September 2024 Newsletter
Priorities… for this monthly newsletter is to actually tell health news. Recently, I was reading a restaurant review in a magazine published and sent out by the Gazette. The last review in that magazine alarmed me. The title was, “Changing the Narrative”, by Daliah Singer. It reported that MSG is not a problem and has been given a bad rap. Her research said that monosodium glutamate was discovered in 1908 by a Japanese biochemist. Glutamate was isolated from seaweed and then bonded with sodium to make MSG in order to infuse dashi (a common Japanese stock) with a meaty flavor. Today, MSG is usually made by fermenting starch, sugar cane or molasses. It is a flavor enhancer, similar in many ways to salt. In 1968, Ho Man Kwok, a Chinese-American doctor sent a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine stating he felt “numbness” and “general weakness and palpitation” after eating at Chinese restaurants. The author didn’t detail why MSG was given the ‘rap’ as the cause of the nervous system reaction. Instead, she insisted that those studies on MSG have now been debunked, and there is now a campaign to change this misconception.
I hope they don’t succeed. Personally, when I was in my 40’s, there was a time I would sometimes get all the symptoms of a gall bladder attack. I figured out that it happened after eating food from a local Chinese restaurant. They had a cheap lunch special that I ate weekly. I would eat some of it (about half), and then a couple of days later finish the rest. It was especially the second meal, when I ate more, that put me doubled up in pain about an hour later. I had a GP doctor in the emergency room tell me to just get my gall bladder removed and all those troubles would disappear. Since then, I have learned how many foods contain MSG. Now I read labels to avoid it. It is in some ketchups, barbeque sauces, dressings, bouillons, Doritos, a variety of junk foods, and especially cheap food flavoring packets (like McCormick’s).
I found out that even if a restaurant says it doesn’t use MSG, some of their menu might be “ready-made” from a restaurant supplier that does use it. One example would be the restaurant’s purchase of egg rolls from a supplier that might use MSG. My nephew, who has a degree in Asian Studies told me that in Asian culture, it is thought that MSG is a flavoring that can give spiritual or intellectual enlightenment. They love it and don’t understand why Americans see it as a neurotoxin. The restaurant mentioned in the Gazette article is not local to Woodland Park. This is the MAK-fam restaurant, location not disclosed, and Pho King Rapidos, a “Vietnam-ese-ish food stall inside Denver’s Avanti and Beverage”. That restaurant even makes a “dirty” martini-like drink called MSGin, which salts the rim’ of the glass with MSG. They post a look-alike sign that mimics the Morton Salt girl with an umbrella. The girl is wearing a lovely red dress, red shoes and her black hair is done up so it sort of looks like a micky mouse hat in the poster.
My only explanation for this contrast is that the nervous system of some individual might be more sensitive than others to the effects of MSG. For them, it is a nervous system excitotoxin. That is a broad statement to make. For those who are sensitive, the reaction could be anything that involves the nerves. In my case, it was spasms of the gall bladder. The gall bladder itself was fine. Other general symptoms reported are: numbness, tingling in various areas of the body, spasming, brain lesions, and endocrine disorders (think hormones).
To add to the predicament for those who are sensitive, food manufacturers have made up many other names for the very same ingredient. Depending on the way the MSG is processed, free glutamic acid is created when protein is either partially or fully broken apart into constituent amino acids. Acids, enzymes and/or fermentation processes may be used. Autolyzed yeast, maltodextrin, sodium caseinate and soy sauce are common, even usual names of some ingredients that contain MSG. FDA regulations require that all food ingredients be called by their common/usual names, but it’s not required if it’s a constituent of an ingredient. For more information, go to www.truthinlabeling.org/II.WhereIs MSG.html.
If, in the process of making a processed food, the hydrolyzation or fermentation process ‘frees’ the glutamic acid (MSG) that is NOT considered the same as “adding MSG”. This allows the manufacturer to inaccurately use labels that say, “no added MSG”. It might have “just happened” but they didn’t “add” it.
These foods ALWAYS contain MSG
Glutamate
Glutamic acid
Monosodium glutamate
Calcium casinate (Cool-Whip™)
Textured protein
Monopotassium glutamate
Sodium caseinate
Yeast nutrient
Yeast extract
Yeast food
Autolyzed yeast
Hydrolyzed protein or any protein that is hydrolyzed.
These OFTEN contain MSG or they create MSG during processing
Natural pork flavoring
Whey protein concentrate
Whey protein
Whey protein isolate
Flavors, flavor enhancers
Maltodextrin
Natural Chicken flavoring
Ultra-pasteurized
Protease
Protease enzymes
Anything enzyme modified
Malt extract and flavoring
Soy protein isolate
soy sauce
soy sauce extract
soy protein
soy protein concentrate
Soup or broth mixes
Always check spice mixes that make “instant” gravy, spaghetti sauce, taco seasoning packets, guacamole seasoning packets, any sauce, some list it as an ingredient, then you will know.
People who are sensitive to MSG are often also affected by two other neurotoxic amino acids commonly used in food: Aspartic acid and L-cysteine, they go by the brand names NutraSweet™/Equal™/Aspartame™/ Neotame™.
