MSG causes a host of diseases
and problems
There
are rants like this on MSG and aspartame all over the internet, but they are
based on anecdotes not scientific evidence. The so-called "Cheesburger
bill" has nothing to do with food manufacturers and suing them if they "add"
something harmful to their product. It is to prevent people from suing
fast-food RESTAURANTS for their own eating choices.
What is MSG? It is an amino acid called glutamate
found naturally in protein foods such as meat, vegetables, poultry and
milk. The human body produces it naturally. The muscles, brain
and other organs contain about 4 lbs. of glutamate and human milk has a lot
of it. It is found in 2 forms: bound glutamate and free glutamate.
The free form is a flavor enhancer. It occurs in high levels naturally
in vegetables such as mushrooms and tomatoes.
The message information
comes from a man by the name of John Erb who has
written a book called, "The Slow Poisoning of America." He is not in the
medical or scientific field and came up with his entire book based on
"reports" he read after a situation with his daughter. However, there are a
handful of maverick medical men making a name for themselves by preaching on
the evils of these products while promoting hydrogen peroxide, light, oxygen
and ozone therapies and the wonders of unpastuerized milk and selling
so-called "natural" alternatives. Erb is part of this rabid
anti-MSG/aspartame group that also includes
Betty Martini and Raymond Blaylock.
While diabetes is on the rise, the connection
between it and MSG is not scientific. If it were true, everyone I know
should have diabetes. The rise in diabetes seems to have a direct
correlation with the rise in obesity, overuse of sugars and corn sugars and
lack of exercise. MSG has been in food ever since I was born (1957), yet
out of all the people I know, only a few have diabetes and most of them were
adult onset. These dire alarms should have us asking why then we don't
know even more people with diabetes.
The rise in ADHD (if it really exists as a
genuine disease and not just that some kids are genuinely hyper) can also be
explained by many factors, not the least of which is dietary in nature.
There are some things that genuinely hyper or AD kids ought to stay away
from including sugar and white flour, etc. A decent and well-balanced diet
may provide help. I'm convinced that my husband was ADD growing up and I
know that he rarely had a decent meal in his life until I started feeding
him. Kids are having soda, processed foods and junk foods at a very
early age. When I was a child, those were treats, not the mainstay of
our diet. It is true that MSG is in most processed foods.
MSG may indeed either cause direct problems
for some or exacerbate symptoms of diseases already present. That is
also true of aspartame. However, many people who use these products seem to be
at least as healthy if not healthier than some of us who don't. In reading
one article, the question was posed: "How
do we know MSG causes adverse reactions like asthma, migraine headaches and
seizures? Nearly all of us ingest it
daily, yet I don't have asthma, migraine or seizures. Why is that?
The history of MSG as a flavor enhancer is interesting.
Over 1,000 years ago Oriental cooks found that some foods tasted better when
they were made with a soup stock made from a particular seaweed. In
1908 Professor Kikunae Ikeda of The
University of Tokyo isolated glutamate from the seaweed and found out why
the seaweed made everything taste better. Since that time, MSG has
been, and continues to be, widely used as an effective means of making good
food taste better.
MSG is not a chemical. As you can see, it
was not concocted in a lab somewhere. This link shows foods that have
naturally occurring and fairly high levels of glutamate
http://www.msgfacts.com/chart.html
http://www.msgfacts.com/ This site debunks some of the rabid anti-MSG
information with actual studies. Scientific
authorities from around the world including the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA), The American Medical Association (AMA), and The
Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) agree that
the body handles glutamate in the same way regardless of its source.
Glutamate from either source is absorbed similarly in the intestine and
follows normal metabolic pathways.
If you believe that you show a sensitivity to MSG, by all
means, avoid most processed foods, and natural foods that are high in it.
It would probably be well to get tested to make sure that this is the
problem and not something else.
