MSG is Poison
MSG: A Slow Poison
By Lois Lenz
25 years ago, four of us went to dinner at Dr. Hoagley Woagley’s Texas Barbecue in California. We all ordered different meals in order to test them. I ordered roast beef, and everyone raved about how tender it was. Within an hour, I became deathly ill. I felt as though my heart was totally dry and very painful.
We rushed home and I drank my old-fashioned remedy against food poisoning — apple cider vinegar, honey, and water — and I slowly returned to normal. My roast beef must have been loaded with MSG, but I thankfully, I was aware.
It is almost impossible to avoid all MSG, and this kept us out of the hospital twice on cross-country trips when we got bad food — and kept us out of the hospital!
MSG in Coffee
The food additive MSG (MonoSodium Glutamate) is a slow poison. MSG hides behind 25 or more names, such as “Natural Flavoring.”
MSG is even in your favorite coffee from Tim Horton’s and other brand-name coffee shops!
I wondered if there could be an actual chemical causing the massive obesity epidemic, and so did a friend of mine, John Erb. He was a research assistant at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, and spent years working for the government. He made an amazing discovery while going through scientific journals for a book he was writing called The Slow Poisoning of America.
In hundreds of studies around the world, scientists were creating obese mice and rats to use in diet or diabetes test studies. No strain of rat or mice is naturally obese, so scientists have to create them. They make these creatures morbidly obese by injecting them with MSG when they are first born. The MSG triples the amount of insulin the pancreas creates, causing rats (and perhaps humans) to become obese. They even have a name for the fat rodents they create: “MSG-Treated Rats.”
When I heard this, I was shocked. I went into my kitchen and checked the cupboards and the refrigerator. MSG was in everything — the Campbell’s soups, the Hostess Doritos, the Lays flavored potato chips, Top Ramen, Betty Crocker Hamburger Helper, Heinz canned gravy, Swanson frozen prepared meals, and Kraft salad dressings, especially the “healthy low-fat” ones.
The items that didn’t have MSG marked on the product label had something called “Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein,” which is just another name for Monosodium Glutamate.
It was shocking to see just how many of the foods we feed our children everyday are filled with this stuff. MSG is hidden under many different names in order to fool those who read the ingredient list, so that they don’t catch on. (Other names for MSG are “Accent, “Aginomoto,” “Natural Meat Tenderizer,” etc.)
But it didn’t stop there.
When our family went out to eat, we started asking at the restaurants what menu items contained MSG. Many employees, even the managers, swore they didn’t use MSG.
But when we ask for the ingredient list, which they grudgingly provided, sure enough, MSG and Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein were everywhere.
MSG -Restaurants
Burger King, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Taco Bell, every restaurant — even the sit-down eateries like TGIF, Chili’s, Applebee’s, and Denny’s — use MSG in abundance. Kentucky Fried Chicken seemed to be the WORST offender: MSG was in every chicken dish, salad dressing. and gravy. No wonder I loved to eat that coating on the skin — their secret spice was MSG!
So why is MSG in so may of the foods we eat? Is it a preservative, or a vitamin?
Not according to my friend John Erb. In his book The Slow Poisoning of America, he said that MSG is added to food for the addictive effect it has on the human body.
Even the propaganda website sponsored by the food manufacturers lobby group supporting MSG explains that the reason they add it to food is to make people eat more.
A study of the elderly showed that older people eat more of the foods that it is added to. The Glutamate Association lobbying group says eating more is a benefit to the elderly, but what does it do to the rest of us?
“Betcha can’t eat one,” takes on a whole new meaning where MSG is concerned! And we wonder why the nation is overweight!
The MSG manufacturers themselves admit that it addicts people to their products. It makes people choose their product over others, and makes people eat more of it than they would if MSG wasn’t added.
Not only is MSG scientifically proven to cause obesity, it is an addictive substance. Since its introduction into the American food supply fifty years ago, MSG has been added in larger and larger doses to the pre-packaged meals, soups, snacks, and fast foods we are tempted to eat everyday.
Scientific Studies
The FDA has set no limits on how much of it can be added to food. They claim it’s safe to eat in any amount. But how can they claim it’s safe when there are hundreds of scientific studies with titles like these:
“The monosodium glutamate (MSG) obese rat as a model for the study of exercise in obesity.” Gobatto CA, Mello MA, Souza CT, Ribeiro IA. Res Commun Mol Pathol Pharmacol. 2002.
“Adrenalectomy abolishes the food-induced hypothalamic serotonin release in both normal and monosodium glutamate-obese rats.” Guimaraes RB, Telles MM, Coelho VB, Mori C, Nascimento CM, Ribeiro. Brain Res Bull. 2002 Aug.
“Obesity induced by neonatal monosodium glutamate treatment in spontaneously hypertensive rats: An animal model of multiple risk factors.” Iwase M, Yamamoto M, Iino K, Ichikawa K, Shinohara N, Yoshinari Fujishima. Hypertens Res. 1998 Mar.
