Monosodium Glutamate Side Effects on Obesity
June 8, 2010 by admin
Filed under Healthy Nutrition
Aside from it’s primary purpose, there are several monosodium glutamate side effects. Technically speaking, monosodium glutamate is a “flavor enhancer”. It stimulates the taste-buds, making them more sensitive to flavor. This improves the taste of food, or rather, our bodies response to that food.
If that was all MSG did, there wouldn’t be an issue. Unfortunately, it isn’t. Monosodium glutamate side effects go far beyond this purpose, and not all of those side effects are positive. Equally unfortunate is that the FDA has not acted on the issues and monosodium glutamate maintains the status of “generally regarded as safe”. Considering the negative side effects, MSG should be banned, especially since it is abused by the food industry so much.
So what are the negative monosodium glutamate side effects?
- Some people are allergic to MSG: They east a small amount of it and have an anaphylactic reaction to it. Like other allergies….peanut, wheat, citrus, shellfish etc. the reaction varies from causing discomfort to being life threatening. Because MSG is commonly used in a wide variety of products, it should be banned. The reason is simple. When someone has a severe peanut allergy, they avoid peanuts and products containing peanuts. Products containing peanuts or potential traces of them are required to mark this on the packaging. Compare this with monosodium glutamate where most processed foods contain it but, because of a loophole in labeling laws, it is not required to be listed in the ingredients. This creates a potentially dangerous situation that requires government intervention. Companies should at least be forced to label the foods correctly.
- Monosodium glutamate dramatically stimulates appetite and causes binging: Have you ever wondered why you can’t eat only one potato chip? Monosodium glutamate is the reason. You can be physically full, but monosodium glutamate stimulates a part of your brain that tells you to eat more. Food manufacturers use monosodium glutamate to make their foods addictive. Binging on any food causes obesity. MSG takes away a person’s choice in what they eat by creating a dependance similar to drug addiction. That is immoral and should be illegal. Monosodium glutamate can also be viewed as a major contributor to the incredible increase in diabetes in our society. It’s also a major factor in bulemia. Monosodium glutamate encourages people to binge. That’s why snack producers use it. Thankfully, people are becoming savvy to this and choosing not to eat food containing MSG. However, food manufacturers are not content to allow even this personal choice for people. Because of the GRAS (generally regarded as safe) designation, they are permitted to include MSG as an ingredient in a list of so-called “secret ingredients”. These are ingredients that are not required on food labels because it may allow competitors to copy the recipe and steal the business. Further, there are products that contain MSG and if companies list that product, they are not required to label the individual ingredients. The names of these common products include ‘Natural Flavorings’, ‘Naturally Flavored’, Artificial and Natural Flavors’. THESE ARE PRODUCT NAMES rather than FDA designations. These names conceal the fact that those products are additives. The primary ingredient in most of those products is monosodium glutamate, anytime you see them in the ingredients list, just replace the word monosodium glutamate…because that is basically what it means.
- The most controversial problem with monosodium glutamate is what it does to stimulate your appetite: MSG is referred to as an “excitotoxin”. This is a chemical that stimulates your nervous system using a mechanism normally used to fight infection or remove damaged tissue. The human brain is normally sterile and doesn’t have the same type of immune system as the rest of your body. The main immune system is based on an inflammatory mechanism. Inflammation in the brain is potentially deadly, so your brain uses a glial system instead. The glial system secretes chemicals that rip invading particles apart and stimulate the brain. Guess what the mechanism of action for MSG is? Guess what the side effect is? The long-term effect of this is slow degradation of surrounding tissue. Monosodium glutamate has also been implicated in Alzheimer’s.
As you can see from these side effects, the consumption of MSG should be avoided. Most modern Chinese restaurants understand this and have now removed this ingredient from their cooking.
The main problem today is packaged and processed foods, especially those at fast food restaurants. The bottom line is this. The only way to avoid consuming large quantities of monosodium glutamate is by not eating those foods.
This post published with thanks to Mr Roger who graciously permitted me to plagiarize his work.
This post does not constitute medical advice nor should it be substituted for professional medical advice. This post titled “Monosodium Glutamate Side Effects on Obesity” is intended for informational purposes only.
