MSG Information
 

Monosodium glutamate, also known as sodium glutamate or MSG, is the sodium salt of glutamic acid one of the most abundant naturally occurring non-essential amino acids. [1] The U.S. Food and Drug Administration classified MSG as Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) and the European Union as a food additive. MSG has the HS code 29224220 and the E number E621. [2] The glutamate of MSG confers the same umami taste of glutamate from other foods. They are both chemically identical. [3] Industrial food manufacturers market and use MSG as a flavor enhancer because it balances, blends and rounds the total perception of other tastes. [4] [5] Trade names of monosodium glutamate include AJI-NO-MOTO®, Vetsin, and Ac'cent.

Pure MSG does not have a pleasant taste by itself if it is not combined with a consonant savory smell. [15] As a flavor and in the right amount, MSG has the ability to enhance other taste-active compounds balancing and rounding the overall taste of certain dishes. MSG mixes well with meat, fish, poultry, many vegetables, sauces, soups and marinades, and increases the overall preference of certain foods like beef consommé. [4] But like other basic tastes except sucrose, MSG improves the pleasantness only in the right concentration. An excess of MSG quickly ruins the taste of a dish. Although this concentration varies with the type of food, in clear soup the pleasantness score rapidly falls with more than 1 g of MSG per 100 ml. [16] Moreover, there is an interaction between MSG and salt (sodium chloride) and other umami substances such as nucleotides. All need to be in an optimum concentration for maximum palatability. With these properties, MSG can be used to reduce salt intake (sodium), which predisposes to hypertension, heart diseases and stroke. The taste of low-salt foods improves with MSG even with a 30% salt reduction. The sodium content of MSG is roughly 3 times lower (12%) than in sodium chloride (39%). [17] Other salts of glutamate have been used in low-salt soups, but with a lower palatability than MSG.

Foods ALWAYS contain MSG when these words are on the label:

MSG
Gelatin
Calcium Caseinate
Monosodium Glutamate
Hydrolized Vegetable Protein
Textured Protein
Monopotassium Glutamate
Hydrolized Plant Protein
Yeast Extract
Glutamate
Autolyzed Plant Protein
Yeast Food or Nutrient
Glutamic Acid
Sodium Caseinate
Autolyzed Yeast

Foods made with the following products often contain MSG

Annatto
Flavoring Seasonings (Most assume this means salt pepper or spices & herbs which it sometimes is)
Protein fortified anything
Anything enriched or vitamin enriched
Flowing Agents
Protein Fortified Milk
Barley Malt
Gums
Reaction Flavours
Bouillon
Lipolyzed butter fat
Rice or Brown Rice, Syrup
Broth
Low or No Fat items
Soy Protein
Caramel Flavoring (coloring)
Malt Extract or Flavoring
Soy Protein Isolate or Concentrate
Carrageenan
Malted Barley (flavour)
Soy Sauce or Extract
Citric Acid (when processed from corn)
Maltodextrin
Spice
Corn syrup and corn syrup solids (partly depends upon process used)
Milk Powder
Stock
Cornstarch
Modified Food Starch
Ultra-pasteurized anything
Dough Conditioners
Natural Chicken
Wheat
Dry Milk Solids
Pectin
Whey Protein Isolate or Concentrate
Fermented anything
Protease
Whey Protein or Whey
Flavours & Flavouring
Protease enzymes
Yeast Nutrients

MSG and Aspartame

MSG and Aspartame

Evil shit, this is. The thing that makes me angry is that its hard to avoid to get that into the system, or one has to spend alot of additional time on diet planning, cooking and so on.

Looking at those lists, it's a mine field of MSG :eek: The only way of possible avoidance is pure food grown and reared yourself, which is a bit problematical for most.

There was a time when MSG was not put in to foods, the question is, why do they even need to, it's not as if they did prior to doing so. Paprika, is another one, with some plain (salt flavoured) crisps/chips it's used as a colourant but it wasn't beforehand, proving that it isn't required.

From my understanding it's an excitotoxin, which stimulates the brain to eat it and continue eating it.

So it appears that it creates and fosters and urge. How this impacts cravings long term, I am not sure.

Of course, I forgot that part, yes, it does increase the desire for the item...drug-style; I seem to remember reading that years ago (I haven't looked at the youtube link yet, brain a bit foggy at present).

I wonder if that is why people can plough through a mutlipack or jumbo pack of chips/crisps? Could be. Funny how obesity is then the individual's problem and cause, then! ;) Food for thought (no pun intended).

I just checked my cabinets and nearly everything had this ingredient. Don't mean to sound ignorant but I guess I just let everything previously I heard about it filter through my gray matter.