys the umami taste in foods. Glutamate is also well known among food and nutrition professionals as one of the most common "building blocks" of protein. As such, it's no surprise that most foods contain some amount of glutamate. Protein foods, such as meat, fish, cheese, milk and some vegetables are especially good sources of glutamate. Not coincidentally, these foods also have a lot of umami taste.
   
Source: Inaba. A. Yamamoto, T., Ito, T., Nakamura, R. Changes in the concentrations of free amino acids and soluble nucleotides in attached and detached tomato fruits during ripening. J. Japan Soc. Hort. Sci., 1980, Vol. 29, No.3    

In some foods, the amount of glutamate they contain—and their flavor—increases as they age or ripen. For example, according to research, aged ham and aged cheese have much more glutamate than their "younger" counterparts. The graphic to the left illustrates this concept using a ripening tomato. As a tomato ripens from green to red, its glutamate content increases dramatically. The superior flavor of the ripe tomato can be attributed, in part, to its higher glutamate level.

   See chart for glutamate content of selected foods

 

 

Adding umami to foods

Over 1,200 years ago, Asian cooks began adding a type of seaweed found in the Pacific Ocean to their soup stocks. They had discovered that foods cooked in this seaweed broth simply tasted better. What these chefs didn't know was that the broth's unique flavor enhancement quality was due to the high levels of naturally occurring glutamate in the seaweed.

Finally, in 1908, the link between glutamate and the seaweed was discovered. A professor at Tokyo Imperial University, Dr. Kikunae Ikeda, isolated glutamate from the seaweed and unlocked the secret of the plant's flavor-enhancing properties. Dr. Ikeda then went on to study various forms of glutamate, trying to find one that conveyed the umami taste and was also practical to produce commercially. He found that the sodium salt form, called monosodium glutamate, fit the bill: it provided umami and was easy for home cooks to use and store.

Monosodium glutamate, often referred to as "MSG", was first produced in Japan in 1909, and made its U.S. debut in 1917. Since then, food manufacturers and home cooks alike have used MSG to augment the flavor of a wide variety of foods.

Recognizing that "Mother Nature" knows best, when food manufacturers add monosodium glutamate to foods, they use it in levels that are comparable to the glutamate levels found in natural foods. Generally, this means only a small amount is used—usually between 0.1% and 0.8% of the food's weight. Home cooks have it easier—there's a "rule of thumb" for how much MSG to use.

You might be surprised to learn that, according to a 1995 U.S. Food and Drug Administration study, some foods naturally contain higher levels of glutamate than those typically added to foods during manufacturing. For example, the natural glutamate level in aged Parmesan cheese was found to be up to 10 times that found in chicken broth with added monosodium glutamate!

Foods rich in umami

Many foods that may be consumed daily are rich in umami. Naturally occurring glutamate can be found in meats and vegetables; whereas inosinate comes primarily from meats and guanylate from vegetables. Thus, umami taste is common to foods that contain high levels of L-glutamate, IMP and GMP, most notably in fish, shellfish, cured meats, vegetables (e.g. mushrooms, ripe tomatoes, Chinese cabbage, spinach, celery, etc.) or green tea, and fermented and aged products (e.g. cheeses, shrimp pastes, soy sauce, etc.).[25]

Humans' first encounter with umami is often breast milk.[26] It contains roughly the same amount of umami as broths. There are some distinctions among stocks from different countries. Japanese dashi gives a very pure umami taste sensation because it is not based on meats. In dashi, L-glutamate comes from sea kombu (Laminaria japonica) and inosinate from dried bonito flakes (katsuobushi) or small dried sardines (niboshi). In contrast, Western or Chinese broths have a more complex taste because of a wider mixture of amino acids from bones, meats and vegetables.

