Holy MSG Monday

 http://www.sixwise.com/images/articles/2005/04/26/nomsg.jpg

Today I was at work, walking into the break room to fill up my water bottle when the sweet smell of MSG penetrated my nasal cavity. Ahhhhhhh... What lovely dish could this be? Frozen noodley processed meat goodness? EEK! GAG! *vomit* Freakin MSG gets me nearly every day at lunch! It smells so good in the beginning, but then the reality hits and I realize all the chemicals and grossness that is penetrating someone's body! Here are some disgusting facts on MSG:

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is a flavor enhancer commonly added to Chinese food, canned vegetables, soups and processed meats. Although the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has classified MSG as a food ingredient that's "generally recognized as safe," the use of MSG remains controversial. For this reason, when MSG is added to food, the FDA requires that it be listed on the label.

MSG has been used as a food additive for decades. Over the years, the FDA has received many anecdotal reports of adverse reactions to foods containing MSG. These reactions — known as MSG symptom complex — include:

• Headache
• Flushing
• Sweating
• Facial pressure or tightness
• Numbness, tingling or burning in face, neck and other areas
• Rapid, fluttering heartbeats (heart palpitations)
• Chest pain
• Nausea
• Weakness

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/monosodium-glutamate/an01251

Many people recognise monosodium glutamate (MSG) as the additive used, for example, in some Chinese and Japanese food, but few know what it is, let alone what its effects on the body are.  Now a new report focuses on how monosodium glutamate may be just one of the causes of the Slow Poisoning of America.

In fact, MSG (which is often disguised by names like "hydrolyzed vegetable protein" or "HVP", "yeast extract" or "autolyzed proteins") is, like aspartame, a member of the group of chemicals known as "excitotoxins" (the clue is in the name!). These toxic compounds are known to interfere with brain chemistry and have been implicated in many neurological diseases, such as brain cancers, MS, fibromyalgia, depression and hyperactivity (ADHD). In fact, they overexcite brain cells to the point of cell damage and even cell death.

MSG has also been linked to obesity and, indeed, many products that contain MSG now also contain horrific chemicals like "high fructose corn syrup" (whose purpose is to make you chemically addicted to the food in the same way as sugar).

http://www.natural-health-information-centre.com/monosodium-glutamate.html