MSG allergy

Monosodium glutamate, also known as sodium glutamate and MSG, is a sodium salt of the naturally occurring non-essential amino acid glutamic acid.

It is used as a food additive and is commonly marketed as a flavour enhancer. It is typically, Asian cooking, which uses considerable quantities of this ingredient. There have been reports of physical reactions suggesting MSG allergy. The usual signs of this reaction are numbness in the back of the neck, the arms and shoulders; this may be accompanied by heart palpitations and a feeling of weakness and drowsiness, chest pains, headaches and dizziness.



Can MSG make me fat?

"One of the MSG symptom missing from this list above is obesity. Studies on animals showed that glutamate (MSG) constricts blood vessels because it acts as a calcium channel OPENER, and it also increased appetite in healthy animals by 40% by acting on the hypothalamus.

Consequently, if you think you are immune from the effects of MSG because you don't have one of the symptoms listed above, note that free glutamic acid acts on the pancreas to secrete insulin and acts to stimulate hunger by targeting the amygdala and hypothalamus and creates valium-like GABA in otherwise HEALTHY folks." So to put it in simpler terms......

"You have a pancreas. When you eat sugar, your pancreas produces insulin to counteract the sugar. The insulin tells the cells in your body to absorb the excess sugar. The problem is, is that MSG causes an insulin response. And MSG isn't a sugar. So guess what happens. The (MSG induced) insulin produced by your pancreas tells the cells in your body to absorb sugar.

Within an hour or two. You are low in sugar. Your body says "I need to eat"

So you eat.

But the food you eat has more MSG in it. So you produce more insulin than you need again. So you eat again, and again"

Hmmmm....sounds a bit suspicious!

Is MSG bad for me?

Only you can make this decision but with the increase in neurological disorders, cancer and various other diseases, something has to have changed in our society. And, truth be known, the one common factor is the increase of chemicals in our food and personal products. Studies by the hundreds are showing that MSG is linked to a plethora of symptoms and life altering diseases. It is time that we take some responsibility in what we consume and focus our efforts on putting healthy foods into our bodies.