5 ms·

I think the jury is still out on how (un)healthy extensive use of MSG is [0]. > In conclusion we would like to state that although MSG has proven its value as

I think the jury is still out on how (un)healthy extensive use of MSG is [0]. > In conclusion we would like to state that although MSG has proven its value as an enhancer of flavour, different studies have hinted at possible toxic effects related to this popular food-additive. These toxic effects include CNS disorder, obesity, disruptions in adipose tissue physiology, hepatic damage, CRS and reproductive malfunctions. These threats might have hitherto been underestimated. In the meantime, people keep using ever larger amounts of MSG unaware of the possible consequences. Further studies need to be undertaken in order to assess the connection between MSG and cardiovascular disorders, headache, and hypertension in human models. MSG is a controversial food-additive used in canned food, crackers, meat, salad dressings, frozen dinners and a myriad of other products. It is found in local supermarkets, restaurants and school cafeterias alike. While MSG probably has huge benefits to the food industry, the ubiquitous use of this food-additive could have negative consequences for public health. If more substantive evidence of MSG-toxicity would be provided, a total ban on the use of MSG as a flavour enhancer would not be unwise to consider. [0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5938543/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5938543/

kls 7y ago
It is just sea weed extract, maybe they should rename it to that as everyone thinks sea weed is a health food. Sushi is full of natural MSG. Here is a good article on how MSG got a bad wrap: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-msg-got-a-bad-rap-flawed-science-and-xenophobia/ https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-msg-got-a-bad-rap-f...
- atom-morgan 7y ago
  That's...a huge branding error. Seriously, Organic Seaweed Salt (GF/V) would fly off the shelves at Whole Foods.
  - WorldMaker 7y ago
    Someone should tell B&G Foods, given it is way past time for them to modernize the Accent brand anyway (people see it in my spice cabinet and wonder what's with the "weird 60s salt shaker"). https://www.accentflavor.com/product/flavor-enhancer https://www.accentflavor.com/product/flavor-enhancer
- close04 7y ago
  > It is just sea weed extract This seems unrelated to the claims I quoted/linked. Cocaine is "just a plant extract". But this statement doesn't say much about how wise it is to ingest it. [0] You might as well put this on a pack of cigarettes. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_poisonous_plants#Other_poisonous_plants https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_poisonous_plants#Other...
  - kls 7y ago
    My point is that people will hail MSG as the devil and then happily consume sushi wrapped in sea weed and have no ill effect. I have a friend she swears she is allergic to MSG but she eats sushi at least twice a week with no reaction. I don't have the heart to tell her that the very wrapping she is eating is where they get the MSG from. That being said, there are people that legitimately have a glutamate allergy and they do have reactions when they eat sea weed.
    - ceejayoz 7y ago
      I, too, think fears of MSG are silly, but so is this argument. You can extract formaldehyde and arsenic out of an apple, but that doesn’t make chugging the extract as safe as eating an apple.
      - kls 7y ago
        The difference is MSG has been heavily studies and the evidence suggest it does not have long term health effects. There are some people that have an allergy to it but the gap between those that truly do and those that claim they do is wide and a lot of that has to do with belief of misinformation. The difference with arsenic in apple seeds is that most people are not eating the seeds, while sea weed is regularly consumed and everyone has a reaction to arsenic whereas only a minority of people have a reaction to the consumption of sea weed.
        ceejayoz 7y ago
