You can read articles about MSG online all you want, but I don't see a consensus. Plus now that I've started looking at the ingredients in food at HEB, I've found the stuff is in a whole lot of foods.

Do any of you cook with it at home? Is this stuff a bad toxin like some people say?

If you even mention Chinese food in you response, let me tell you, you are way behind the curve.

My kids are actually very allergic to it....any time they have it, their eyes get red and their behavior changes dramatically. We tend not to eat out as much due to MSG in alot of the fast foods and what not. It is a food/taste enhancer...

And no...we do not cook with it....I see no advantages...

I dont cook with it. Some people I know have a reaction to it - about the same number that have a problem with sulfites in red wine - usually a headache. Its probably not :toxic: as about 2 billion people use it daily in Asia. Soy sauce and seaweed is full of it and it gives something "special" to the flavor of foods (umami).

As Westerners we have salt which is probably just as good.

People don't have MSG allergies. If so, you'd either have to be allergic to sodium, which you aren't, or you'd have to be allergic to glutamate. Your body actually synthesizes glutamate, and it is essential. They could potentially be a little sensitive to super large amounts of it, but not allergic.

IMO, MSG is not understood by most people. It is naturally occurring in a ton of foods. If you were allergic to MSG, you couldn't have red meat, mushrooms, shellfish, cheese, tomatoes, lots of vegetables, or breastmilk!

And no, I don't cook with it as an additive, but I also don't avoid it like the plague. Biggest reason to avoid it would be the same reason you avoid table salt, reduce your sodium intake to keep your blood pressure down.

I had heard no one is allergic to MSG either. The stuff is everywhere at the store. canned soups, chips, crackers, list goes on and on. I read KFC uses a ton of it, with McDonalds a close second. I think Taco Bell was next.

Some of the BBQ rub I have lists MSG as in ingredient, but it must be ok to use.

I don't use or buy anything with it - I'm sodium-sensitive and extremely particular what I buy and cook. Haven't use salt in anything or one anything since 89. My entire family cooks without it all together.

MSG is the sodium salt of glutamic acid, and is naturally needed by your nervous system to transmit an impulse. To transmit an impulse across a nerve synapse, the glutamate is metabolised to gamma amino butyric acid. Your body makes glutamate from other substances and you ingest it when eating a normal diet. When it is added to food as a "flavor enhancer", it becomes available in excess to your nerve cells, allowing them to "fire" about 1/500 second more frequently. So, the "message" of flavor is received at higher frequency by your brain. You taste "more" per unit time.

I use it, at home and restaurant that 5th taste sensation is what alot of people miss when it comes to building good flavors of a dish. MSG is not bad for you. Back in the day the media made MSG look real bad to put the Chinese restaurants out of business. Thats why alot of asian products have to have the NO MSG label. Now, MSG is used in almost all restaurants. Elcentro college won the chili contest using MSG. When I was a sushi chef, the customer would tell me they were highly allergic to MSG... I asked her if she was allergic to soy sauce... she said no. LOL

You guys wanna know whats bad for you? Consuming a crap load of sugar.

Thanks for the responses. It interesting to see what others think. I asked someone a few weeks ago about and they said they were allergic to it. Idiot. Next time I will respond and ask them, "Is that what your Dr. told you? How did they test you?" But I'll let it go at that.

In my opinion its misunderstood much like corn syrup.

do tell.

Everybody makes hi fructose corn syrup out to be the worst thing in the world when in reality FRUCTOSE is just another one of natures natural sugars commonly found in fruits and veggies. Its no better or worse for you than cane sugar, but its cheaper due to import taxes on sugar cane.

I avoid MSG as an added ingredient in everything. It's a neurotoxin, which means the synthetic form is known to damage nerve tissue - it's where the flavor enhancer part comes from.

No, you can't be allergic to it but you CAN be highly sensitive to it. And it plays no role in fluid retention or high blood pressure.

Can you explain what you mean by this?

Sodium absolutely does play a role in fluid retention and high blood pressure. Also Brian, what is the synthetic form of MSG, and how does it differ molecularly from natural MSG?