Priorities… for this monthly newsletter is to actually tell health news. Recently, I was reading a restaurant review in a magazine published and sent out by the Gazette. The last review in that magazine alarmed me. The title was, “Changing the Narrative”, by Daliah Singer. It reported that MSG is not a problem and has been given a bad rap. Her research said that monosodium glutamate was discovered in 1908 by a Japanese biochemist. Glutamate was isolated from seaweed and then bonded with sodium to make MSG in order to infuse dashi (a common Japanese stock) with a meaty flavor. Today, MSG is usually made by fermenting starch, sugar cane or molasses. It is a flavor enhancer, similar in many ways to salt. In 1968, Ho Man Kwok, a Chinese-American doctor sent a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine stating he felt “numbness” and “general weakness and palpitation” after eating at Chinese restaurants. The author didn’t detail why MSG was given the ‘rap’ as the cause of the nervous system reaction. Instead, she insisted that those studies on MSG have now been debunked, and there is now a campaign to change this misconception.
I hope they don’t succeed. Personally, when I was in my 40’s, there was a time I would sometimes get all the symptoms of a gall bladder attack. I figured out that it happened after eating food from a local Chinese restaurant. They had a cheap lunch special that I ate weekly. I would eat some of it (about half), and then a couple of days later finish the rest. It was especially the second meal, when I ate more, that put me doubled up in pain about an hour later. I had a GP doctor in the emergency room tell me to just get my gall bladder removed and all those troubles would disappear. Since then, I have learned how many foods contain MSG. Now I read labels to avoid it. It is in some ketchups, barbeque sauces, dressings, bouillons, Doritos, a variety of junk foods, and especially cheap food flavoring packets (like McCormick’s).
I found out that even if a restaurant says it doesn’t use MSG, some of their menu might be “ready-made” from a restaurant supplier that does use it. One example would be the restaurant’s purchase of egg rolls from a supplier that might use MSG. My nephew, who has a degree in Asian Studies told me that in Asian culture, it is thought that MSG is a flavoring that can give spiritual or intellectual enlightenment. They love it and don’t understand why Americans see it as a neurotoxin. The restaurant mentioned in the Gazette article is not local to Woodland Park. This is the MAK-fam restaurant, location not disclosed, and Pho King Rapidos, a “Vietnam-ese-ish food stall inside Denver’s Avanti and Beverage”. That restaurant even makes a “dirty” martini-like drink called MSGin, which salts the rim’ of the glass with MSG. They post a look-alike sign that mimics the Morton Salt girl with an umbrella. The girl is wearing a lovely red dress, red shoes and her black hair is done up so it sort of looks like a micky mouse hat in the poster.
My only explanation for this contrast is that the nervous system of some individual might be more sensitive than others to the effects of MSG. For them, it is a nervous system excitotoxin. That is a broad statement to make. For those who are sensitive, the reaction could be anything that involves the nerves. In my case, it was spasms of the gall bladder. The gall bladder itself was fine. Other general symptoms reported are: numbness, tingling in various areas of the body, spasming, brain lesions, and endocrine disorders (think hormones).
To add to the predicament for those who are sensitive, food manufacturers have made up many other names for the very same ingredient. Depending on the way the MSG is processed, free glutamic acid is created when protein is either partially or fully broken apart into constituent amino acids. Acids, enzymes and/or fermentation processes may be used. Autolyzed yeast, maltodextrin, sodium caseinate and soy sauce are common, even usual names of some ingredients that contain MSG. FDA regulations require that all food ingredients be called by their common/usual names, but it’s not required if it’s a constituent of an ingredient. For more information, go to www.truthinlabeling.org/II.WhereIs MSG.html.
If, in the process of making a processed food, the hydrolyzation or fermentation process ‘frees’ the glutamic acid (MSG) that is NOT considered the same as “adding MSG”. This allows the manufacturer to inaccurately use labels that say, “no added MSG”. It might have “just happened” but they didn’t “add” it.
These foods ALWAYS contain MSG
Glutamate
Glutamic acid
Monosodium glutamate
Calcium casinate (Cool-Whip™)
Textured protein
Monopotassium glutamate
Sodium caseinate
Yeast nutrient
Yeast extract
Yeast food
Autolyzed yeast
Hydrolyzed protein or any protein that is hydrolyzed.
These OFTEN contain MSG or they create MSG during processing
Natural pork flavoring
Whey protein concentrate
Whey protein
Whey protein isolate
Flavors, flavor enhancers
Maltodextrin
Natural Chicken flavoring
Ultra-pasteurized
Protease
Protease enzymes
Anything enzyme modified
Malt extract and flavoring
Soy protein isolate
soy sauce
soy sauce extract
soy protein
soy protein concentrate
Soup or broth mixes
Always check spice mixes that make “instant” gravy, spaghetti sauce, taco seasoning packets, guacamole seasoning packets, any sauce, some list it as an ingredient, then you will know.
People who are sensitive to MSG are often also affected by two other neurotoxic amino acids commonly used in food: Aspartic acid and L-cysteine, they go by the brand names NutraSweet™/Equal™/Aspartame™/ Neotame™.
