what is monosodiumglutimate which is used in cooking?

Answer 1

What Is MSG?
MSG is the sodium salt of the amino acid glutamic acid and a form of glutamate. It is sold as a fine white crystal substance, similar in appearance to salt or sugar. It does not have a distinct taste of its own, and how it adds flavor to other foods is not fully understood. Many scientists believe that MSG stimulates glutamate receptors in the tongue to augment meat-like flavors.
Asians originally used a seaweed broth to obtain the flavor- enhancing effects of MSG, but today MSG is made by a fermenting process using starch, sugar beets, sugar cane, or molasses.
Glutamate itself is in many living things: It is found naturally in our bodies and in protein-containing foods, such as cheese, milk, meat, peas, and mushrooms.
Some glutamate is in foods in a "free" form. It is only in this free form that glutamate can enhance a food's flavor. Part of the flavor-enhancing effect of tomatoes, certain cheeses, and fermented or hydrolyzed protein products (such as soy sauce) is due to the presence of free glutamate.
Hydrolyzed proteins, or protein hydrolysates, are acid- treated or enzymatically treated proteins from certain foods. They contain salts of free amino acids, such as glutamate, at levels of 5 to 20 percent. Hydrolyzed proteins are used in the same manner as MSG in many foods, such as canned vegetables, soups, and processed meats.

FREE GLUTAMIC ACID (MSG): SOURCES AND DANGERS

Why is free glutamic acid added in vast amounts to processed foods? Our large profit-driven food companies have found that manufactured free glutamic acid, in the form of monosodium glutamate (MSG), hydrolyzed vegetable proteins, etc., etc., when added to our processed foods, masks off flavors and makes the blandest and cheapest foods taste wonderful.

The story is fascinating. For thousands of years kombu and other seaweeds have been added to foods in Japan to enhance flavor. In 1908 a Japanese scientist discovered that the active ingredient in kombu is glutamic acid and then the use of its sodium salt, monosodium glutamate, began in Japan. During the Second World War American quartermasters realized that Japanese army rations tasted great. Following the war, they introduced monosodium glutamate, the flavor enhancing ingredient in the Japanese rations, to the food industry; and the world-wide use of processed free glutamic acid began to explode.


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Since free glutamic acid is cheap and since its neurotoxic nerve stimulation enhances so wonderfully the flavor of basically bland and tasteless foods, such as many low-fat and vegetarian foods, manufacturers are eager to go on using it and do not want the public to realize any of the problems.


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An excellent NOHA lecture on the dangers and hidden sources of processed free glutamic acid was given at Evanston’s Whole Foods Market on February 14, 2000, by NOHA Board Member Jack Samuels. He is president of the Truth in Labeling Campaign.

Glutamic acid is a neurotransmitter that excites our neurons (not just in our tongues). This electrical charging of neurons is what makes foods with added free glutamic acid taste so good. Unfortunately, the free glutamic acid can cause problems in many people. Actually, our brains have many receptors for glutamic acid and some areas, such as the hypothalamus,1 do not have an impermeable blood-brain barrier, so free glutamic acid from food sources can get into the brain, injuring and sometimes killing neurons. At least 25 per cent of the U.S. population react to free glutamic acid from food sources. Today, we recognize that those reactions range from mild and transitory to debilitating and life threatening. Please see Table 1.


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. . . free glutamic acid from food sources can get into the brain, injuring and sometimes killing neurons


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Glutamic acid is widely distributed in proteins. When we eat it bound as part of whole, unprocessed proteins, it helps nourish us as it has for millennia. Glutamic acid bound as part of whole, unprocessed protein does not cause problems in people who react to the free glutamic acid in manufactured food, where it is hidden in ingredients with about 40 different names. Please see Table 2.

Monosodium glutamate and other forms of free glutamic acid can be manufactured cheaply and sometimes it is even just a byproduct of other food processes. For example, the brewer’s yeast from the brewing industry contains free glutamic acid. Since free glutamic acid is cheap and since its neurotoxic nerve stimulation enhances so wonderfully the flavor of basically bland and tasteless foods, such as many low-fat and vegetarian foods, manufacturers are eager to go on using it and do not want the public to realize any of the problems. In 1999 in an article in a peer-reviewed journal, NOHA Board Member Adrienne Samuels, PhD, wrote a history of the many deceptions used by those manufacturers, "The Toxicity/Safety of Processed Free Glutamic Acid (MSG): A Study in Suppression of Information."2 She points out "how easily truth can be hidden and how seemingly isolated incidents actually can be badly flawed research, direct suppression of information, and dissemination of biased information orchestrated by one group or industry."

