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The Hidden Food Additive That Eats Your Brain
By | September 25, 2008
…and it might also be making you fat
I’m going to cut right to the chase and tell you that the hidden ingredient is MSG or monosodium glutamate. “Big deal,” you say, “I read labels and don’t buy products with MSG, and I make sure I order my Chinese food without it.” If so, let me first applaud your efforts. But unfortunately, you can’t stop there, as sneaky food manufacturers are hiding MSG under a variety of names. But before we go into that, let’s first answer:
What’s The Big Deal About MSG, Anyway?
MSG was first isolated in 1908 by Kikunae Ikeda of Tokyo, Japan who noticed that glutamic acid had flavor-enhancing potential. Prior to this, the Japanese used seaweed as a flavor enhancer. It turns out that the secret to seaweed’s flavor enhancement is glutamic acid. Shortly after Ikeda’s discovery, commercial production of MSG began.
In addition to tasting good, MSG is dirt-cheap, and those two factors are what have led to its inclusion in everything from soup to crackers to meats. But MSG has a darker side. A side that the FDA and the world’s leading MSG manufacturer have tried to hide. MSG has a number of very bad effects on the body, most notably the brain. It is classified as an excitotoxin. According to Dr. Russell Blaylock, a prominent neurosurgeon, in his book “Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills”, an excitotoxin is a substance that overexcites your cells to the point of damage, acting as a poison.
Definitely not something you want to be eating. I mean really, is a tasty snack worth poisoning your cells for?
As you can imagine, MSG can have many nasty effects on your body, so many that I’m devoting next month’s article to describing them, but for now I need to address the folks who might be saying, “OK, so I’ll read the labels and avoid MSG. Thanks!”
Oh, if it were only that simple.
That’s dangerous thinking, and I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t give you the whole story. As I mentioned, sneaky food manufacturers are hiding MSG using some label trickery. It’s a variation on the trans-fat labeling games the food manufacturers play. Oh, and you might not be surprised to learn that the world’s leading MSG manufacturer, Ajinomoto, a Japanese company, also manufactures Aspartame, another controversial food additive. But that’s a big can of worms we can open later.
For now, let’s focus on the two distinct ways of making MSG. The first is to make “monosodium glutamate”, which contains 79% free glutamic acid, sodium, moisture and up to 1 per cent contaminants. If a food ingredient contains 79% free glutamic acid, according to FDA regulations, it must be shown on the label as MSG. But…the second distinct method of making MSG is by breaking down protein into free glutamic acid. A protein can be broken down in a number of ways (hydolysis, autolysis, fermentation, etc.). So as long as it contains less than 79% free glutamic acid, it does not have to be labeled as MSG. And in case you’re wondering, the reason for my focus on the glutamic acid content is because that’s what causes all of the nasty MSG effects.
So now a manufacturer can choose from over 40 food ingredients besides monosodium glutamate, and still get the flavor enhancement of MSG. According to the FDA, each must be called by its usual or common name. Here’s a partial list of ingredients that show a food almost certainly contains MSG, in the form of free glutamic acid:
* Broth
* Casein or caseinate
* Glutamate / Glutamic acid
* Hydrolyzed protein
* Autolyzed yeast
* Yeast extract
* Yeast food
* Hydrolyzed corn gluten
* Natrium glutamate
When grocery shopping, reading labels will help you determine if a food contains MSG. Other words indicating that MSG is in the food product include autolyzed yeast, calcium caseinate, sodium caseinate, gelatin, hydrolyzed protein, fermented soy powder and yeast extract. In most cases, the more processed a food is, the more likely it is to have added MSG. Foods that commonly contain added MSG include flavored chips, frozen items and canned soups. Naturally occurring MSG, in the form of glutamic acid, also can be found in some fish, dairy foods and certain vegetables, including soybeans, mushrooms and tomatoes.
All of that is good advice, but food manufacturers may make it even harder to find hidden MSG. The April 6, 2005 edition of New York Times reported on a company known as Senomyx. This company manufactures artificial flavors. According to the article, instead of listing the chemical compounds separately, as is done with artificial sweeteners, food manufacturers will be able to lump them into a broad category known as “artificial flavors”.
The chemical compounds are designed to reduce the amount of sugar, salt and/or monosodium glutamate listed on a food’s label. According to Senomyx’s chief executive, Kent Snyder, “We’re helping companies clean up their labels.” Not, “We’re helping companies get rid of harmful MSG or salt.” These products are intentionally designed to mislead the public, while continuing to include harmful ingredients in the foods they produce.
Since the headline mentions how MSG can eat your brain, let’s start there.
Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and MSG
For years now, the pharmaceutical industry has been researching ways to treat Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and other diseases classified as neurodegenerative. One of the most promising areas in this research has to do with drugs that block the effects of glutamic acid on the brain and nerve system.
If you’ll recall from last month, Dr. Russell Blaylock classifies MSG as an excitotoxin, a substance that excites cells to the point of damage. It turns out that Dr. Blaylock is not alone on this. Scientists classify several amino acids, most notably glutamic acid and aspartic acid, as excitatory amino acids, or EAAs. Research has shown these EAAs cause damage to very specific areas of the brains and nervous systems of laboratory animals.
