Friday, 14 September 2012

The hidden sources of MSG

It is important to learn how to read food labels when shopping.

NaturalNews states,
Some processed natural foods with additives containing free glutamates, such as yeast extracts, claim "no added MSG," which is technically accurate but very deceptive.
So, do your research and avoid products disguised as healthy options. A handy resource is from Truth in Labelling:
Everyone knows that some people get reactions after eating the food ingredient monosodium glutamate - reactions that include migraine headaches, upset stomach, fuzzy thinking, diarrhea, heart irregularities, asthma, and/or mood swings. What many don’t know, is that more than 40 different ingredients contain the chemical in monosodium glutamate (processed free glutamic acid) that causes these reactions.

The following list of ingredients that contain processed free glutamic acid has been compiled over the last 20 years from consumers’ reports of adverse reactions and information provided by manufacturers and food technologists.

Names of ingredients that always contain processed free glutamic acid:

  • Glutamic acid (E 620)2,  Glutamate (E 620)
  • Monosodium glutamate (E 621)
  • Monopotassium glutamate (E 622)
  • Calcium glutamate (E 623)
  • Monoammonium glutamate (E 624)
  • Magnesium glutamate (E 625)
  • Natrium glutamate
  • Yeast extract
  • Anything “hydrolyzed”
  • Any “hydrolyzed protein”
  • Calcium caseinate,  Sodium caseinate
  • Yeast food, Yeast nutrient 
  • Autolyzed yeast
  • Gelatin
  • Textured protein
  • Soy protein, soy protein concentrate
  • Soy protein isolate
  • Whey protein, whey protein concentrate
  • Whey protein isolate
  • Anything “…protein”
  • Vetsin
  • Ajinomoto
Names of ingredients that often contain or produce processed free glutamic acid:

  • Carrageenan (E 407)
  • Bouillon and broth
  • Stock
  • Any “flavors” or “flavoring”
  • Maltodextrin
  • Citric acid, Citrate (E 330)
  • Anything “ultra-pasteurized”
  • Barley malt
  • Pectin (E 440)
  • Protease
  • Anything “enzyme modified”
  • Anything containing “enzymes”
  • Malt extract
  • Soy sauce
  • Soy sauce extract
  • Anything “protein fortified”
  • Anything “fermented”
  • Seasonings
The following are ingredients suspected of containing or creating sufficient processed free glutamic acid to serve as MSG-reaction triggers in HIGHLY SENSITIVE people:

  • Corn starch  
  • Corn syrup  
  • Modified food starch  
  • Lipolyzed butter fat  
  • Dextrose
  • Rice syrup
  • Brown rice syrup  
  • Milk powder 
  • Reduced fat milk (skim; 1%; 2%)   
  • most things low fat or no fat  
  • anything Enriched
  • anything Vitamin enriched
More from NaturalNews:
Another deception is the food industry's claim that glutamate occurs naturally. It does very sparingly appear in plants bound with a protein or other molecules. Bound glutamates are benign, and they are not concentrated enough proportionately in foods to create much "excitement."
But synthetically produced glutamic acid is a glutamate that is free from other molecules. And whether it is, 7.5% or 75% free glutamate it can avoid the MSG labeling while delivering high doses of glutamic acid or free glutamate in each bite of food spiked with whatever enhanced flavoring additives are named. 
It's cheaper to use these chemical additives than more expensive oils and natural spices for enhancing food flavors. But it cheats by exciting the brain's cells into making you believe the flavor is in the food and not just in your head. So one buys and eats more cheap dead food while getting fatter with less nutrition, to say the least.