Monosodium glutamate (MSG)

What is  Monosodium glutamate (MSG) and is it harmful for your health? 

MSG has been used as a food additive for decades especially in Chinese dishes, however in the last decade has made its way into anything from chips to hotdogs.  Over the years, the FDA has received many anecdotal reports of adverse reactions to foods containing MSG. Some studies have shown that MSG triples the amount of insulin the pancreas creates, thus cause you to gain weight, however this is somewhat controversial. 

Since the 1970s, MSG has sidled back onto American supermarket shelves, under assumed names: hydrolyzed proteins, yeast extracts, protein concentrates and other additives that are not labeled as MSG but, according to nutritionists and the United States Department of Agriculture, are essentially the same thing: synthetically produced glutamates.

According to the Food and Drug Administration, the World Health Organization, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, MSG is generally safe food ingredient, however this has not been scientifically proven. The controversy about MSG, however, arises from a number of anecdotal complaints since the 1960s about adverse reactions when consuming foods with MSG. The “MSG Symptom Complex” or the “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome” Many consumers have reported the below syptoms after consuming MSG:

MSG symptom complex reactions:

• Headache
• Flushing
• Sweating
• Facial pressure or tightness
• Numbness, tingling or burning in the face, neck and other areas
• Rapid, fluttering heartbeats (heart palpitations)
• Chest pain
• Nausea
• Weakness
• http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/monosodium-glutamate/AN01251
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• It is very important to always read label and see if MSG is present