Ask Your Question today
Do you use MSG (monosodium glutamate) in your cooking?
Before you answer "NO", go check the ingredients in your spices! Many spices contain it and you might not realize it.
| Yes. I use pure, plain MSG. | 5 | |
| Yes, MSG is an ingredient in some of my spices. | 4 | |
| I didn't think I did but now I know I do! | 3 | |
| I don't know. | 1 | |
| I don't think so but I'm too lazy to go check. | 10 | |
| No. | 17 | |
| I don't cook. | 8 |
Hell to the no! That stuff is dangerous and I seem to be allergic to it.
I doubt that, it's in so many foods naturally. It's most likely all in your head. You probably eat a lot of it every day unknowingly and have no problem.
Believe me, it wasn't in my head. MSG is NOT in my diet. I eat a 100% organ diet with very few pre-prepared foods. Most of what I eat is fresh. You aren't me. You couldn't feel How I felt when I nearly died from a severe Salt sensitivity (That I've thankfully recovered from). I know my body because it is mine. I don't know yours because it is yours. You are not a nutritionist so please don't fool yourself into thinking you are. If anything, you should be more concerned about GMOs and their dangers.
DISINFORMATION much? Unless you're some kind of biological scientist or nutritional specialist I suggest you back off and stop lying to people. It's okay to have an opinion, and you can tout your opinions all you want, but don't pretend like you know something you don't.
It's not disinformation. Note I didn't use absolutes. I said "probably" and "most likely". That IS true, MSG/glutamate is in many, MANY common foods, both naturally and added, and people generally don't know it's in there, and when they don't "know" it's there they miraculously don't have "reactions". You'd have to eat an *extremely* limited diet to not ingest ANY glutamate at all.
You're the one with the disinformation, claiming MSG is dangerous and is somehow drastically different than natural glutamic acid (HINT:it's NOT) and not backing that statement up with one single FACT. Come on with some facts, already.
My grandma use to use "accent" in her cooking. It's MSG but I don't think it's available anymore. But you can find it in many processed foods.
My spices won't have MSG, I read labels and I grow a few of my own and buy fresh when I can. Also, it gives me wicked migraines.
I used to have a shaker of MSG, actually. I should get one again to help keep my sodium up.
http://evidenceofmsgtoxicity.blogspot.com/
Truly natural glutamic acid -- as it exists in its unadulterated form in nature -- is an acidic amino acid. It is found in abundance in both plant and animal protein where it is bound (tied) to other amino acids in chains.
Manufactured glutamic acid (MSG) is different. It is produced commercially in manufacturing and/or chemical plants, and/or by fermentation.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/497003-the-toxicity-of-monosodium-glutamate/
MSG came under scrutiny for its potential health effects in Chinese Restaurant Syndrome, a generic name given to symptoms that patients experienced such as chest pain, swelling, headache, and numbness after eating at the restaurants. Toxicity of MSG has also been said by some to cause migraines, hyperactivity in children, and possibly obesity, according to a 2003 report in the "Journal of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism." Some concerns have also been raised by neurologists suggesting that MSG may negatively affect learning and memory since glutamates are important neurotransmitters in the brain.
The problem is, reliable study after reliable study has been done on people who supposedly have MSG sensitivity and their claims can't be substantiated. There's NO good evidence that MSG is bad or causes anything.
Chinese Restaurant Syndrome is bull. It's all anecdotal and you have to take into account other potential causes for discomfort like all of the other crap that's in the food, for starters. Fat, oils, salt, shellfish, etc. Are you supposed to feel great after eating heaps of food at a Chinese buffet? LOL!
If MSG were a real danger, everyone in Asia would be a drooling obese cancer-riddled retard. C'mon now.
Reliable studies from who? If you depend on the USDA or the FDA or any government agency to do the studies you will always find skewed numbers... because government agencies have a vested interest in the success or failure of certain products.
CRS was a general term made up by people who had no other way to label what was happening to them, so yeah, it is bull. I'm not saying it isn't. (Fats, salt, and shellfish don't cause these symptoms either, if you really understand the body.)
The type of MSG used in Asia is a natural kind made from certain plants or possibly animals. The kind we have here, aka Accent, or other manufactured brands, is NOT natural... it's a completely different molecule. Therefore, it acts differently in the body.
No, you're wrong. All MSG/glutamate is the same, it all acts the same way in the body. ALL "manufactured" MSG is made from natural sources, it's not chemically synthesized in a lab or something. The body cannot differentiate between a sprinkle of Accent or the natural glutamate in a tomato because there IS no difference!