        > The difference is MSG has been heavily studies and the evidence suggest it does not have long term health effects. And that's a perfectly good argument. "It comes from seaweed and you eat seaweed just fine" is not. You've singled out arsenic in your response, but I also mentioned formaldehyde, which is throughout the apple's flesh. Would you drink a bottle of it because of that?
- Cthulhu_ 7y ago
  Arsenic is just a seed extract, doesn't mean it'll kill you in large enough quantities.
- inasio 7y ago
  After seaweed the next product with the highest natural concentration of MSG is parmesan cheese...
- mywittyname 7y ago
  It has lots of rebranding. I often see "natural glutamates" on menus at nice restaurants, and I have a bottle of liquid aminos from Whole Foods (ironically[0]) at home that is basically a soy sauce derivative with extra MSG; it's actually really good. I kind of wish I got to taste 80s era American Chinese food in it's full MSG glory. [0] https://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/blog/whole-story/myths-and-misconceptions-msg https://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/blog/whole-story/myths-and-... > The short answer is that MSG, or monosodium glutamate, is an unacceptable ingredient at Whole Foods Market, thus not allowed in any of our products.
- hnick 7y ago
  Adam Ragusea also has a timely video he posted a few days ago on MSG too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-POAKKH5IM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-POAKKH5IM The takeaway I got from it was that the opposition to MSG has a racial component ('Chinese Restaurant Syndrome'), may have been started as a prank (letters to that particular publication often were - they didn't have 4chan back then), and studies showing harm used very unrealistic dosages. Allergy or sensitivity may exist but the chances of it being a poison and literally affecting every human body seems very unlikely. I also have a bag in my kitchen and came to the same conclusion regarding taste that he did. Adding more does not do much to dishes with that component already (meat, mushroom, etc). But it does change dishes that lack it.
grimwall 7y ago
interesting, there is already a review citing this article giving an opposing view: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6952072/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6952072/ edit: also a single amino acid salt being harmful really requires some solid evidence, which seems to be not there.
- close04 7y ago
  > Further studies need to be undertaken in order to assess the connection between MSG and [...] As I said, jury is still out. I would personally not go overboard with adding it to everything I et until I know more. I'll take less flavor for now over the potential risks until more reliable data is published.
SuoDuanDao 7y ago
From what I've heard, it's a bit like wheat - harmless to most people, but a minority has allergic reactions of varying severity.
- mywittyname 7y ago
  Except glutamic acid is found in nearly everything we eat and our bodies produce lots of it because we need it to function. It's unlikely anyone has an allergic reaction to it, considering it's basically impossible to avoid eating.
jrlocke 7y ago
Like every other study that purports to show the toxicity of MSG, this one cites wildly unrealistic dosages, dosages that would cause toxicity with salt as well. Just skimming the abstract I see an example with a dosage of 2 mg/g. Scaled up to human terms (assuming a 180 pound human like me), that's a dose of 160 grams, but personally, I'm a heavy MSG user and a 50 gram shaker of MSG lasts me for months. Also consider that my daily intake of sodium should be 3.4 grams. 160 grams of MSG has 19.2 grams of sodium alone! Almost everyone on earth eats less than 1/100th of that studied dose of MSG daily. The dose makes the poison; in my opinion this writeup is intellectually dishonest.
ropiwqefjnpoa 7y ago
Like most things, I'm sure the dose makes the poison. There are some who are sensitive to MSG and react poorly to even small doses. All this creates a lot of confusion in regards to whether it's healthy or not. if it gives you headaches, don't eat it. I react poorly to tomatoes, but it doesn't mean tomatoes are bad for everyone.