This deeply concerns me, as your chiropractor, because I know that nerve damage can lead to a variety of health problems, including immune system depression and hormonal imbalance.
In addition to being EAAs, glutamic acid and aspartic acid are also neurotransmitters, meaning they control communication in the brain. And, they are both among the EAAs that appear to be involved in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimers and Parkinson’s. Although this article is about MSG, remember that Aspartame is approximately 40% aspartic acid. Yet another reason to avoid Aspartame.
Here’s further proof of MSG’s ability to damage the nerve system, from an article dated 2001, on the NIH website: “Four decades ago, it was demonstrated that the amino acid glutamate, when introduced directly into the central nervous system (CNS), could trigger convulsions by an excitatory (depolarizing) action on neural membrane.” It continues, “glutamate can kill neurons in the retina or brain, and that the neuroexcitatory action of glutamate was responsible for the cell killing effect.” And listen to what this prominent neuroscientist had to say about MSG:
“I consider it ironic, that the pharmaceutical industry is investing vast resources in the development of glutamate receptor blockers to protect CNS [central nervous system] neurons against glutamate neurotoxicity in common neurological disorders, while at the same time the food industry, with the blessing of the FDA, continues to add great quantities of glutamate to the food supply.”
– Richard C. Henneberry, Ph.D., Director, Neuroscience Program, Conte Institute for Environmental Health
In addition to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, scientists suggest that the EAA are also involved in other neurodegenerative conditions, including: epilepsy, stroke; amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease); Huntington’s disease; and Wernicke/Korsakoff syndrome. Researchers refer to these conditions as the glutamate cascade.
And if you needed further proof that glutamate is at least partly responsible for the development of neurodegenerative diseases, consider that in October, 2003, the FDA approved Namenda. Namenda became the first drug approved for people with advanced Alzheimer’s. The July-August 2004 AARP Bulletin had this to say: “the drug blunts the brain chemical glutamate [glutamic acid] which can accumulate abnormally and kill brain cells.”
As if nerve damage wasn’t bad enough consider…
The Possible Link Between Cancer and MSG
I did a Google search on glutamate receptors and cancer and found research showing that several types of cancers have glutamate receptors including: colon, breast, skin (melanoma), lung and thyroid. This was real scientific research, published in peer-reviewed scientific journals as well as on the web.
Much recent cancer researched is focused on blocking the actions of the glutamate receptors.
According to Dr. Blaylock, “The total picture is — if you’re consuming a diet with glutamate in it, particularly high levels, you’re making your cancer grow very rapidly. I refer to it as cancer fertilizer.”
Some other conditions that MSG may play a role in include:
Sudden Cardiac Death
There are glutamate receptors on the part of the heart that controls rhythm. Too much glutamate can ultimately lead to heart arrhythmias and may play a role in sudden cardiac death.
Diabetes
There are glutamate receptors on the pancreas, which can lead to diabetes or loss of diabetic control, once the disease is present.
Asthma
As mentioned above regarding lung cancer there are glutamate receptors in the lungs, which could explain the alarming increase in the number of new asthma cases.
Finally, let’s discuss MSG’s role in obesity.
In 1969, a researcher named Olney found that when young mice were given glutamic acid they developed damage to the part of the brain known as the hypothalamus. He linked the brain damage to stunted skeletal development, obesity, female sterility and other endocrine problems. Further studies have confirmed Olney’s initial findings. The fact that the research was done on young mice is important, because the young, whether mice or humans, are particularly at risk of damage from MSG and subsequent obesity because of something called the blood-brain-barrier (BBB).
The BBB controls the amount of glutamic acid that can reach the brain from the blood stream. The BBB isn’t fully formed until around 2 years of age. So any intake of MSG or other forms of glutamic acid can go directly to the brain in young children.
In addition, research has shown that glutamic acid can affect unborn children because it can cross the placenta. Avoiding MSG during pregnancy as well as when during the early years makes sense.
Also, babies can get MSG through their mothers’ milk, if their mothers are consuming MSG or through their infant formula which typically has MSG in it. The greatest amounts of MSG in infant formula will be found in hypoallergenic formulas–which are typically soy based.
Interestingly, exposing children to MSG has been shown to increase their taste for sweet foods over healthy foods.
It has been shown to increase the appetite and lead to overeating in all age groups. By way of its effects on neurotransmitters, MSG interferes with the brain’s “full” signal.
There’s truth in that old saying about Chinese food, how 30 minutes later you’re hungry again. Or maybe you’ve experienced the “can’t eat just one” phenomenon with certain snacks. It isn’t because you are still hungry, it’s because the brain has been fooled into thinking you are still hungry.
I could go on, but I think you get the picture. I encourage you to research this further on your own. The web is a good resource, and regardless of your religious affiliation, you can check out www.cbn.com for an eye-opening four part video series that features Dr. Russell Blaylock. Search MSG at the home page. During the intro, Pat Robertson states that MSG is, “Worse than alcohol, nicotine, and drugs”. I must agree.
Topics: Food Dangers |
