Caution:
The following article is heavily plagiarized from various
websites and scientific journals. The author doesn’t claim ownership for any of
the facts or statistics mentioned here because he can’t comprehend even high
school biology and was kicked out of class many a times. If you are an attorney
of an MNC that has been tarnished in the article and is planning to sue the
author, please make note of the fact that the author doesn’t own anything other
than a lousy Samsung Galaxy Ace and a second-hand Pulsar bike. He would
happily swap a jail sentence for his corporate life. The article is also slightly racist and offensive, so read it at your own risk!
What is Mono Sodium Glutamate?
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Mono Sodium Glutamate (MSG) is a flavor enhancing food
additive that is widely used in almost anything and everything you eat these
days. Whilst MSG might sound Greek and Latin to you, its founding company’s name Ajinomoto might
make you recognize this stuff immediately. Chemically speaking, MSG is
approximately 78 percent free glutamic acid, 21 percent sodium, and up to 1
percent contaminants. It is widely perceived to be a Chinese ingredient but is
omnipresent in almost all edible packaged food.
It’s a misconception that MSG is a flavor or “meat
tenderizer.” In reality, MSG has very little taste at all, yet when you eat
MSG, you think the food you’re eating has more protein and tastes better (read
KFC/McDonalds). It does this by tricking your tongue and this pleasant savory taste is called ‘Umami’ in
Japanese. It induces
salivation and a sensation of furriness on the tongue, stimulating the throat,
the roof and the back of the mouth. Basically, it makes your food crunchier,
yummier and makes you crave to eat more even though you know you are full. I am
sure all of us would have felt tons of Umami whilst eating Pringles, Lays,
Maggi, at KFC, Pizza Hut and McDonalds.
Food items that has MSG
It’s impossible
to think of items that do not have MSG these days. It is added to almost every
food item we eat. Chips, crackers, soups, soup mixes, salad dressings, sauces
(Soy, tomato, fish, ketchup), Noodles, biscuits, stock cubes (Oxo cubes, Maggi
magic cubes) and the list goes on. It is even added to baby food and infant
formula! Any edible item that is either packaged/processed these days has this
stuff. And all Asian restaurants (whether it be Chinese, Korean or Japanese)
add it to all items they serve i.e. stir-frys, soups and other bland tasting
items on menu.
Just like the desi
guy, who walks around town thinking it is super cool to wear a Bluetooth
headphone at all times (Hands-free headsets are meant to be used whilst driving
you RETARDS), Indian cooks have now started using MSG in all items with/without
understanding its consequences. Ever heard your mom complaining that the
savories she cooks at home is not as crunchy or yummy as those sold in shops
like (Arya, Saravana, Vasantha, Adyar) Bhavan or Haldirams? It is not because
your mom is a bad cook; it is because these guys add approximately one fistful of Ajinomoto or MSG/1 kg. of
snack. No wonder the store bought item tastes crunchier, yummier and makes you eat non-stop.
Ajinomoto is even
added to items like kebabs, tandoors, grilled veg and non-veg items. Do make
note of this measurement, 1 fistful of MSG, because these clever (dimwit!)
chefs in restaurants and road-side eateries have discovered that, the more
Ajinomoto they add to the food, the tastier it becomes, so they add it as much
as they possibly can.
How much is too much?
In 1959, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration labeled MSG
as “Generally Recognized as Safe” (GRAS), which means you can eat this stuff
and you won’t die or get cancer immediately. Anything over 3 grams/day – or a
teaspoonful of MSG is considered too much by the FDA. That’s the recommended
seasoning for up to 5 servings of fried rice, or about a pound of meat. But it
is very easy to exceed this quantity, imagine yourself sitting in a Chinese
restaurant with your friends/family ordering a course of soup, starters and
main course, a pinch here and pinch there added by the cook could easily exceed
this limit.
Even worse, if you buy a pack of mixture or Sev from your
local sweet shop (Lala sweets, Shree mithai, etc.), instead of measuring the
ingredients in grams, they throw fistful of MSG into their savories.
Why is it bad for you?
There are
so many harmful effects of MSG that I don’t know where to start or how to
summarize everything here. Anyways, let me give it a shot and try to keep
things concise.
It
makes you fat:
In 2008, a study conducted in china
revealed a direct connection between MSG usage and obesity. Some might say,
b*ll*cks to this, everyone knows eating junk food or fast food caused obesity,
they wouldn’t be having the same opinion when they read the complete abstract
of the research. Basically, if two people eat the same quantity of food, say 2000
calories of healthy food/day, one containing MSG and other one without it for a
regular period of time, the guy eating food containing MSG will become fat in
the long term.
MSG-treated rats4:
The first
point might not have sounded alarming or bad until you read this one. In
general, rats and mice aren’t fat. When they are full they stop eating. Most
animals, including humans, are like that. When we are full our brain says,
"Stop Eating." And so we do.
When researchers and scientists want to test new medicines for treating
obesity and diabetes in labs, they need fat rats. So, how do you make a rat
fat? How do you make a rat eat more than what it requires and even when it is
full? The answer of course is MSG. It is a common practice for researchers to
inject or feed rats with MSG to make them fat.
If you don’t believe me, just Google the words ‘MSG-treated rats’ and you
will get tons of links. It doesn't take a genius to work out the
consequences of human consumption of food containing MSG, does it?
