One myth that we often hear is MSG or Monosodium Glutamate is bad for your health but is it true. Find out more with illume-emag.
What is MSG?
MSG, or Monosodium Glutamate, is a white, odorless, crystalline powder commonly used as a food additive. In the food industry, it’s known as E621. It dissolves easily in water, separating into sodium and free glutamate.
Professor Kikunae Ikeda developed MSG in pursuit of the flavor he called “umami,” a pleasant savory taste. It is now recognized as one of the five basic tastes, along with sweet, sour, salty, and bitter.
MSG is a mixture of sodium, which is well-established as an essential part of our diet, and L-glutamic acid, a very common amino acid found in numerous plant and animal proteins. Fun fact: L-glutamic acid can be produced by our body and doesn’t need to get it from food.
Where did MSG’s bad reputation come from?
In the 1960s, Chinese-American doctor Robert Ho Man Kwok wrote a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine explaining that he got sick after dinner at a Chinese restaurant.
He wrote that he believed his symptoms could have resulted from consuming either alcohol, sodium, or MSG. Although this is just a hunch, the letter would quickly change the world’s opinion about MSG. Many people then spread some misinformation about MSG. This is likely due to the biases against Chinese immigrants and their cuisine at the time. They even go as far as calling Kwok’s symptoms the “Chinese restaurant syndrome,” later changing to the “MSG symptom complex” (MSC).
Many studies backed MSG’s bad reputation, stating that the additive was highly toxic. But current evidence questions the accuracy of previous research.
What did today’s research say about MSG?
In the old days, MSG was accused of being the cause of many things, such as obesity, metabolic disorders, brain toxicity, and MSC. Let’s see if today’s research has anything new to say.
Obesity and metabolic disorders
Previous research has linked MSG to metabolic disorders, but this study only used one animal, a rat. After giving them the additive, which is MSG, they show signs of insulin resistance, high blood sugar levels, and diabetes.
However, instead of feeding the animals MSG, the scientist injects them with it. This might cause effects on the brain that are not associated with dietary intake. Contradictory to the old research, the newer ones have found an association between umami substances and anti-obesity effects.
Effect on brain health
Some studies claim that MSG can lead to brain toxicity by causing excessive glutamate levels in the brain to overstimulate nerve cells, resulting in cell death.
However, dietary glutamate likely has little to no effect on your brain, as almost none of it passes from the gut into the blood or crosses the brain barrier.
Research shows that once ingested, MSG is completely metabolized in your gut. From there, it either serves as an energy source, is converted into other amino acids, or is used in the production of various bioactive compounds.
In conclusion
MSG is a flavor-enhancing additive that’s also naturally present in many protein-rich foods, cheeses, and vegetables.
Although it was considered a toxic ingredient during the 1960s, current evidence has dispelled that myth, indicating that MSG is safe when consumed in moderate amounts.
Still, you shouldn’t eat excessively large doses if you experience adverse reactions.