MSG (Mono Sodium Glutamate), is a food additive suspected of causing reactions such as muscle pains, heart palpitations, facial pressure, headaches, nausea, flushing, tingling, chest heaviness, and numbness. MSG symptom complex is different than an allergy and not yet clearly understood. Because sensitivity to MSG is not a true allergy, there is no test available to determine whether you are sensitive to it. A bit of good news is that anaphylaxis and death are not associated with MSG sensitivity.
Be that as it may, consuming MSG can be such a concern that sensitive persons will take precautions to avoid it. MSG is commonly added to food to enhance flavor and palatability. Once erroneously referred to as Chinese restaurant syndrome, MSG is not specific to any one country’s cuisine. Other food additives are not specifically labeled as containing MSG but they have enough of it to cause problems for those who are sensitive. Canned chicken soups have had MSGF added in one form or another.
If you are avoiding MSG, check the ingredients list for the following: Monosodium glutamate, Hydrolyzed vegetable protein, Autolyzed yeast, Hydrolyzed yeast, Yeast extract, Soy extracts, Protein isolate, and many others.
There is another source of MSG that has been mostly ignored. Gelatin. You’re likely to run into gelatin in some surprising places. Although it’s commonly found in gelatin desserts (think Jell-O), aspic, marshmallows, gummy candies, vitamins, and other supplements (including medicine capsules), it can turn up as a binder in yogurt, ice cream, cream cheese, and anywhere a food manufacturer wants to create a good mouthfeel for their products.
Gelatin is common and, just like sausages, nobody really wants to see how it’s made. Most of it comes from heat-degraded collagen derived from pigs and cows. It’s an ugly process that takes bone, stripped skin, and connective tissue from slaughterhouses and processes them (through acid, heat, and grinding) into an innocuous-looking, tasteless powder.
There’s nothing in that bouncy gelatin dessert or a smiling gummy bear that will give a hint of how it is made. Ethical concerns aside, there’s much not to like about gelatin. Although it might seem that a marshmallow Peep has nothing in common with a shaker of the flavor-enhancer Accent, both contain manufactured free glutamate (MfG). Just as drugs have side effects, MfG has side effects such as irritable bowel, headache, and heart irregularities. Additionally, MfG is an excitotoxin, a neurologically active compound.
Mfg is created in food ingredients when protein is broken down into its constituent amino acids, one of which always will be free glutamate. Even slow-cooked meats generate MfG. The Encyclopedia of Food Science and Technology states that glutamate makes up approximately 10% of gelatin.
Could you have a noticeable reaction to a gelatin product? That would depend on your individual sensitivity as well as the amount of MfG you consume.
Examine any gelatin-containing product in the store and you won’t see mention of glutamic acid or free glutamates. There isn’t a requirement to list them on labels. It’s reported that MfG is “naturally occurring”, has been extensively studied and found to be “safe,” and that the glutamate in the human body is exactly the same as what you’ll find in foods such as gelatin. Caution is advised.
If you avoid MSG, it would pay to carefully read ingredient labels of all processed foods. Although you won’t be able to determine if the gelatin came from pigs, cows, or fish, the name gelatin is required to be listed on the packaging. It’s a warning flag that MfG (MSG in disguise) is present.
Larry Frieders is a pharmacist in Aurora who had a book published, The Undruggist: Book One, A Tale of Modern Apothecary and Wellness. He can be reached at thecompounder.com/ask-larry or www.facebook.com/thecompounder.