Regarding salt, here is one of many clinical and epidemiological studies showing that salt plays no role in hypertension. Read the last sentence of the abstract. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23340145

Regarding MSG, read the production and chemical properties section here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monosodium_glutamate

Fermented forms would be more acceptable than acid-based, although it still uses ammonia. While there, click the excitotoxicity link in the "see also" section just below this one.

No, not the difference in how its made. How is it different molecularly?

Also, your sodium source is absolutely inconclusive at best. All it is doing is trying to tear down current research. At best, that source claims that too much sodium doesn't matter much if you are healthy. Well, the majority of the American population isn't. Also, it refers to incident hypertension, it still agrees to an increase in blood pressure.

"The reduction of sodium intake to levels below the current recommendation of 100 mmol per day and the DASH diet both lower blood pressure substantially, with greater effects in combination than singly. Long-term health benefits will depend on the ability of people to make long-lasting dietary changes and the increased availability of lower-sodium foods."

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM200101043440101


"In conclusion, a higher sodium intake was associated with an increased risk of CHD among subjects with hypertension and elevated levels of NTproBNP. These individuals might be vulnerable to the deleterious impact of high sodium intake on CHD risk. "

http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S2211913212004500?via=sd&cc=y

Different chemical composition of manufactured glutamate contains different ratios of glutamic acid forms (L versus D). Additionally, MSG is rapidly absorbed w/in the digestive system when compared to food proteins containing glutamic acid.



Maybe the current research needs to be torn down. Maybe research should be started and conducted with a jaundiced eye regarding what to expect. Current recommendations are based on sodium as playing the major and an isolated role in hypertension. When science looks at these things as they happen in the body, you can't only look at sodium You have to look at potassium.

Beyond that, even for those with hypertension, restricting salt intake reduces blood pressure 1-3%. Hardly significant. Walking up two flights of stairs can increase BP up to 10%.

Notice in what you quote. They say substantially, not significantly, which means not statistically significant. They also say might. Look for a paper from the Framingham study that looked at mortality and hypertension. Find the graph in the paper where they plot systolic bp with mortality. They followed several thousand people for decades. There was no significant increase in mortality until systolic bp was consistently greater than 170.

I cook with it, No problems, makes some things taste good.

You yourself misused the term significant. "Beyond that, even for those with hypertension, restricting salt intake reduces blood pressure 1-3%. Hardly significant." 3% change in blood pressure absolutely matters. When it is diet based, that is a constant increase in blood pressure. Not some temporary change like walking up the stairs. If you think it doesn't matter, by all means jack up your sodium intake. I'll try to keep mine in check.

Like I said before, even your source suggests an increase in BP from sodium intake. Just because there are other factors does NOT decrease that fact.

Good for you but how does going from 150 to 146 matter? How would you even know it's not measurement error?



That's like saying the most important thing about a rifle is the bullet. Scope doesn't matter. Powder doesn't matter. Distance doesn't matter.

Understood and good info.....we still notice a behavior and physical issue with our kids when they eat it, so we still avoid no matter the data....as you said, they might be " a little sensitive to super large amounts"...they are....and that is all the reson we avoid it...I still see no advantage other than "enhancing the flavor"...

Thanks

I know MSG occurs naturally in many foods, but I will never go out of my way to add it to anything. A moderate (natural) amount seems to be ok, but I avoid sausage, jerky, soups, and other foods that rely on added MSG to make the taste better. To me its the cheaper grades of sausage that rely on MSG, and the better tasting, higher quality brands don't seem to use it as a crutch to prop up the taste of their product. That is really what many food vendors use it for. If you run a restaurant and think MSG makes the flavor of your food, let me know so I can mark it off my list. Call it an alergy or sensitivity, or whatever, but I assure you, I do react pretty quickly to high levels of it in my food. Lets just say its not a good idea for me to eat a meal with a lot of MSG, then try to sit through a 2 hour movie. I'm probably gonna miss a good bit of the movie running to the men's room. Trust me, there is a definite basis for all the negative press on MSG. Maybe you don't, but a lot of people do react badly to it. I used to use way too much table salt, and that never impacted me the same way, so it is not really valid to compare the 2.

I read a inviroment report dealing with a dangerous compound that among other things led to erotion and in large quanities could and would kill humans and other animals it whs H2O