According to Dr. Samuels, the evidence of toxicity is overwhelming. Exposed laboratory animals suffer brain lesions and neuroendocrine disorders. Scientists studying retinal degeneration in mice treated with free glutamic acid have noted that these mice also became grotesquely obese following administration of free glutamic acid. The vulnerable hypothalamus in our brains regulates weight control, as well as other endocrine functions. When the brain is deluged with more free glutamic acid than it can handle, scientists know that problems and diseases can develop. For example, they know that a diverse number of disease conditions such as ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a progressive degeneration of neurons and motor cells of the brain), Alzheimer’s disease, seizures, and stroke are associated with the glutamate cascade.


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Glutamic acid bound as part of whole, unprocessed protein does not cause problems in people who react to the free glutamic acid in manufactured food, where it is hidden in ingredients with about 40 different names


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Faced with growing evidence of toxicity from processed free glutamic acid, its manufacturers and users formed The Glutamate Association. Dr. Samuels states:

Membership in The Glutamate Association is secret. However, a source from within the glutamate industry, who has asked to remain anonymous, told me that besides Ajinomoto, among its member are Archer Daniels Midland, Campbell, Corn Products Corporation, McCormick & Company, Pet Foods, Pfizer laboratories, and Takeda.


The parent organization of The Glutamate Association funded scientists to do research and to make public statements about the "safety" of MSG. Dr. Samuels describes their research and many of their actions in fascinating detail. A few of their ploys are as follows:

Although it had been established that brain lesions could not be identified if examination was not done within 24 hours after insult, glutamate-industry researchers routinely examined the brains of test animals after 24 hours had elapsed.
Monkeys are much less sensitive to glutamate than humans. Mice and rats have reactions closer to ours. According to Dr. John Olney, "The same oral dose of glutamate that causes a dramatic increase in blood glutamate concentrations in humans, causes no increase at all in monkeys. Therefore, it is difficult to understand why so much money and effort was expended on oral glutamate monkey studies, unless the goal was to amass an unchangeable mountain of negative evidence that could serve as basis for fostering the misleading impression, and fueling the spurious argument that if monkeys are resistant to glutamate-induced brain damage, other primates, including humans, must be similarly resistant."
In studies with people, glutamate industry researchers have sometimes used aspartame (Nutrasweet®) as the "placebo" for their "control" groups. Aspartame contains aspartic acid, which is a structural analog of glutamic acid and causes the same toxic effects. Thus, they could be confident that they would get the same effects in the experimental and in the "control" groups.
In statistics we need to be acutely alert to the manner in which the population for study is chosen. For instance, scientists can say they are doing a random study, but, we must ask, "From what group are the people drawn?" One approach used by glutamate industry researchers was to pretest the group with placebos containing, for example, aspartame, carageenan, or enzymes to which MSG-sensitive people would react. In this way, by choosing for their population people, who do not react to the so-called "placebos," the scientists could be pretty sure that their subjects would not react to MSG.
Another way to reduce reactions is to put the MSG in capsules. Then, it will be slowly released and reactions of MSG-sensitive people will be blunted—compared to their reactions to the same amount of MSG sprinkled on food.
Give MSG with sucrose. This will also blunt reactions. Dr. Blaylock has explained that a tremendous amount of energy is required for the brain to manage glutamic acid and, of course, glucose is what our brains use for energy.
To defend themselves against epidemiological studies indicating that 25-30 per cent of the population reacted to monosodium glutamate and against individual reports of human adverse reactions that included migraine headache, seizures, asthma, and depression, the glutamate industry built the fiction that a few people might react to monosodium glutamate with the "Chinese restaurant syndrome": "burning," "tightness," and "numbness," all occurring at the same time, within two hours following ingestion. They sent out a questionnaire and got 3,222 respondents, of whom 1.8 per cent reported having the exactly defined "Chinese restaurant syndrome." The fact that an additional 41.2 per cent of the subjects reported experiencing conditions that are associated with MSG-induced adverse reactions such as headache, diarrhea, chest pain, dizziness, palpitation, weakness, nausea/vomiting, abdominal cramps, chills, heartburn, unusual thirst, unusual perspiration, flushing sensation in face or chest, and tingling was ignored. Migraine headache, seizures, tachycardia, hives, skin rash, and depression, which were not offered as options, were not considered. Soon the FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) began to disseminate the misinformation that approximately 2 per cent of the population might be sensitive to MSG, reacting with the mild and transitory reactions of "Chinese restaurant syndrome."








Dr. Samuels spells out much evidence of cooperation between governmental departments, especially the FDA, and the glutamate industry. Scientists at many prestigious universities have done glutamate-industry funded research and peer-reviewed journals have published flawed research on the "safety" of MSG. Glutamate industry representatives and friends sit on boards of "independent" organizations. Glutamate industry researcher and spokesman Ronald Simon, MD, has been a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). Monsanto’s Robert Shapiro sits on the board of the Tufts University School of Nutrition.