“Hypothalamic lesion induced by injection of monosodium glutamate in suckling period and subsequent development of obesity.” Tanaka K, Shimada M, Nakao K Kusunoki. Exp Neurol. 1978 Oct.
No, the date of that last study was not a typo; it was published in 1978. Both the “medical research community” and “food manufacturers” have known about the side effects of MSG for decades.
Many more of the studies mentioned in John Erb’s book link MSG to diabetes, migraines and headaches, autism, ADHD, and even Alzheimer’s.
So what can we do to stop the food manufactures from dumping this fattening and addictive MSG into our food supply and causing the obesity epidemic we now see?
Several months ago, John Erb took his book and his concerns to one of the highest government health officials in Canada. While he was sitting in the government office, the official told him, “Sure, I know how bad MSG is. I wouldn’t touch the stuff.” But this top-level government official refuses to tell the public what he knows.
The big media doesn’t want to tell the public either, fearing issues with their advertisers. It seems that the fallout on the fast food industry may hurt their profit margin. The food producers and restaurants have been addicting us to their products for years, and now we are paying the price for it. Our children should not be cursed with obesity caused by an addictive food additive.
What can I do?
But what can I do about it? I’m just one voice! What can I do to stop the poisoning of our children, while our governments are insuring financial protection for the industry that is poisoning us?
This message is going out to everyone I know in an attempt to tell you the truth that the corporate-owned politicians and media won’t tell you.
The best way you can help to save yourself and your children from this drug-induced epidemic is to forward this article to everyone. With any luck, it will circle the globe before politicians can pass the legislation protecting those who are poisoning us.
The food industry learned a lot from the tobacco industry. Imagine if big tobacco had a bill like this in place before someone blew the whistle on nicotine?
If you are one of the few who can still believe that MSG is good for us and you don’t believe what John Erb has to say, see for yourself. Go to the National Library of Medicine at www.pubmed.com.
Type in the words “MSG Obese” and read a few of the 115 medical studies that appear.
We the public do not want to be rats in one giant experiment, and we do not approve of food that makes us into a nation of obese, lethargic, addicted sheep, feeding the food industry’s bottom line while waiting for the heart transplant, the diabetic-induced amputation, blindness, or other obesity-induced, life-threatening disorders.
With your help we can put an end to this poison.
Do your part in sending this message out by word of mouth, e-mail, or by distribution of this printout to your friends all over the world and stop this “Slow Poisoning of Mankind” by the packaged food industry.
Blowing the whistle on MSG is our responsibility, so get the word out.
MSG – Hidden Sources
Kombu, a seaweed, was first used in Japan as a flavor enhancer. A Japanese doctor isolated the main ingredient — MSG, or monosodium glutamate — and started what has become a million-dollar industry.
MSG is now the most widely used flavor enhancer in the world. MSG and MSG-containing substances are used in processed food, in fast foods, and in Chinese food. They’re also found in nearly all canned and frozen foods.
While some people can use MSG with no adverse effects, many others have severe reactions to it, some of them life-threatening. MSG has been linked to asthma, headaches, and heart irregularities. Behavioral and physical problems of children, such as incontinence and seizures, as well as attention deficit disorder (ADD), have been diagnosed and successfully treated as MSG disorders.
Those wishing to eliminate MSG from their diets are faced with an almost impossible task. Food preparers are often unaware that they’re even using MSG. Labels can be misleading. A label that says “No MSG added” doesn’t necessarily mean that the food is free of MSG, it simply means that the manufacturer didn’t put in additional MSG. MSG goes under many aliases, one of the most common being “hydrolyzed vegetable protein,” an additive used to increase the protein content of a wide variety of foods.
Manufacturers also hide MSG as part of “natural flavorings,” because it is a natural product. But being natural is not the same as being harmless.
Below is a partial list of the most common names for disguised MSG. Remember also that the powerful excitotoxins aspartate and L-cysteine are frequently added to foods and, according to FDA rules, require no labeling at all.
Additives that always contain MSG
Monosodium Glutamate
Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein
Hydrolyzed Protein
Hydrolyzed Plant Protein
Plant Protein Extract
Sodium Caseinate
Calcium Caseinate
Yeast Extract
Textured Protein
Autolyzed Yeast
Hydrolyzed Oat Flour
Terms that frequently indicate hidden MSG additives
Malt extract
Bouillon
Broth
Stock
Flavoring
Natural Flavoring
Natural Beef or Chicken Flavoring
Seasoning
Spices
Additives that may contain MSG or excitotoxins
Carrageenan
Enzymes
Soy Protein Concentrate
Soy Protein Isolate
Whey Protein Concentrate
Protease enzymes of various sources can release excitotoxin amino acids from food proteins.
Reference
For more information, see:
Blaylock, Russell L., M.D. Excitotoxins: The Taste that Kills, Health Press, Santa Fe, NM 87504, 1994.
Schwartz, George R., M.D. and Schwartz, Kathleen A. In Bad Taste: The MSG Symptom Complex, Health Press, Santa Fe, NM