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The following comments speak to some of the deceptive and misleading material found in “How Safe is MSG?...”
What was written is at best deceptive and misleading: full of the half-truths routinely spewed out by the glutamate industry, with some material simply not true.

The article, “How Safe is MSG?” is nothing but glutamate industry propaganda, and reads like something pulled directly out of Ajinomoto’s propaganda files. Ajinomoto and their glutamate industry friends know that processed free glutamic acid (MSG) causes adverse reactions in MSG-sensitive people who exceed their tolerance for processed free glutamic acid (MSG).  A lot of people know that. The author of any article on MSG should have known that, too.  Migraine headache, for example, is the most often reported adverse reaction to MSG.  Virtually every migraine headache clinic in this country lists MSG as a migraine headache trigger. Glutamate industry propaganda tries to convince consumers otherwise.

Anyone interested in the safety/toxicity of monosodium glutamate knows the work of John W. Olney, M.D. In 1969, Olney published results of a study that demonstrated that processed free glutamic acid found in the food ingredient named “monosodium glutamate” caused brain lesions in the arcuate nucleus of Swiss albino mice, and subsequently caused those mice to evidence neuroendocrine disorders including reproductive disorders and gross obesity. (Olney JW. Brain lesions, obesity, and other disturbances in mice treated with monosodium glutamate. Science. 1969 May 9;164(880):719-21).

Confusion is the byword of the glutamate industry. They leave things unsaid and/or use half-truths in delivering their messages. For example, we understand, and even the FDA tells us that “While technically MSG is only one of several forms of free glutamate used in foods, consumers frequently use the term MSG to mean all free glutamate”  (http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/msg.html). Thus to use the term “MSG” as it is used in the article i.e., to tell readers that “The FDA requires labels to list MSG...” is simply not true; but glutamate industry agents will hide behind the fact that two or three pages earlier, the reader might have noted a reference to “monosodium glutamate (MSG),” such as the one in the article.

One of the glutamate industry’s most often used ploys is to confuse 1) glutamic acid present in unadulterated protein (like that in an unadulterated tomato), which does not cause adverse reactions, with 2) processed free glutamic acid (MSG), which causes brain lesions, neuroendocrine disorders, and observable adverse reactions such as migraine headache, irritable bowel syndrome, mood swings, and seizures. The glutamate industry knows that glutamic acid found in intact protein does not cause adverse reactions. They know that glutamic acid freed from protein by a manufacturing process, or even simple fermentation, causes adverse reactions in MSG-sensitive people who exceed their tolerance for processed free glutamic acid (MSG).  They know that the glutamic acid found in the intact protein of higher organisms is L-glutamic acid, only. They also know that processed free glutamic acid (MSG) used in processed food, drugs, dietary supplements, and cosmetics, is accompanied by contaminants such as d-glutamic acid and pyroglutamic acid; and that when processed free glutamic acid (MSG) is produced using acid hydrolysis, the accompanying contaminants include carcinogenic mono and dichloro proponals.

The article noted that “Many foods naturally contain free glutamate – these include fresh tomatoes, tomato paste and Parmesan cheese.”  But in truth, protein naturally contains glutamate, but rarely, if ever, will you find an amino acid in its free form in unadulterated protein.  A tomato picked off the vine will have little or no free glutamic acid; and that which it has will be L-glutamic acid, only.  Such a tomato will not cause MSG reactions in MSG-sensitive people.

Tomato paste may contain free glutamic acid if the protein in the tomato has been broken down into its constituent amino acids during processing; or if something containing processed free glutamic acid (MSG) has been included in the product called tomato paste. In either of these two cases, the tomato paste will contain processed free glutamic acid (MSG), and will cause adverse reactions in persons who ingest amounts that exceed their tolerance for processed free glutamic acid (MSG).

Parmesan cheese does not naturally contain free glutamates.  Cheese is manufactured. The free glutamate in Parmesan cheese comes from enzymes breaking down the milk protein used to make the Parmesan cheese.  Parmesan cheese will cause adverse reactions in persons who ingest amounts that exceed their tolerance for processed free glutamic acid (MSG).

To refer to 1) foods that contain glutamic acid bound in protein and 2) foods that contain processed free glutamic acid, as “foods naturally [containing] free glutamates,” as was done in the article, is a deceptive and misleading practice that the glutamate industry has used for years.

There is no reason that you should know that there is no study that identifies the least amount of processed free glutamic acid that is needed to cause an adverse reaction in an MSG-sensitive person.  However, Ajinomoto knows that, and so do I.  We  know that a cup of Campbell’s soup, legendary for causing adverse reactions in MSG-sensitive people, contains less than one gram processed free glutamic acid (MSG). We know that Ajinomoto presently uses the 3 gram figure, mentioned in the article, for propaganda purposes, and to lay a foundation for countering the next call for identification of processed free glutamic acid (MSG) in food through labeling. (They will claim that nothing less than 3 grams MSG need be labeled.)