On January 14, 1998 AuxiGro®, which contains processed free glutamic acid, was registered as a growth enhancer with the EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) and permission was granted to spray it on all agricultural products. AuxiGro® gives plants sprayed with it the false signal that they are under "stress." The plants respond by pulling additional nutrients from the soil and thus grow much larger, increasing yields. The recent huge potatoes and yams in the supermarket would appear to be a direct result of AuxiGro®.

Dr. Samuels has presented us with many facts. She concludes: "The key to having the system work for those who use it to deceive others is the fact that few, if any, will take the time to review the facts with detachment and without prejudice and that whistle blowers are punished."


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. . . mice also became grotesquely obese following administration of free glutamic acid. The vulnerable hypothalamus in our brains regulates weight control . . .


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Some people are sensitive to minute amounts of free glutamic acid. For others, a larger dose or more than one dose is required to elicit reactions, which can be either immediate or delayed. In all cases, babies and small children are most vulnerable. Reacting to pressure stemming from the research on neurotoxicity and on injury to the developing infant’s endocrine system, baby food manufacturers voluntarily removed monosodium glutamate from their products in the early 1970s but they often left actual free glutamic acid in their products, as "autolyzed yeast and hydrolyzed vegetable protein."

Today, free glutamic acid is ubiquitous in processed food. What should we do?

For ourselves individually, we need to consume truly natural, unfermented, unadulterated, unprocessed protein.
For everyone everywhere, we need to communicate to our friends and relatives, our local newspapers, over the Internet, and to our congresspersons and senators—the facts about the deceptive research and the misleading food labeling.



When the word spreads and the public demands food without neurotoxic free glutamic acid, then our lives can be dramatically improved and we can be free from this often hidden source of suffering.

For more information, contact Jack and Adrienne Samuels at the Truth in Labeling Campaign, P. O. Box 2532, Darien, IL 60561; [e-mail]; or http://www.truthinlabeling.org




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Table 1

REACTIONS TO FREE GLUTAMIC ACID IN SENSITIVE PEOPLE

Cardiac

Arrhythmias

Extreme rise or drop in blood pressure

Rapid heartbeat (tachycardia)

Angina


Circulatory

Swelling Muscular

Flu-like achiness

Joint pain

Stiffness


Neurological

Depression

Dizziness, Light-headedness, Loss of balance

Disorientation, Mental confusion

Anxiety, Panic attacks

Hyperactivity, Behavioral problems in children

Lethargy, Sleepiness, Insomnia

Migraine headache

Numbness or paralysis

Seizures

Sciatica

Slurred speech


Gastrointestinal

Diarrhea

Nausea/vomiting

Stomach cramps

Irritable bowel

Bloating


Respiratory

Asthma, Shortness of breath

Chest pain, Tightness

Runny nose, Sneezing


Skin

Hives or rash

Mouth lesions

Temporary tightness or partial paralysis (numbness or tingling) of the skin Flushing Extreme dryness of the mouth


Urological

Swelling of prostate Nocturia

Visual Blurred vision Difficulty focusing


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Table 2

Using the term "MSG" to stand for processed free glutamic acid, which causes the reactions in sensitive people, Mr. Jack Samuels gave us at his NOHA lecture the following listing for hidden sources:

These ALWAYS contain MSG:

Glutamate, Monosodium glutamate, Monopotassium glutamate, Glutamic acid, Calcium caseinate, Gelatin, Textured protein, Hydrolyzed protein (any protein that is hydrolyzed), Yeast extract, Yeast food, Autolyzed yeast, Yeast nutrient

These OFTEN contain MSG or create MSG during processing:

Flavor(s) & Flavoring(s), Natural flavor(s) & flavoring(s), Natural pork flavoring, Bouillon, Natural beef flavoring, Stock, Natural chicken flavoring, Broth, Malt flavoring, Barley malt, Malt extract, Seasonings (the word "seasonings"), Carrageenan, Soy sauce, Soy sauce extract, Soy protein, Soy protein concentrate, Soy protein isolate, Pectin, Maltodextrin, Whey protein, Whey protein isolate, Whey protein concentrate, anything Protein fortified, Protease, Protease enzymes, anything Enzyme modified, Enzymes, anything Ultra-pasteurized, anything Fermented

Jack Samuels also warned us about low fat milk products with milk solids that contain MSG and about soaps, shampoos, and cosmetics. We also need to watch the binders and fillers in medications, nutrients, and supplements. "Reactions to MSG are dose related, i.e., some people react to even very small amounts." MSG-induced reactions can be delayed as much as 48 hours or can occur immediately after ingestion or exposure.