kls 7y ago

It is just sea weed extract, maybe they should rename it to that as everyone thinks sea weed is a health food. Sushi is full of natural MSG. Here is a good article on how MSG got a bad wrap: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-msg-got-a-bad-rap-flawed-science-and-xenophobia/ https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-msg-got-a-bad-rap-f...

atom-morgan 7y ago
That's...a huge branding error. Seriously, Organic Seaweed Salt (GF/V) would fly off the shelves at Whole Foods.
- WorldMaker 7y ago
  Someone should tell B&G Foods, given it is way past time for them to modernize the Accent brand anyway (people see it in my spice cabinet and wonder what's with the "weird 60s salt shaker"). https://www.accentflavor.com/product/flavor-enhancer https://www.accentflavor.com/product/flavor-enhancer
close04 7y ago
> It is just sea weed extract This seems unrelated to the claims I quoted/linked. Cocaine is "just a plant extract". But this statement doesn't say much about how wise it is to ingest it. [0] You might as well put this on a pack of cigarettes. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_poisonous_plants#Other_poisonous_plants https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_poisonous_plants#Other...
- kls 7y ago
  My point is that people will hail MSG as the devil and then happily consume sushi wrapped in sea weed and have no ill effect. I have a friend she swears she is allergic to MSG but she eats sushi at least twice a week with no reaction. I don't have the heart to tell her that the very wrapping she is eating is where they get the MSG from. That being said, there are people that legitimately have a glutamate allergy and they do have reactions when they eat sea weed.
  - ceejayoz 7y ago
    I, too, think fears of MSG are silly, but so is this argument. You can extract formaldehyde and arsenic out of an apple, but that doesn’t make chugging the extract as safe as eating an apple.
    - kls 7y ago
      The difference is MSG has been heavily studies and the evidence suggest it does not have long term health effects. There are some people that have an allergy to it but the gap between those that truly do and those that claim they do is wide and a lot of that has to do with belief of misinformation. The difference with arsenic in apple seeds is that most people are not eating the seeds, while sea weed is regularly consumed and everyone has a reaction to arsenic whereas only a minority of people have a reaction to the consumption of sea weed.
      - ceejayoz 7y ago
        > The difference is MSG has been heavily studies and the evidence suggest it does not have long term health effects. And that's a perfectly good argument. "It comes from seaweed and you eat seaweed just fine" is not. You've singled out arsenic in your response, but I also mentioned formaldehyde, which is throughout the apple's flesh. Would you drink a bottle of it because of that?
Cthulhu_ 7y ago
Arsenic is just a seed extract, doesn't mean it'll kill you in large enough quantities.
inasio 7y ago
After seaweed the next product with the highest natural concentration of MSG is parmesan cheese...
mywittyname 7y ago
It has lots of rebranding. I often see "natural glutamates" on menus at nice restaurants, and I have a bottle of liquid aminos from Whole Foods (ironically[0]) at home that is basically a soy sauce derivative with extra MSG; it's actually really good. I kind of wish I got to taste 80s era American Chinese food in it's full MSG glory. [0] https://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/blog/whole-story/myths-and-misconceptions-msg https://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/blog/whole-story/myths-and-... > The short answer is that MSG, or monosodium glutamate, is an unacceptable ingredient at Whole Foods Market, thus not allowed in any of our products.
hnick 7y ago
Adam Ragusea also has a timely video he posted a few days ago on MSG too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-POAKKH5IM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-POAKKH5IM The takeaway I got from it was that the opposition to MSG has a racial component ('Chinese Restaurant Syndrome'), may have been started as a prank (letters to that particular publication often were - they didn't have 4chan back then), and studies showing harm used very unrealistic dosages. Allergy or sensitivity may exist but the chances of it being a poison and literally affecting every human body seems very unlikely. I also have a bag in my kitchen and came to the same conclusion regarding taste that he did. Adding more does not do much to dishes with that component already (meat, mushroom, etc). But it does change dishes that lack it.

grimwall 7y ago

interesting, there is already a review citing this article giving an opposing view: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6952072/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6952072/ edit: also a single amino acid salt being harmful really requires some solid evidence, which seems to be not there.

close04 7y ago
> Further studies need to be undertaken in order to assess the connection between MSG and [...] As I said, jury is still out. I would personally not go overboard with adding it to everything I et until I know more. I'll take less flavor for now over the potential risks until more reliable data is published.

SuoDuanDao 7y ago

From what I've heard, it's a bit like wheat - harmless to most people, but a minority has allergic reactions of varying severity.

mywittyname 7y ago
Except glutamic acid is found in nearly everything we eat and our bodies produce lots of it because we need it to function. It's unlikely anyone has an allergic reaction to it, considering it's basically impossible to avoid eating.

jrlocke 7y ago

Like every other study that purports to show the toxicity of MSG, this one cites wildly unrealistic dosages, dosages that would cause toxicity with salt as well. Just skimming the abstract I see an example with a dosage of 2 mg/g. Scaled up to human terms (assuming a 180 pound human like me), that's a dose of 160 grams, but personally, I'm a heavy MSG user and a 50 gram shaker of MSG lasts me for months. Also consider that my daily intake of sodium should be 3.4 grams. 160 grams of MSG has 19.2 grams of sodium alone! Almost everyone on earth eats less than 1/100th of that studied dose of MSG daily. The dose makes the poison; in my opinion this writeup is intellectually dishonest.

ropiwqefjnpoa 7y ago

Like most things, I'm sure the dose makes the poison. There are some who are sensitive to MSG and react poorly to even small doses. All this creates a lot of confusion in regards to whether it's healthy or not. if it gives you headaches, don't eat it. I react poorly to tomatoes, but it doesn't mean tomatoes are bad for everyone.