Msg

There has also been speculation that some folks might have an allergy to msg. Something you may know as chinese restaurant syndrome. Though an allergy is possible, scientists have never been able to replicate the reported allergy. One double-blind test of msg and placebos tested 130 people who were sure they had an msg sensitivity. Scientists conducting the study couldnat find any adverse reactions.

Some folks now believe that chinese restaurant syndrome might be more a case of bad chinese food than an msg allergy. Chemically speaking, msg is approximately 78 percent free glutamic acid, 21 percent sodium, and up to 1 percent contaminants. Umami is the taste of glutamate, which is a savory flavor found in many japanese foods, bacon and also in the toxic food additive msg. It is because of umami that foods with msg taste heartier, more robust and generally better to a lot of people than foods without it.

One of the best overviews of the very real dangers of msg comes from dr. Russell blaylock, a board-certified neurosurgeon and author of aexcitotoxins: the taste that kills" in it he explains that msg is an excitotoxin, which means it overexcites your cells to the point of damage or death, causing brain damage to varying degrees -- and potentially even triggering or worsening learning disabilities, alzheimeras disease, parkinsonas disease, lou gehrigas disease and more.

Although the fda continues to claim that consuming msg in food does not cause these ill effects, many other experts say otherwise.

According to dr. Blaylock, numerous glutamate receptors have been found both within your heart's electrical conduction system and the heart muscle itself. This can be damaging to your heart, and may even explain the sudden deaths sometimes seen among young athletes. He says: awhen an excess of food-borne excitotoxins, such as msg, hydrolyzed protein soy protein isolate and concentrate, natural flavoring, sodium caseinate and aspartate from aspartame, are consumed, these glutamate receptors are over-stimulated, producing cardiac arrhythmias. When magnesium stores are low, as we see in athletes, the glutamate receptors are so sensitive that even low levels of these excitotoxins can result in cardiac arrhythmias and death".

Msg way cause burning sensations of the mouth, head and neck, weakness of the arms or legs, headaches, upset stomach, hives or other allergic-type reactions with the skin.

According to the fda, msg symptom complex can involve symptoms below.

Numbness

Burning sensation

Tingling

Facial pressure or tightness

Chest pain or difficulty breathing

Headache

Nausea

Rapid heartbeat

Drowsiness

Weakness.

Like msg, aspartame is an excitotoxin.

It also is believed to be carcinogenic, and produces neurotoxic effects such as headaches, dizziness, blurry vision, and gastrointestinal disturbances.

Aspartame contains 10-percent methanol, which is shown to be broken down by the body into the toxic by-products formic acid and formaldehyde.

Formaldehyde is considered to be a potent nerve toxin and carcinogen, which may explain why aspartame accounts for more reports to the fda of adverse reactions than all other foods and food additives combined.

Itas an known excitotoxin, which is a neurotoxic chemical additive shown to harm nerve cellsa overexciting them, sometimes to the point of cell death.

Regularly consuming excitotoxins like msg destroys significant numbers of brain cells and can lead to serious health problems, including neurological disorders. (the two other common excitotoxins used in food are aspartic acid (found in aspartame) and l-cysteine, which is used as a dough conditioner.) in addition, regular consumption of msg has been shown to stimulate the appetite and contribute to weight gain and obesity.

Msg goes by several aliases, such as hydrolyzed vegetable protein, hydrolyzed plant protein, vegetable protein extract, yeast extract, glutamate, glutamic acid, sodium caseinate, textured protein, soy protein isolates, barley malt, calcium caseinate and malt extract.

This is just a suggestion from latechef; "i personally avoid using msg in all my foods; 1/4 tsp dehydrates me and i get strange dry taste in my mouth (after few hours later)"