Food that still contains MSG

I think youve mis-read a previous post.

The last episode I had was the morning after I had eaten some KP dry roasted peanuts.

I then checked the Ingredients and found that they contain MSG.

Salted peanuts are fine.

Its not nuts. I realised it may have been something I ate after having two episodes within a few days of each other. And I had eaten chinese food the nights before. I had never heard of MSG until I started to research what was causing these headaches.

At first I thought I was sleeping with my head scrunched up against the headboard as the majority of the pain was at the top of my neck.

The problem with NOT being tested is I can only speculate BUT avoiding anything to do with MSG works.

But with MSG there is usually xanthum gum or guar gum or other similar. Which could be the problem.
 
satchef1 said:
You've got a mild peanut allergy.

While you cannot be allergic to MSG (it's actually impossible), MSG can increase the body's sensitivity to other allergens. Given that you've only had a problem when eating KP peanuts it's fairly safe to assume that you have a mild peanut allergy and the MSG acted as a trigger for this. The answer? Don't eat nuts that are coated in MSG.
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How can it be IMPOSSIBLE.
 
Most Chinese supermarkets stock the alternative - 鸡精 (jijing), which is basically powdered brouillon chicken, similar to stock but saltier. It gives the same "umami" effect but is (apparently) healthier/not as bad for you. That's what the people at the supermarket claim anyway :p
 
mattyg said:
How can it be IMPOSSIBLE.
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...it's impossible because to cause an allergy a food has to contain an allergen. MSG doesn't contain an allergen, thus an MSG allergy is impossible.

mattyg said:
I think youve mis-read a previous post.

The last episode I had was the morning after I had eaten some KP dry roasted peanuts.

I then checked the Ingredients and found that they contain MSG.

Salted peanuts are fine.

Its not nuts. I realised it may have been something I ate after having two episodes within a few days of each other. And I had eaten chinese food the nights before. I had never heard of MSG until I started to research what was causing these headaches.

At first I thought I was sleeping with my head scrunched up against the headboard as the majority of the pain was at the top of my neck.

The problem with NOT being tested is I can only speculate BUT avoiding anything to do with MSG works.

But with MSG there is usually xanthum gum or guar gum or other similar. Which could be the problem.
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I read your post correctly. MSG increases allergy response in some people. If you are one of those people then the combination of an allergen + MSG might trigger an allergic response. As such, it doesn't matter if you can eat salted peanuts or not, it is possible that you have an incredibly mild peanut allergy that is only noticeable when MSG is present.

On the other hand, you might be on the right track with your assumption that it's an ingredient commonly used alongside MSG (though both Xanthum and Guar Gum are allergen free, so it can't be an allergic reaction to those either).

There's also the simple answer; you have an intolerance to high levels of Glutamate. If that's the case then you would suffer similar problems when eating high-Glutamate foods like Parmigiano Reggiano (1680mg Glutamate per 100g of cheese, one of the highest concentrations around).

Ultimately though, this is all just a theoretical attempt to explain the problems your suffering. Currently the credible scientific word has MSG down as being safe in moderate levels and a link cannot be found between MSG and headaches (other than the explanation that it's all in your head, which I'm sure you won't like).
 
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Aspartame is actually worse for you (based on scientific evidence) than MSG has ever been shown to be, and no one cares about how many diet drinks they keep on consuming.

If youre not bothered about aspartame, then you cant really be bothered about MSG tbh.
 
satchef1 said:
...it's impossible because to cause an allergy a food has to contain an allergen. MSG doesn't contain an allergen, thus an MSG allergy is impossible.
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satchef1 said:
There's also the simple answer; you have an intolerance to high levels of Glutamate.
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Don't those two statements contradict each other?

As I understand it, it's possible for almost anything to be an allergen.
 
Im not really sure if its possible to have allergies to sodium / salt based stuff as just about everything these days contains that, and I've never heard of any kind of salt allergies.

However sodium can definitely cause migraine and vertigo, but only in people with certain conditions such as vestibular disorders like mine, not in healthy normal people.

The symptoms are caused due to the salt / sugar concentrations of the blood / lymph, which in my case lead to huge fluid uptake and swelling of my cochleas, followed by symptoms that feel like death.
 
What Is a Food Allergy?

A food allergy is an immune system response. It occurs when the body mistakes an ingredient in food -- usually a protein -- as harmful and creates a defense system (antibodies) to fight it. Food allergy symptoms develop when the antibodies are battling the "invading" food. The most common food allergies are peanuts, tree nuts (such as walnuts, pecans and almonds), fish, and shellfish, milk, eggs, soy products, and wheat.
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What Is Food Intolerance?

Food intolerance is a digestive system response rather than an immune system response. It occurs when something in a food irritates a person's digestive system or when a person is unable to properly digest or breakdown, the food. Intolerance to lactose, which is found in milk and other dairy products, is the most common food intolerance.
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Food allergies = serious and life threatening. Your body goes in to defensive mode, which all too often seems to involve self-destruction (Anaphylactic shock, contraction of the airways etc.).

Food intolerance = you get a headache or maybe you fart all day. You probably shouldn't eat the food because it's not doing you any good, but it's not doing you any harm either.

In this instance you can't have either an allergy or an intolerance to MSG because it contains no allergens (proteins that the body mistakes as being invaders) and it breaks down to quickly to cause the digestive system any trouble. Glutamate on the other hand, potentially could cause such problems (I think, I'm a student rather than an expert in this stuff so I'm still learning :p).
 
satchef1 said:
In this instance you can't have either an allergy or an intolerance to MSG because it contains no allergens
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satchef1 said:
Glutamate on the other hand, potentially could cause such problems.
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Doesn't MSG contain glutamate though? In which case how do you reconcile those two comments? Sorry if I'm being thick! And Cuchulain, it seems that satchef1 was indeed saying that an intolerance to MSG was impossible ;).
 
Robbie G said:
Doesn't MSG contain glutamate though? In which case how do you reconcile those two comments? Sorry if I'm being thick! And Cuchulain, it seems that satchef1 was indeed saying that an intolerance to MSG was impossible ;).
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I'm guessing it's the difference between monosodium glutamate and glutamate .. didn't know there was one.
 
Allergic reactions occur when your immune system misidentifies a neutral substance, called an allergen, as harmful.




What allergen does the cold have or sunlight
 
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