4 ms·

I would be interested to know more about this, as I've always considered MSG something to avoid entirely. Unfortunately, the article doesn't really offer specif

by tcfunk 11y ago

I would be interested to know more about this, as I've always considered MSG something to avoid entirely. Unfortunately, the article doesn't really offer specifics as to why MSG is safe, apart from "so-and-so said it is". Edit: Wow, thank you all for the information!

Eric_WVGG 11y ago
You’ve got the burden of proof backward. When I say, "water is unsafe," it's on me to explain why. The folks who said "MSG is unsafe," like the folks who told us margarine is healthier than butter, have been shown over time to have relied on bad science. anyway one can accomplish the same flavor with dried shrimp or bonito flakes, which are high in glutamate. I’m sure all restaurants that claim not to use MSG just go there instead.
afarrell 11y ago
MSG is a salt, so when you put it in water, it dissolves into sodium and glutamate. Glutamate is an amino acid found naturally in a variety of tasty foods. So, you already consume it and you're fine. To be more sure of yourself, you can run an controlled, blinded experiment where you have group A consume food with monosodium glutamate added and group B consume food without the additive. So long as you don't tell which food is which, then group A won't have a different response from group B. But these things don't actually answer your question. They answer the question "How do we know it is safe?" To explain "why MSG is safe" seems like it would be impossible for the same reason that proving a negative is impossible: you would have to go through all of the possible metabolic processes and show that and it does not screw with them.
tptacek 11y ago
It's safe because it's simply the salt of sodium and glutamic acid. Glutamate is an amino acid that is a fundamental building block of your metabolism. It's also been omnipresent in human diets for millennia. If we had discovered how to synthesize salt in 1909 and had called it "NACL" since then, it would be precisely as controversial as MSG is.
- patio11 11y ago
  The counterfactual world should really be obsessed with the fact that Asians put NACL on everything, too. NACL is in soy sauce. NACL is in tempura. NACL is in fried rice. An independent lab tested 48 items at an Asian fusion restaurant and detected NACL in 46 of them! Will no one save health-conscious Americans from the perils of NAsianCL? (Sarcasm off: salt is widely used across many cultures cuisines because salt is delicious. This property is shared with MSG, but MSG is only called MSG when Asians use it. When Italians use it it is called "food.")
  - mchahn 11y ago
    > salt is widely used across many cultures cuisines because salt is delicious. And also because salt is needed to stay alive.

by tcfunk 11y ago

Eric_WVGG 11y ago

You’ve got the burden of proof backward. When I say, "water is unsafe," it's on me to explain why. The folks who said "MSG is unsafe," like the folks who told us margarine is healthier than butter, have been shown over time to have relied on bad science. anyway one can accomplish the same flavor with dried shrimp or bonito flakes, which are high in glutamate. I’m sure all restaurants that claim not to use MSG just go there instead.

afarrell 11y ago

MSG is a salt, so when you put it in water, it dissolves into sodium and glutamate. Glutamate is an amino acid found naturally in a variety of tasty foods. So, you already consume it and you're fine. To be more sure of yourself, you can run an controlled, blinded experiment where you have group A consume food with monosodium glutamate added and group B consume food without the additive. So long as you don't tell which food is which, then group A won't have a different response from group B. But these things don't actually answer your question. They answer the question "How do we know it is safe?" To explain "why MSG is safe" seems like it would be impossible for the same reason that proving a negative is impossible: you would have to go through all of the possible metabolic processes and show that and it does not screw with them.

tptacek 11y ago

It's safe because it's simply the salt of sodium and glutamic acid. Glutamate is an amino acid that is a fundamental building block of your metabolism. It's also been omnipresent in human diets for millennia. If we had discovered how to synthesize salt in 1909 and had called it "NACL" since then, it would be precisely as controversial as MSG is.

patio11 11y ago
The counterfactual world should really be obsessed with the fact that Asians put NACL on everything, too. NACL is in soy sauce. NACL is in tempura. NACL is in fried rice. An independent lab tested 48 items at an Asian fusion restaurant and detected NACL in 46 of them! Will no one save health-conscious Americans from the perils of NAsianCL? (Sarcasm off: salt is widely used across many cultures cuisines because salt is delicious. This property is shared with MSG, but MSG is only called MSG when Asians use it. When Italians use it it is called "food.")
- mchahn 11y ago
  > salt is widely used across many cultures cuisines because salt is delicious. And also because salt is needed to stay alive.