The Truth About MSG. Is MSG really that bad for you? Can MSG make you obese?

This is a topic which gathers a lot of attention because it has entered the forefront of media coverage over the last few years and is in a lot of foods we eat.  The question is, is it really dangerous or is it just hype?

MSG is an amino acid which makes food 'morish' and is added to foods for the addictive effect it has on the human body.  It is present naturally in foods, but as usual, people have got involved and started extracting it and putting it into foods in large, potentially damaging doses.

It simply gives us an insatiable hunger.  This is extremely beneficial for food manufactures and their sales figures.  Some suggest it is useful to make the elderly and hospitalised patients eat more http://www.ajcn.org/content/90/3/844S.full.  This is good for them.  But why would that be good for healthy people who don't need to by overly hungry or overly full?

Many studies have gone to lengths to uncover the truth behind MSG over time.  One diagnostic pathology study looked at the effects it has on obesity and diabetes. 'To directly address the long-term consequences of MSG on inflammation, we have performed serial analysis of MSG-injected mice and focused in particular on liver pathology. We submit that MSG treatment...induces obesity and diabetes with steatosis and steatohepatitis. These results take on considerable significance in light of the widespread usage of dietary MSG and we suggest that MSG should have its safety profile re-examined and be potentially withdrawn from the food chain. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18178378

These results give me cause for concern as a consumer, they suggest to me that not only is this substance worrying enough to fund tests, it is also coming up with results which suggest it could be extremely damaging.  The fact that its increasing consumption is also correlating with the rise of the studies associated diseases; obesity and diabetes, also makes me think there could be truth in these findings.

Another study investigated the way that it affects obesity. 'The present study demonstrates, that a widely used nutritional monosubstance--the flavouring agent MSG--at concentrations that only slightly surpass those found in everyday human food, exhibits significant potential for damaging the hypothalamic regulation of appetite, and thereby determines the propensity of world-wide obesity http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16132059.

The FDA suggest that MSG is perfectly safe and encourage people to consume foods which contain it without fear.  However if the FDA are in charge of what is going on with nutrition in the West then the figures of obesity are suggesting something is up with their advice, the food or our behaviour.  Probably all three. 

So in summary I think, yes, it is best to avoid this substance in food as often as possible.  Always read the label.  It is not good to use your body as a chemistry experiment as you might get a 'reaction' you are not going to enjoy later down the line.  Keep it healthy, whole, pure and fresh.  Then, it is really quite hard to go wrong.

Josie.

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