Subj: msg effects
Date: 11/12/2000 2:33:57 PM Pacific Standard Time
To: adandjack@aol.com

I think it's very important that you know this, and add it to your list of
adverse reactions to MSG. If you want more information, please contact me.
My main concern is that this potential effect of MSG become known to people
who have suffered as I have, and their doctors.

I suffered (and suffered is the right word!) from pancreatitis in 1990 (the
result of a blocked duct, not from too much alcohol). On occasions after
that, I would suffer very painful bouts of "mini-pancreatitis" -- same
symptoms, but not quite as severe and lasting "only" a couple of days. My
doctor decided these must be ulcers, and gave me the usual list of things to
avoid.

Then one day it happened again after I had eaten a very bland meal. The
meal, CHINESE FOOD, was notable for its blandness. That's when it hit me
that it must be MSG causing this. I traced back in my mind the previous
incidents, and realized that on many of those occasions I had eaten
something likely to have contained MSG. (What's worse, I also realized that
while I was recovering from the MSG the clear broth that was all I could eat
was also laced with MSG, which would explain why I always felt horrible pain
after eating and took so very long to recover.)

I have had no recurrence of those symptoms since I started watching very
carefully for MSG, except in cases where I was not wary enough (e.g., pasta
sauce in a restaurant). Since you almost never know what it's going to be
in, this reaction has very severely curtailed my dining at restaurants and
any adventurous traveling.

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This page was last updated on June 6, 2004.

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