Taste receptors

All taste buds on the tongue and other regions of the mouth can detect umami taste independently of their location. The tongue map in which different tastes are distributed in different regions of the tongue is a common misconception. Biochemical studies have identified the taste receptors responsible for the sense of umami, a modified form of mGluR4, mGluR1 and taste receptor type 1 (T1R1 + T1R3), and all have been found in taste buds from any region of tongue.[27][28][29] The New York Academy of Sciences corroborated the acceptance of these receptors stating that "Recent molecular biological studies have now identified strong candidates for umami receptors, including the heterodimer T1R1/T1R3, and truncated type 1 and 4 metabotropic glutamate receptors missing most of the N-terminal extracellular domain (taste-mGluR4 and truncated-mGluR1) and brain-mGluR4."[9] Receptors mGluR1 and mGluR4 are specific to glutamate whereas T1R1 + T1R3 are responsible for the synergism already described by Akira Kuninaka in 1957. However, the specific role of each type of receptor in taste bud cells remains unclear. They are G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) with similar signaling molecules that include G proteins beta-gamma, PLCb2 and PI3-mediated release of calcium (Ca2+) from intracellular stores.[30] Ca2+ activates the selective cation channel transient receptor potential melastatin 5 (TrpM5) that leads to membrane depolarization and the consequent release of ATP and secretion of neurotransmitters including serotonin.[31][32][33][34] Cells responding to umami taste stimuli do not possess typical synapses, but ATP conveys taste signals to gustatory nerves and in turn to the brain that interprets and identifies the taste quality.[35][36]

What exactly is MSG?

    MSG, or Monosodium Glutamate is a salt of the amino acid - Glutamic Acid (glutamate).  A salt is the chemical name for a molecule held together by opposite charges.   Basically one (mono) sodium atom is "stuck" to the amino acid glutamate.

    What is an amino acid?

    Amino acids are often called the building blocks of life because it takes many of them linked together in a chain to create a protein.  DNA tells the body how to make the chain and in what order the amino acids must line up.  Some amino acids must be eaten because the body cannot make them (essential), some the body can make (non-essential), and yet others are able to be made during some times, but not others (conditionally essential).  The life processes are all dependent on proteins which play critical roles in the body as structure, messengers, enzymes, and hormones.

    Proteins are globular and clumpy because the amino acid chains fold in on themselves.  This is how the immune system recognizes proteins.  They are large compared to single amino acids, and they are uniquely shaped.   The immune system does not recognize tiny MSG as an allergen.  However, trouble can begin because the body can attack the larger enzymes like GAD, responsible for turning excess MSG into GABA.

    What is an enzyme?

    Enzymes are simply proteins with interesting day jobs. Enzymes help make things happen by helping to create other proteins and by helping break them down too.   Enzymes are not straight chains, they are globular and clumpy, because they are folded into intricate shapes like other proteins.  It is these shapes that help them create and break down other proteins and compounds.

    What is a hormone?

    Hormones are extremely potent protein based messengers that travel around the body connecting the lines of communication between glands of the endocrine system.  These glands direct important functions like metabolism, growth, and sexual development.  It has been found lately that smaller amounts of hormones are more effective than larger amounts because the body has feedback mechanisms that don't take kindly to overdoses of hormone.  Things shut down because it is considered a trouble signal if there is too much hormone present.  By affecting the part of the brain - the hypothalamus,  that controls the master gland of the body - the pituitary, MSG may affect hormone production in the body.

    Glutamate -  Protein Building Block  and   Excitatory Neurotransmitter....

    Glutamate is just one of many amino acids used by the body and linked into the chains of protein in the body.  However some amino acids are free to float around by themselves as well as being found linked into proteins because they serve vital functions - some are neurotransmitters which carry nerve cell impulses throughout the body.  Amino acid neurotransmitters are like chemical messengers carrying news from nerve cell to nerve cell.   Some amino acid neurotransmitters like glutamate trigger nerve cells to fire, others like taurine and gamma amino butyric acid tell those firing nerve cells to cease firing.  It is a delicate balance.  An important balance.  Researchers are finding out just what happens when that balance tips.  In patients who suffer a stroke, for example, an excess of glutamate in the brain causes the nerve cells to die from overstimulation.  Glutamate blocking drugs are being used to prevent some of this damage.

    How does the body usually deal with excess amino acids?

    Most amino acids if not used right away, are not stored as amino acids.   The body has elaborate means of changing extra amino acids into other amino acids, and removing nitrogen and changing amino acids into fuel to be stored.  There are processes such as  "transamination" and "deamination" which occur mostly in the liver.   In patients with compromised livers, however, they may have trouble transaminating cysteine, for example, into taurine, the amino acid that acts counter to glutamate.  Also, an excess of the amino acid aspartate (found in Nutrasweet) may result in excess glutamate, since the body can convert aspartate directly to glutamate.  Aspartate and glutamate affect some of the same receptors.    In a different example, there is an enzyme that the body uses to convert excess glutamate into another neurotransmitter called GABA.  In many patients with Type II Diabetes, their bodies view the enzyme responsible for turning MSG into GABA as an enemy and create antibodies to attack it so that it cannot do its job.   This is a problem.  The body is compromised in its job of getting rid of excess glutamate.  It again is a question of balance, and what tips it.