Well I don't have the scientific documentation ON ME at the moment... but I would think it would be a safe bet to say that the molecular construction of a Mono-Sodium-Glutamate molecule, and the molecular construction of a naturally-produced glutamate molecule found in nature MIGHT be completely different.
Wouldn't you agree?
No, I don't work in a Chinese joint in 1989.
But, really I have no idea. I don't cook much.
Can you buy this as an ingredient? I have heard of this but I have not seen a lot of that listed it. My spices are pretty simple like soy sauce, rice vinegar, garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil, lemon/lemon juice, ground ginger. I have a few ingredients I bought to make Asian food but I only use them on special occasions. I have heard of buying lard.
LOL, it's in all sorts of foods. It's DEFINITELY in soy sauce, naturally, AND added. Anything fermented or aged will have it. Meat, cheese, yogurt, etc. Most "seasoned salt" or prepared combo of spices/salts will have it. And YES, you can buy straight up MSG, pure MSG to sprinkle on your food. And there's nothing "bad" about that. Anyone who says otherwise, ask them to PROVE it with dead people or permanantly disabled people, and well, they CAN'T because there IS none. It's perfectly safe so don't even worry about it. Unless someone can PROVE otherwise, then fuck 'em.
I love the umami flavour, but tinnitus means that there's not much sodium in my diet. ,__,
Hm, I never knew there was a connection there. I have tinnitus caused by a single loud noise exposure. I wonder if reducing my sodium would help? Thanks for bringing this up, I am going to see if I can reduce my symptoms. I'll try anything at this point as this tinnitus is driving me nuts.
I put dem smg. Knocks my man out. he likes em' bullets in his food. like some crunchy peanut butter when grinded. you dont have to get no license for that.
Probably. MSG can be a good 'flavour enhancer' when used in the right quantities.
The topic of MSG made me curious about the stigma attached to it, so I went googling and found this:
http://theconversation.edu.au/mondays-medical-myth-msg-is-a-dangerous-toxin-4560
Interesting. With that much MSG around I won't need to start using it with my cooking.
My mother uses it all the time. She goes through bags of them like people go through sugar. I've told her to stop using it, but she doesn't believe it's bad (we're Asian). I haven't directly used it in my cooking for nearly 15 years; it doesn't agree with my tummy. It does make food taste really nice, the way my mum explains the favour is that MSG enhances other flavours by giving a balance to sweet/salty/sour dishes.
I bought some at a Japanese store once and experimented with it a little bit, but I haven't used any recently. I don't use any seasoning blends that are likely to contain it as an added ingredient either.
But I am aware that it naturally occurs in various foods such a seaweed and tomatoes, and I certainly don't avoid using those.
P.S. You can still buy Accent, at least online.
The naturally occurring amino acid is perfectly safe... it's the manufactured version called MSG that is harmful.
I really doubt that. According to wikipedia most MSG on the market IS natural, it's made by bacterial fermentation of sugar.
More likely the problem is that having it in pure form makes it possible to add a ridiculous quantity to food, which some people apparently have a bad reaction to.
Which is why I never use Wikipedia as a reliable source of information...
Fair point I guess, that article did seem a little bit slanted. Do you have a more reliable source indicating that MSG is NOT produced by fermentation?
I didn't have anything stored in my collection directly pertaining to this topic, but I have found some neat pieces recently.... Here's one:
http://www.truthinlabeling.org/WhatIsMSG.html
"Simply stated, MSG is glutamic acid that has been manufactured in a food or chemical plant or created by fermentation. In every case, the glutamic acid that has been manufactured in food or chemical plants or created by fermentation is accompanied by unwanted byproducts of manufacture referred to as impurities.
"Unprocessed/unadulterated/unfermented protein in any meat, fish, fruit, grain, vegetable etc., contains glutamic acid but no impurities.
"Unprocessed/unadulterated/unfermented mushrooms and tomatoes contain glutamic acid, but they do not contain MSG."
FURTHERMORE:
"Prior to 1957, MSG was made by extracting glutamic acid from protein. Some MSG is still made that way, but since 1957, MSG has also been produced using genetically modified bacteria (genetically modified organisms or GMO’s), that secrete glutamic acid through their cell walls."
Hmmm... You wouldn't happen to know just how bad any form of GMO can be for you... would you? I'd be happy to tell you ALLLLLLL~ about them. :D
I don't believe the body can tell the difference. I don't think there IS a difference.