MSG – Poison in Your Food
This article was originally written by an anonymous writer and from my research has been published on many sites – as such I was unable to find the true source to credit someone for writing such a wonderful article… nonetheless I think the information here is valuable. I would like to thank one of my patients however, who brought this article to my attention and subsequently to yours as well. I hope you enjoy the information provided… food for thought as they say!
If you would like more information about eliminating food additives from your diet I will be hosting “Nutrition 101″ in June – it is a half day workshop dedicated to exploring all the best in the nutritional world!
Enjoy,
Giovanna
MSG – Poison in Your Food
MSG hides behind 25 or more names, such as “Natural Flavouring”. MSG is even in your favourite coffee from Tim Horton’s and Starbucks coffee shops.
I wondered if there could be an actual chemical causing the massive obesity epidemic, and so did a friend of mine, John Erb. He was a research assistant at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, and spent years working for the government. He made an amazing discovery while going through scientific journals for a book he was writing called “The Slow Poisoning of America”.
In hundreds of studies around the world, scientists were creating obese mice and rats to use in diet or diabetes test studies. No strain of rat or mice is naturally obese, so scientists have to create them. They make these creatures morbidly obese by injecting them with MSG when they are first born. The MSG triples the amount of insulin the pancreas creates, causing rats (and perhaps humans) to become obese. They even have a name for the fat rodents they create: ‘MSG-Treated Rats.’
When I heard this, I was shocked. I went into my kitchen and checked the cupboards and the refrigerator. MSG was in everything — the Campbell’s soups, the Hostess Doritos, the Lays flavoured potato chips, Top Ramen, Betty Crocker Hamburger Helper, Heinz canned gravy, Swanson frozen prepared meals, and Kraft salad dressings, especially the ‘healthy low-fat’ ones. The items that didn’t have MSG marked on the product label had something called ‘Hydrolysed Vegetable Protein,’ which is just another name for Monosodium Glutamate.
It was shocking to see just how many of the foods we feed our children everyday are filled with this stuff. MSG is hidden under many different names in order to fool those who read the ingredient list, so that they don’t catch on. (Other names for MSG are ‘Accent, ‘Aginomoto, ‘Natural Meat Tenderiser,’ etc.) But it didn’t stop there.
When our family went out to eat, we started asking at the restaurants what menu items contained MSG. Many employees, even the managers, swore they didn’t use MSG. But when we ask for the ingredient list, which they grudgingly provided, sure enough, MSG and Hydrolysed Vegetable Protein were everywhere.
Burger King, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Taco Bell, every restaurant — even the sit-down eateries like TGIF, Chili’s, Applebee’s, and Denny’s — use MSG in abundance. Kentucky Fried Chicken seemed to be the WORST offender: MSG was in every chicken dish, salad dressing and gravy. No wonder I loved to eat that coating on the skin — their secret spice was MSG!
So why is MSG in so many of the foods we eat?
Is it a preservative, or a vitamin?
Not according to my friend John Erb. In his book “The Slow Poisoning of America”, he said that MSG is added to food for the addictive effect it has on the human body. Even the propaganda website sponsored by the food manufacturers lobby group supporting MSG explains that the reason they add it to food is to make people eat more. A study of the elderly showed that older people eat more of the foods that it is added to. The Glutamate Association lobbying group says eating more is a benefit to the elderly, but what does it do to the rest of us?
‘Betcha can’t eat just one,’ takes on a whole new meaning where MSG is concerned! And we wonder why the nation is overweight!
MSG manufacturers themselves admit that it addicts people to their products. It makes people choose their product over others, and makes people eat more of it than they would if MSG wasn’t added. Not only is MSG scientifically proven to cause obesity, it is an addictive substance.
Since its introduction into the American food supply fifty years ago, MSG has been added in larger and larger doses to the pre-packaged meals, soups, snacks, and fast foods we are tempted to eat every day.
The FDA has set no limits on how much of it can be added to food. They claim it’s safe to eat in any amount. But how can they claim it’s safe when there are hundreds of scientific studies with titles like these:
”The monosodium glutamate (MSG) obese rat as a model for the study of exercise in obesity.” Gobatto CA, Mello MA, Souza CT, Ribeiro IA. Res Commun Mol Pathol Pharmacol. 2002.
”Adrenalectomy abolishes the food-induced hypothalamic serotonin release in both normal and monosodium glutamate-obese rats.” Guimaraes RB, Telles MM, Coelho VB, Mori C, Nascimento CM, Ribeiro. Brain Res Bull. 2002 Aug.
”Obesity induced by neonatal monosodium glutamate treatment in spontaneously hypertensive rats: An animal model of multiple risk factors.” Iwase M, Yamamoto M, Iino K, Apparatchik K, Maraschinos N, Seminarians Fujishima Hyper tens Res. 1998 Mar.
”Hypothalamic lesion induced by injection of monosodium glutamate in suckling period and subsequent development of obesity.” Tanaka K, Chimaera M, Nakamura K Kusunoki. Exp Neural. 1978 Oct.
Hypothalamic dysfunction is a problem with the region of the brain called the hypothalamus, which helps control the pituitary gland and regulate many body functions, particularly in response to stress. The pituitary, in turn, controls the:
- *Adrenal glands
- *Ovaries
- *Testes
- *Thyroid gland
No, the date of that last study was not a typo; it was published in 1978. Both the ”medical research community” and ”food manufacturers” have known about the side effects of MSG for decades.