    Is manufactured MSG a problem?

    According to some MSG opponents the glutamate added to foods is "bad" and the natural glutamate in our bodies is "good".  MSG sellers argue that MSG is exactly like the glutamate in the human body, therefore it must always be "good".  It is not so simple.  There are contaminants in processed MSG.  An anology that can be used is that there are right-handed amino acids and left handed ones.  They are like mirror images of each other.   Processed MSG contains not only the kind of amino acids the body is used to handling, but mirror image ones too.  This may cause problems because it is like putting the wrong glove on your hand.  It's not quite the same.  We don't exactly know what problems this may cause.  On the other hand (so to speak) the fact that glutamate the body is used to handling is also in MSG may present a problem because an excess of naturally occurring glutamate is well known by neuroscientists to be a problem in many disease states.  Natural glutamate can cause problems we already know about.  The reason food processors "free" glutamate from its bound form, is that it acts as a neurotransmitter in its free form.  The food industry's claim that free glutamate is as harmless as bound glutamate is disingenuous at best.  If it was exactly the same, they wouldn't need to hydrolyse vegetable protein (split the amino acids apart).

    How do they make MSG or Free Glutamic Acid?

    The following links explain exactly how the food industry can make free glutamic acid by hydrolyzing vegetable protein or by fermentation of glucose from starchy foods.  In essence, MSG manufacturers can not only free bound glutamic acid from foods, but create it chemically.

    Food Product Design article

    Scientific paper on fermenation formation of MSG

    Why do food companies add  MSG to foods?

    There are several reasons:

        MSG tricks your tongue into making you think a certain food is high in protein and thus nutritious.  It is not a "meat tenderizer".  It is not a "preservative".  The food industry is trying to confuse the issue by focusing on the "fifth" taste sense they call umami.  Free glutamic acid is detected by the taste buds as a simple way to signal the presence of protein in a food, just as there are fat receptors to detect fats and receptors that sense carbohydrate or sweet flavors.  The purpose is to help us discern real food from inedible matter.  It changes your perception of not simply taste but the nutritious qualities of what you put into your mouth.  However, and here is the main problem with free glutamic acid - It is the very same neurotransmitter that your brain and many organs including your ears, eyes, nervous system and pancreas in your body use to initiate certain processes in your body.

MSG stimulates the pancreas to produce insulin.  So many diets these days are concerned about the Glycemic Index of foods and yet none of them address the fact that MSG and free glutamic acid stimulate the pancreas to release insulin when there doesn't even have to be carbohydrates in the food for that insulin to act on.  The food industry has found their own "anti-appetite suppressant".  It's a convenient way to keep consumers coming back for more.   The blood sugar drops because of the insulin flood.  And you are hungry an hour later.  Sound familiar?

        The body changes excess glutamate to GABA.   GABA may be addictive.  It is calming and affects the same receptors in the brain as valium.

        Cost.  The illusion created by adding MSG to a food product enables the food processor to add LESS real food.  The illusion of more protein in a food allows the food producer to put LESS protein in it.  The consumer perceives the product - say chicken soup - to have more chicken in it than is actually there.  Example:  A well-known brand of dehydrated chicken noodle soup.  Is that chicken in there, or a piece of confetti?

http://www.msgtruth.org/whatisit.htm

[Anonymous]

Yes I used think MSG was bad for you, I infact received the Blaylock Report, he was the main faux researcher who wrote numerous books such as 'excitotoxins, the taste that kills' etc. He is also somewhat of a christain zionist and goes on group seminars with others from places like WND etc.

 http://www.skepticalhealth.com/2011/11/ ... d-for-you/

I think that article is good enough.

[Wimpy]

Here's a little anecdotal true experience with MSG.

While packing for a move a year ago and sorting through the kitchen area, I found a storage box filled with various spices.  Among the spices was a small shaker of Accent (about 3 inches tall) probably several years old as were the other items.  This Accent container was leaking , looked mutilated and was seriously corroded (the aluminum foil wrapper/covering was blackened).  All other items and spices were in good condition. The reactive properties of MSG destroyed it's original container.  I could only imagine what these same properties do inside the body.

A table salt container, also in the box, with similar packaging was in like-new condition.  I would expect this observed reaction from a liquid, like bleach or ammonia, but not a dry granular salt ostensibly 'safe' to consume.

[Anonymous]

moisture must have got into it.