MSG (Monosodium Glutamate

grimm

grimm

grimm

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I have just polished off a bag of corn snacks that had Monosodium Glutamate in them, and remembered all the bad press associated with it. I know one of the main types of food that are supposedly full of it are Chinese takeaways/restaurants over here.

Does anyone have any thoughts or can anyone direct me to any reputable information about MSG and the damage it can do? Is it just a myth that it's unilaterally bad for you? :)

I have to say in the past I haven't really noticed or cared, and the same applies now really, but seeing it in big writing on the back of the packet has just piqued my interest.

A google search just comes up with a load of propaganda type pages, and wikipedia has just general information.
 
It's no worse (and arguably better) for you than salt. Some people have an intolerance, as Glaucus stated.

The only problem with it is where it is used in excessive quantities as you can get away with that (in terms of taste) with MSG more so than with salt. Some takeaways over here do indeed use lots of it but tbh it's very rare that you'll have a problem unless you're eating at a very cheap/dodgy takeaway.
 
As above. There was a documentary on the telly a while back about it. in essence as soon as the MSG hits the tongue it instantly splits down into Sodium and Glutamate separately. No worse than them and Glutamate is naturally occurring in foods like cheese, chicken and tomatoes

- GP

*caveat on above - this is from my memory of the documentary, may need double checking
 
Neither Sodium or Glutamate are bad for you, some people just suffer with a Glutamate intolerance which can cause the problems.
It just happens that Chinese takeaways can use large amounts of MSG so people notice it more than the would than when they ate food with natural Glutamate.
 
tom_e said:
Neither Sodium or Glutamate are bad for you, some people just suffer with a Glutamate intolerance which can cause the problems.
It just happens that Chinese takeaways can use large amounts of MSG so people notice it more than the would than when they ate food with natural Glutamate.
Click to expand...

The current concensus on salt is that an excess isn't a good idea for a normal person - but from what I understand the quantiites in food with added MSG is not going to have the same impact as that from salt. I think it's to do with the quantity you end up with, but I haven't looked into it too much.
 
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