The other day, I got an email from an American guy who
lives in Malaysia. He was saying that cooking with mono
sodium glutamate (MSG) is a real health problem to
Malaysians and that he "doesn't allow it in his house".
MSG, so what's the big deal? It's the stuff used in large
quantities in Chinese/Southeast Asian food, right? Wrong.
It's everywhere in almost all processed foods! You see, it
was derived from seaweed in Japan in the 1930s and very
quickly became popular in United States as a food additive.
As long ago as the 1970s, manufacturers promised to take it
out of baby food because of suspected problems - no kidding.
Consumers long ago became savvy to MSG listed as an
ingredient on food labels and stopped buying things with
MSG. So guess what? Manufacturers just renamed the stuff.
Here are some of the ingredient names in food that are
"cover names" for MSG:
Broth, Casein or Caseinate, Glutamate, Hydrolyzed Yeast
,Autolyzed Yeast ,Yeast Extract, Hydrolyzed Protein,
Natural Flavors
MSG is one of the most popular food additives in food in
the US. Fast food chains and restaurants use a lot of it.
McDonald's use it to flavor French fries, the Grilled
Chicken Fillet and the Sausage Patties. Pizza Hut uses it
to flavor their Chicken Wings. In the supermarket, you can
bet that if it's a sauce, salad dressing, snack foods,
potato, tortilla chips, soups, crackers, cookies it's
probably got MSG in it. It's everywhere - even baby
formula. If it's a processed or "convenience" food, it's
likely to have MSG.
Why? Because people buy stuff that tastes good.
The science here: Have you heard of glutamic acid or
glutamate? It's a naturally occurring amino acid in foods.
MSG is the sodium salt extracted from glutamic acid.
Originally, MSG was derived from protein rich foods, like
seaweed; but now it's made from starch, corn sugar,
molasses or sugar beets. Well, glutamate naturally
occurring in foods is a bound amino acid and the body is
equipped to process it as other protein. But, when
processed it becomes free and the body processes it
differently.
Simply put, high levels of unbound glutamate causes free
radical damage throughout the body. So, eating a lot of
processed protein foods where the glutamic acid has been
"unbound" results in free radical damage - which is host to
all sorts of diseases, most notably cancer. MSG falls into
this category. And since it tastes so good, people want
more and more of it. Other processed protein foods which
end up with free glutamic acids include: ultra pasteurized
milk, (this is an unlikely one) the wax they put on
vegetables and fruit contains hydrolyzed protein and ultra
pasteurized soy milk. Another side note: MSG is an
excitotoxin. When consumed, it excites brain neurons so
much that they are damaged or even die! Aspartame, sold in
the U.S. as NutraSweet and Europe as Candarel is also
classified as an excitotoxin. Yuk.
What to do? Well, I suppose we as consumers have to vote
with our purchases. Armed with the knowledge that food
manufacturers and restaurants are using MSG and disguising
it; we need to read labels, ask questions and stop buying
products that will harm us.
Eat well, stay healthy!
Resources: Everything You Need To Know About Glutamate And
Monosodium Glutamate
http://www.ific.org/publications/brochures/msgbroch.cfm
Interview with Dr. Russell Blaylock on devastating health
effects of MSG, aspartame and excitotoxins
http://www.newstarget.com/020550.html
----------------------------------------------------
About the Author:
Ainsley Laing, MSc. has been a Fitness Trainer for 25 years
and writes exclusively Body for Mind eZine. She holds
certifications in Group Exercise, Sports Nutrition and
Personal Fitness Training. To see more articles by Ainsley
visit http://www.bodyformind.com or the blog at
http://www.bodyformind.blogspot.com
No comments:
Post a Comment