There were numerous trials conducted on MSG-treated rats, a summary of four
independent clinical trials4
is mentioned below:
- MSG-treated
rats and mice produce offspring that have learning problems and eating
disorders
- Eyesight of MSG-treated
rats was severely damaged (Myopia)
- Examination
of their hypothalamus reveals they also suffered severe brain damage
In fact, there are plenty of scientific studies which are
conducted about the links between Learning disability (Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder - ADHD) and MSG. Remember the kid in Taare Zameen Par?
Regular and continued intake of foods containing MSG by pregnant mothers could
lead them to giving birth to babies with ADHD.
Hypothalamus is the part of the brain that is kind of
responsible for telling your brain ”STOP eating fatso! You had plenty of food”.
A clinical research found that pregnant rats’ hypothalamus was severely damaged
during the second half of pregnancy. If you believe MSG affects only rats, feel
free to take your pregnant wife regularly to restaurants like Ching’s Kitchen,
Bing’s Kitchen, Woo’s Kitchen and Mr. Boo-Hoo’s kitchen!
There is even a disease named in the medical literature
called “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome”, to describe the numerous side effects,
from numbness to heart palpitations, that people experience after eating food
containing MSG.
Excitotoxin:
One
of the best overviews of the very real dangers of MSG comes from Dr. Russell
Blaylock, a board-certified neurosurgeon and author of “Excitotoxins: The Taste that Kills.” In it, he explains that MSG is
an excitotoxin, which means it overexcites your cells to the point of damage or
death, causing brain damage to varying degrees -- and potentially even
triggering or worsening learning disabilities, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s
disease, Lou Gehrig’s disease and more.
Part of
the problem also is that free glutamic acid is the same neurotransmitter that
your brain, nervous system, eyes, pancreas and other organs use to initiate
certain processes in your body. The same FDA, which recognized MSG
states: “Studies have shown that injections
of glutamate in laboratory animals have resulted in damage to nerve cells in
the brain.”5
According to Dr. Blaylock, numerous glutamate receptors have
been found both within your heart's electrical conduction system and the heart
muscle itself. This can be damaging to your heart, and may even explain the
sudden deaths sometimes seen among young athletes.
He says: “When an excess of food-borne excitotoxins, such as
MSG is consumed, these glutamate receptors are over-stimulated, producing
cardiac arrhythmias. When magnesium stores are low, as we see in athletes, the
glutamate receptors are so sensitive that even low levels of these excitotoxins
can result in cardiac arrhythmias and death.”6 Cardiac arrhythmia
can be loosely termed as irregular heartbeat.
MSG also induces various other side effects and symptoms, including
(but not limited to):
•Headaches
•Nausea
•Dizziness
•Rapid
or irregular heartbeat
•Flushing
or excessive sweating
•Skin
rash
•Numbness
•Intense
thirst
•Lethargy
or sleepiness
•Ringing
ears
•Tingling
in the mouth
People
with asthma should avoid food containing MSG at all times, as it causes
difficulty in breathing.
How to identify MSG in foods?
Because of its bad nature, FDA requires all food
manufacturers to clearly list the ingredient “monosodium glutamate” on food
labels. Whilst some manufacturers are foolish enough to mention it in their
ingredients list, others are smart. They disguise MSG in plenty of names you
would never associate with MSG. Terms like Hydrolyzed Protein, Soy protein
extract, Yeast Extract, Glutamic Acid, all
refer to the same shit i.e., MSG. Some don’t bother with all the hassle of
finding clever chemical names; they simply mention it as ‘Natural Flavor or
Flavor identical substances’
What has been the response of food manufacturers to all the so-called side
effects?
They know MSG is toxic and regular intake of it is harmful.
However, the commercial benefits outweigh the moral benefits. They know that
ingesting their toxin can cause diabetes, adrenal gland malfunction, seizures,
high blood pressure, excessive weight gain, stroke and other health problems. Remember, MSG makes you eat more
even when you know you are full; it tricks your mind to believe that the food
you are eating is absolutely delicious and gives a sense of satisfaction. So, why on earth would they stop using MSG?
Even if probed, their response would probably be like Nick
Naylor in the movie ‘Thank you for Smoking’, “Although we are constantly
exploring the subject, currently there is no direct evidence that links MSG
usage to obesity, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease or cancer”.
Are we all doomed then?
I am a pessimist by nature and I treat everything with loads
of skepticism. Even whilst researching for this article, I was like, “this
whole MSG thing is bullshit, Chinese and Japanese people eat noodles and
stir-frys all the time but they aren’t as fat as Americans/Indians”. But am
pretty sure they practice a session or two of Kung-fu and Karate after a bowl
of noodles. Maybe that’s why they are all skinny!
Racism and stereotypes aside,
Indian food in general is very high in carbohydrates. Our monotonous lifestyle
coupled with technological advancements means we aren’t as active as our
forefathers and we aren’t getting much exercise. When you combine this with
some artificial flavor enhancer like MSG, you get the answer for the global obesity
epidemic.
Ancient Hindu literatures mention something called Sattvic
diet for a healthy lifestyle, basically eating cereal grains, legumes,
vegetables, fruits, nuts, milk and milk derivatives. If you want to live longer
and observe the complete lifecycle of Scarlett Johansson and Ana De Armas,
avoid eating out, avoid processed/packaged foods and cook all your meals at
home from scratch. It ain’t uncool to eat your mom’s cooking or carry your
tiffin to work. And it certainly isn’t cool to eat at places like McDonalds,
KFC, Pizza Hut…etc, you are just ingesting slow poison, albeit a delicious one!
I’m hungry and off to KFC now :-)
References:
In no particular order:
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