Many more of the studies mentioned in John Erb’s book link MSG to diabetes, migraines and headaches, autism, ADHD, and even Alzheimer’s. So what can we do to stop the food manufactures from dumping this fattening and addictive MSG into our food supply and causing the obesity epidemic we now see?
Several months ago, John Erb took his book and his concerns to one of the highest government health officials in Canada. While he was sitting in the government office, the official told him, ‘Sure, I know how bad MSG is. I wouldn’t touch the stuff.’ But this top-level government official refuses to tell the public what he knows.
The big media doesn’t want to tell the public either, fearing issues with their advertisers. It seems that the fallout on the fast food industry may hurt their profit margin. The food producers and restaurants have been addicting us to their products for years, and now we are paying the price for it. Our children should not be cursed with obesity caused by an addictive food additive.
But what can I do about it? I’m just one voice! What can I do to stop the poisoning of our children, while our governments are insuring financial protection for the industry that is poisoning us?
This message is going out to everyone I know in an attempt to tell you the truth that the corporate-owned politicians and media won’t tell you.
Wow about the MSG! Lots of people who have trouble loosing weight need to know about MSG. I didn’t know it myslef. We need more people to speak out to governments about the danger of using MSG and this must remove in every food products from factories. Why won’t government care about our people’s health. Who need people in poor health???????
I did not know MSG had other names or that it was addictive. Thanks for the heads up!
MSG is being used to make people sick – unhealthy. This what the government wants. Why do they want you to be unhealthy? Because then you won’t be able to take care of yourself, you won’t be able to afford all the healthcare you need. Then the government can come along with their solution – government healthcare. Then you will be force to use their drugs and doctors. They will have complete control of your life. MSG is not the only way to poison us. Asparteme, High Fructose Corn Syrup and a host of other food additives are also used. And now they have GM toxins to help out too.
I wasn’t surprised to read how many foods contain MSG but I was surprised about the Tim Horton’s coffee MSG connection. I googled it and found a page on Tim Horton’s site where they 100% deny this fact. Perhaps you should clarify this or do a follow up story.
I have no connection with Tim Horton’s and actually dislike their coffee.
Here is the link, scroll to the ‘Coffee’ section at the bottom of the page;
http://www.timhortons.com/ca/en/about/faq.html
Whoops. You didn’t make the Tim Horton claim. An article that linked to your article did. My bad.
I appreciate you sharing this blog post.Really looking forward to read more. Great.
I hate Tim Horton’s coffee but there is no MSG in it. That’s a hoax that has been disproved by both Snopes and Urban Legends.
Questions: About the different names for MSG, are they all exactly the same thing with exactly the same effects? MSG causes obesity in rats, does it have the same effect on humans?
I am so disgusted to be learning even more about this terrible product.
Even when I thought I had been doing a good job avoiding it I discover that it’s also in guise as ‘natural flavoring’.. I mean, really??
*sighs*
I guess I shouldn’t be so shocked. I just started this documentary on Netflix called ‘Hunger for Change’ and it’s regarding High Fructose Corn Syrup and how the Corn Industry tries to defend its product by claiming it to be safe and natural.
This should be considered Child Endangerment. One way or another I will be making my voice heard for whoever willing to listen concerning the side effects behind this terrible product made to encourage obesity. It’s not like we’re entering a famine. Our public need to know about this.
Thank you for writing the article and good luck to all my eating healthy partners out there.
If you find this article interesting and shocking, you should read, “In Defense of Food”. Very informative book on the politics involved with the food industry and the evolution of food in its natural, originally state to what Americans today consider food, the prepackaged processed substances that we eat more and more of ever day. Don’t mistakenly take me from some skinny tree hugging vegan eater, quite the opposite, put a bag of chips in front of me and you better get out of my way but this book has changed how I look at food, recipes, ingredient lists, etc. working full time I have to pick my battle but it helped me understand nutrition in its true definition.
I am deathy alergic to MSG and have learned all its hidden names. Eating out is something i cant do unless its a mom and pop place that makes stuff from scratch (hard to find these days) Shopping is a chalange too. I have to read EVERYTHING I purchase. I do end up doing a lot of home canning just to avoid MSG. I am fat (call it what it is) and for the life of my cant lose weight. I had thyroid issues start at age 8 and had my thyroid taken out at age 27. I have long known MSG was bad for you but I did not realize it was THIS bad for you. It makes me wonder if my thyroid issue was not MSG induced.
MSG can seriously affect your heart rhythms and cause death. It also
can cause swelling and numbness in your body which can also lead to death. I have experienced both situations personally and my sister is affected by MSG too so it can be an allergy/sensitivity throughout the family. It is a substance that should be banned by the Ministry of Health. It is labeled under other names too so it is wise to check those out if you suspect a problem with certain foods.
our kids arent fat from MSG. our kids are fat because their mom’s are too lazy to cook 3-4meals a day for them and their substitute for whole foods is a bag of chips, cookies, poptarts, etc. And they allow them to go back for 2nds and even provide dessert when they’re done. watch the kids on Biggest loser this season. Who’s fault is this? The lazy parents!
My brother has seizures and when he eats food laced with MSG he can have a seizure in a matter of minutes. Not a good thing if your eating and driving down a busy road.
This article is very interesting! Thank you for enlightening all of us!! And if more people read this then the word will eventually spread…. we’ll let’s hope so!!