Ajinomoto knows that every study that concludes that MSG (no matter how defined) is “safe” is flawed. Discussion of flaws will be found in A. Samuels, “Re: Monosodium L-glutamate: A double-blind study and review” (Samuels, A. Food and Chemical Toxicology (1995) 33:(1), 69-78).  Techniques used by Ajinomoto and their agents include using neurotoxic amino acids such as the neurotoxic aspartic acid found in aspartame in what they call “placebos” used in their double blind studies (http://www.truthinlabeling.org/TarasoffAndKelly.html). Each of these studies has been designed and paid for by one or more members of The Glutamate Association, International Glutamate Technical Committee, and/or their friends  (http://www.truthinlabeling.org/L-table-2.html).

Everything we have read to date tells us that the so-called “fifth taste” is a fiction perpetuated by Ajinomoto as justification or rationalization for the existence of their money making product, monosodium glutamate.  Moreover, wouldn’t MSG-sensitive people be able to taste this alleged “fifth taste” and therefore be able to avoid it?  Research that purports to have identified the “umami” receptors appears to be primarily, if not entirely, industry driven. The claim that there is an “official” name for alleged “umami” receptors is a claim made by Ajinomoto and friends.  The “official” name has been deemed “official” only by Ajinomoto and friends.  Glutamic acid stimulates glutamate receptors.

Dr. Kwok, who wrote a letter to the The England Journal of Medicine in 1968, did not call his reaction “Chinese restaurant syndrome,” and he did not blame it on MSG.  Indeed, he asked if those who read his letter to the editor might know what had caused his reaction.

Dr. Kwok’s reaction started 15-20 minutes after eating MSG and lasted about two hours. Today we know from reports of MSG-sensitive people that reactions to MSG can begin immediately or as much as 48 hours following ingestion of processed free glutamic acid (MSG). Migraine headaches caused by MSG ingestion have been know to last for 3-4 days.

Dr. Kwok’s report certainly did stimulate much research on MSG.  But there was also research driven by observation in the laboratory that “monosodium glutamate” was neurotoxic. Independent researchers, beginning with Olney, found that processed free glutamic acid (MSG) was neurotoxic. They found that MSG killed brain cells and subsequently produced neuroendocrine disorders. In response, industry-sponsored researchers such as L.D. Stegink, W.A. Reynolds, and L.J. Filer produced studies wherein brain study was delayed so that areas of the brain that once contained destroyed brain cells would have been filled in (and thus obscured) by glial cells; and/or they studied areas of the brain that were not the areas where damage was known to be done by MSG (www.truthinlabeling.org/evidenceofrisk.html).

By 1980, evidence that MSG was neurotoxic was so overwhelmingly compelling that independent researchers began to use glutamic acid as an ablative tool with which to kill brain cells in selected areas of the brain, and industry sponsored researchers turned their attention to attempting to convince the public that there were no overt human reactions to MSG outside of the limited reactions reported by Dr. Kwok.

It is true that a review of the safety (never the toxicity) of MSG was conducted from 1992 to 1995 by the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) – hardly an independent group of scientists.  Note that when we identified two people on their panel with ties to the glutamate industry, the FDA responded to our protest saying that six other persons would soon be added to the panel. Note, also, that no FASEB panel had ever found a product that they investigated for the FDA to be unsafe. Not even trans fats.

The article failed to point out, however, that in July, 1992, FASEB concluded and suppressed the results of a study of the safety of amino acids used in dietary supplements. In the report presented to the FDA, FASEB concluded that:

 "...it is prudent to avoid the use of dietary supplements of L-glutamic acid by pregnant women, infants, and children.... and...by women of childbearing age and individuals with affective disorders." (MSG is called L-glutamic acid when used in supplements.)

(Life Sciences Research Office, Federation for American Societies for Experimental Biology. Safety of amino acids used as dietary supplements. July 1992; 308 pp.)

In the interest of completeness, it must be noted that the FDA has a long history of cooperation with Ajinomoto and others in the glutamate industry (http://www.truthinlabeling.org/Pol.html).

Finally, it may interest you to know that use of celebrities to carry their message that MSG is “safe” is not new to the glutamate industry.  Their standard operating procedure is detailed in “The Toxicity/Safety of Processed Free Glutamic Acid (MSG): A Study in Suppression of Information” (Samuels, A. Accountability in Research (1999) Vol 6, pp. 259-310).

If you have interest in additional information pertaining to the toxic effects of processed free glutamic acid (MSG), please do not hesitate to write or call. Much of what we know will be found on our Web Page (www.truthinlabeling.org), wherein no statement is made without data to back it up.
 

adandjack@aol.com 858/481-9333 http://www.truthinlabeling.org

This page was last updated on June 3, 2007.

IF MSG ISN'T HARMFUL, WHY IS IT HIDDEN?