Food Labeling – a public service announcement

MSG

Not only does MSG increase flavor and aroma, it also suppresses undesirable "off" flavors. It makes marginal food taste better, and even eliminates the "tinny" taste of canned foods. This discovery by Japanese scientist Kikunae Ikeda in 1908 came to the US in 1948 and coincided perfectly with the rise of fast and commercially prepared food products in this country. Competing fast food companies eagerly took advantage of this new flavor enhancing powder.... Until, today MSG, in all its guises, is difficult to avoid.

Americans consumed about one million pounds of monosodium glutamate in 1950. Today we consume about 300 times that amount! MSG covers and enhances many bland and mediocre foods. Without MSG, manufacturers would have to spend more money on purchasing quality ingredients, and this would cost consumers more. You might pay two dollars more for a can of tuna fish; but the flavor would be real, not "enhanced".

25-30% of the population react to monosodium glutamate negatively. The FDA-documented adverse reactions to MSG are, listed in order of frequency: headache, vomiting, diarrhea, heart rate change, stomach cramps, mood changes, fatigue, and dizziness. Other studies include reactions such as: difficulty in concentration, extreme mood swings, depression, difficulty with balance, sleep disturbances, convulsions, hyperactivity, esophageal reflux and heartburn, flushing of the skin, asthma, and swelling of the throat. So with all these negative reactions to food and a medical profession that does not focus on nutrition how can a proper diagnosis be made?

Testimonial: MSG headaches can be worse than the pain of an abscessed tooth or a root canal. When I have these headaches, it feels like I'm being tortured with electrodes placed directly on the nerve endings in my brain. The pain is so awful; I wouldn't want my worst enemy to have to endure such pain.

“MSG is toxic to everyone, at some dose.... Extremely sensitive people may experience severe, serious and debilitating reactions after ingesting a very small amount of MSG in a single food. Other people may tolerate many times that 'dose' by eating processed foods or in restaurants for most meals, continuing to get additional doses all day. Those people who think they aren't bothered by MSG are reacting. Physiologically, at the cellular level, body processes are being disturbed in subtle ways. Some may experience headaches or something else that is a direct result of ingesting food contaminated with MSG. But as long as they haven't made that connection to realize the cause, they go on having their headaches (or other symptom) - and go right on thinking they aren't reacting to MSG!"

"As for children in my opinion, we can't effectively improve education in our schools without first taking the toxins out of the food we're feeding our children. We have a curious national mentality in the late twentieth century. Every year we develop new, more potent medications to relieve headache and depression, two of the most common symptoms of MSG reactions - without ever asking or diagnosing the cause." -- Dr. Schwartz; Mastering Food Allergies Newsletter issue #66

Food label names that always contain some MSG:

monosodium glutamate	hydrolyzed protein
monopotassium glutamate	textured protein
glutamate	hydrolyzed oat flour
glutamic acid	yeast nutrient
gelatin	autolyzed yeast
calcium caseinate	yeast extract
sodium caseinate	yeast food
Accent	Glutavene
Ajinomoto (in Oriental foods)

Food label names that often contain MSG, or create MSG during processing:

malt extract	carrageenan
malt flavoring	bouillon
barley malt	broth
maltodextrin	stock
whey protein	natural beef flavoring
protein isolate	natural chicken flavoring
protein concentrate	natural pork flavoring
protein	fortified flavoring
pectin	natural flavoring
protease enzymes	seasoning
enzymes	soy sauce
protease	sauce extract
enzyme modified	fermented
ultrapasteurized

Also, disodium guanylate and disodium inosinate are two expensive food additives that are hardly ever used in food without the presence of the cheaper flavor enhancer - MSG. These two expensive additives, also flavor enhancing chemicals, work synergistically with the inexpensive MSG. Manufacturers boost the effects of tiny amounts of disodium guanylate and disodium inosinate by using ample amounts of the cheaper MSG.

If you have severe reactions to MSG, notice that low-fat milk products often contain milk solids that contain MSG. Adverse reactions to MSG have even been reported with cosmetics, soaps, shampoos, and hair conditioners. Apparently, sensitive individuals can react to cosmetic ingredients that are hydrolyzed. Candy, chewing gum, manufactured drinks are other potential sources of MSG. People that react adversely to MSG are susceptible to cross-reactions to aspartame. The two additives are reported to have similar chemical structure, and both are considered "excitotoxins".

Excitotoxins are substances added to foods and beverages that literally stimulate neurons to death, causing brain damage of varying degrees. They can be found in such ingredients as monosodium glutamate, aspartame (Nutrasweet®), cysteine, hydrolyzed protein, and aspartic acid.

Nutra Sweet

Nutra-Sweet is the trade name for aspartame. It is composed of two amino acids and Methyl alcohol, or Methanol. Methanol? I guess this means that my car can now run off Diet Pepsi. After entering the body, the components of aspartame are rapidly released into the bloodstream. Methanol, a deadly metabolic poison, is the first to be released. It can cause serious tissue damage, including blindness, and even death. Methanol is so toxic to the body because the body lacks the enzymes to detoxify it.

Severe depression was common in his case studies as was nervous tension and anxiety attacks. These symptoms often became severe enough to cause: extreme irritability, sweating, rapid heart action, dizziness, fatigue, and thoughts of suicide. In all cases the symptoms went away after avoiding Nutra-Sweet products.

A 19 year old woman was seizure free after avoiding Nutra-Sweet for 11 months. When she took a piece of sugar free gum at a baseball game, multiple gran seizures recurred within minutes.It was birthed into the marketplace in 1984 and by 1990 it was found in 12,000 products including: baked goods, all diet soft drinks, diet foods, pudding, cereals and children's aspirin and vitamins.

The good news is that you don’t have to drink it or eat it. If you must use a sweetener, a truly natural and healthful alternative is the juice from the Brazilian shrub, Stevia Rebaudiana, or "sweet leaf". Stevia has been the preferred sweetener in South America for centuries. Or use honey, even raw sugar is far safer than the excitotoxins found in Nutra-Sweet.

Resources
A Consumer's Dictionary of Food Additives, by Ruth Winter, pub. Crown Publishers, Inc.
In Bad Taste: The MSG Syndrome, by Dr. Schwartz, published by Health Press, 1988.

Aspartame Is It Safe? , by Dr. Roberts, 1990

Web Sites:

http://www.tribalmessenger.org/columns/nutrasweet.htm - nutra-sweet

http://www.moscowfoodcoop.com/archive/msg.html - MSG labeling

http://www.truthinlabeling.com/FDA-12-5-91-letter.html - truth about “No MSG” labeling