Stay away from it!
Good Luck

Answer 2

It's a flavor enhancer - not used so much any more as a lot of people have a bad reaction to it.

"...MSG is a flavor enhancer which has been used effectively for nearly a century to bring out the best flavor of foods. Its principal component is an amino acid called glutamic acid or glutamate. Glutamate is found naturally in protein-containing foods such as meat, vegetables, poultry and milk. The human body also produces glutamate naturally in large amounts. The muscles, brain and other body organs contain about four pounds of glutamate, and human milk is rich in glutamate, compared to cow's milk, for example..."

Answer 3

Also known as MSG it is used as a flavor enhancer that helps bring out the best natural flavors in foods. It works well with a wide variety of foods including meats, poultry, seafood, and many vegetables. Home cooks use MSG in soups, stews, sauces and casseroles, while the food industry frequently uses it in snack foods, frozen entrees and a wide variety of convenience foods.The same thing occurs when you cook with foods that are naturally high in glutamate, such as mushrooms, tomatoes and Parmesan cheese. No wonder these foods have long been prized for their distinctive flavoring abilities!

Answer 4

Monosodium glutamate, also known as MSG, Ve-tsin or E621 is used as a flavour enhancing agent, in many kinds of food products to enhance their original flavour. Glutamic acid as well as different salts of glutamic acid other than MSG, like monopotassium glutamate, show the same effect. Glutamate also imparts an unique taste called ‘umami' in food, and it was scientifically recognized as the fifth basic taste along with sweet, sour, salty and bitter. As glutamate is a major component of protein, it is found naturally in virtually all protein-containing foods such as meat, poultry, seafood, vegetables and milk. Naturally occurring glutamate has been traditionally used to impart the umami taste.

Answer 5

Wikipedia: "Monosodium glutamate, sodium glutamate, flavour enhancer , commonly known as MSG or Vetsin, is a sodium salt of glutamic acid. MSG is a food additive, popularly marketed as a "flavour enhancer". In its pure form, it appears as a white crystalline powder; when dissolved in water (or saliva) it rapidly dissociates into free sodium and glutamate ions (glutamate is the anionic form of glutamic acid)."

Reported to cause certain cancers, but so are other things too.

Answer 6

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
what is monosodiumglutimate which is used in cooking?

Answer 7

Monosodiumglutimate

Answer 8

it is a flavor enhancer it is used alot in Chinese cooking
The number to look out for on ingredients lists is E621
i believe you can buy it in oriental super markets in its pure form it is a white crystaline powder
probably best to avoid it if you can

Answer 9

Monosodiumglutinate, or MSG is Accent. It's a flavor enhancer. It can cause very bad allergic reactions in people.

It's in Cheetos and a lot of chinese foods.

Answer 10

glutamic acid (gltăm`ĭk), organic compound, one of the 20 amino acids amino acid (əmē`nō), any one of a class of simple organic compounds containing carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and in certain cases sulfur.
..... Click the link for more information. commonly found in animal proteins. Only the l-stereoisomer occurs in mammalian proteins. Like aspartic acid aspartic acid (əspär`tĭk), organic compound, one of the 20 amino acids commonly found in animal proteins. Only the l-stereoisomer participates in the biosynthesis of proteins.
..... Click the link for more information. , glutamic acid has an acidic carboxyl group on its side chain which can serve as both an acceptor and a donor of ammonia, a compound toxic to the body. Once glutamic acid has coupled with ammonia, it is called glutamine glutamine (gl`təmēn), organic compound, one of the 20 amino acids commonly found in animal proteins.
..... Click the link for more information. and can as such safely transport ammonia to the liver, where the ammonia is eventually converted to urea urea (yē`ə), organic compound that is the principal end product of nitrogen metabolism in most mammals.
..... Click the link for more information. for excretion by the kidneys. Free glutamic acid (that not incorporated into proteins) can also be converted reversibly to α-ketoglutaric acid, an intermediate in the Krebs cycle, and as such can be degraded to carbon dioxide and water, or transformed into sugars. The acidic side chain of glutamic acid confers one negative charge under most conditions to proteins in which this amino acid is found, thus increasing the water solubility of the protein. Monosodium glutamate (MSG), the monosodium salt of l-glutamic acid, is widely used as a condiment. The amino acid was isolated from wheat gluten in 1866 and chemically synthesized in 1890. It is not essential to the human diet, since it can be synthesized in the body from the common intermediate α-ketoglutaric acid

Answer 11

MSG is a flavour enhancer.


Fireman Sam is right. It is used a lot of Chinese foods, and is why you always wake up thirsty after eating one.