When I was pregnant with my 3rd I ate some chinese food and became violently ill (had to stop the car and jump out!).

MSG is a perfect metaphor for all that is wrong with modern Big Ag. You use chemicals to compensate for lazy unconscious and uncaring food growing and preparation.

When “they” do archeological studies on us 1000s of years from now MSG (as well as soy and HFCS and lots of other crap in modern food) will be like lead was for the Romans.

I try to read labels and eat healthfully, but I can tell almost immediately when I’ve been dosed with MSG. My stomach gets very bloated – we’re talking a hard, distended belly – and then, a terrible thirst and major abdominal discomfort. No matter how much water you drink, you can’t quench the thirst! After a few hours it dies down, and is often followed by diarrhea. Not fun.

But the most shocking thing is how many foods MSG sneaks into! I know by now to avoid things like pre-made soups and sauces and to always ask at Chinese restaurants. But a few months ago, I ate some pre-packaged (mistake, should have made my own) plain naan bread and had a major MSG attack. I fished the plastic wrapper out of the garbage, and sure enough… MSG.

The link to obesity is very interesting. I’m not obese, but could stand to lose 5 or 10 lbs. One more reason to avoid this icky chemical! :p

Check out Lisa Kramer’s No MSG For Me Cookbook. I recently purcahsed it from http://www.lulu.com. It is a great cookbook if you are avoiding MSG. You can checkout the website at http://www.nomsgforme.com

The problem is with not natural MSG is that it contains other chemicals and different forms of glutamic acid..

http://www.truthinlabeling.org/III.What%20is%20MSG.html

I have stayed away from processed foods with MSG for a few years now.

Guess What?

I no longer snore. I no longer have insomnia. I no longer need to set the A/C at 66F to sleep. I average 2 colds a year now.

Keep spreading the word!

Another point supporting this argument is the observation that many Asian people gain weight rapidly when they come to the US and begin eating our high sugar processed carbohydrate diet.

In response to the argument that the levels of MSG used in the rat studies were not likely to be encountered in regular foods: though we may be consuming much less MSG than what was used in the study, it may still present the same problems, but over a longer time span. If you consider how quickly the obesity was induced in rats with that amount of MSG, you can see just how devastating the chemical is. If it can completely destroy a creatures metabolism in such a short time span (assuming rats live only about 2.5 years on average- lab rats much fewer-it would have to be well within that time frame) it can surely do some damage at lower levels over a longer time. It may take 20 or 30 years for your MSG consumption to show up on your waistline, or it may be sooner depending on the amount you consume.

Also note that humans are much more susceptible to the effects of MSG than rats are, so it is not a straight g/kg comparison. You would need to divide your numbers by about 4 if what nika says is correct.

While this is still a huge amount of MSG, you need to realize that that is the amount it would take to make you obese in the span of only a few years.

Yet another thing I like to consider when deciding which side of an argument to believe (in this case, the FDA or the anti-MSG people) is which party has something to gain from their argument. The FDA has good reason to allow MSG in foods even if it is potentially harmful. The researchers whose data points to MSG being harmful really have nothing to gain from MSG being pulled from the market. It seems that those with the least invested interests are the ones most likely to tell the truth, a principle I believe to be sound in any situation.

Anyway, those are just my thoughts. I plan on studying this in depth some time in the next few years, so I’ll let you all know more as I find it out

And lastly, I want to thank nika for a well-thought out and fair presentation of the topic. It is rare to find an article on the dangers of MSG that is not written by some hysterical vegan witch-doctor. Too often the MSG argument is radicalized to the point of feeling like a hoax. It is easier to hear a message when it is presented in a neutral perspective, so thank you for your concise and scientific argument.