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It's the Umami – Why the Truth About MSG is So Easy to Swallow

blogs.smithsonianmag.com

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Re: It's the Umami – Why the Truth About MSG is So Easy to Swallow

#21

Post by baak »

hristov wrote: post #16

I really do not like these articles that say "science says not to worry, you must be a very stupid and uneducated person to be worried about this." Any honest scientist will tell you that science does not know exactly how the human body processes food and there is no model which will exactly predict the effects of the human body ingesting a certain food. Saying that the experimental results are mixed does not make me…

Cubans consume a ton of MSG (sazón) and live notoriously long lives despite very poor living conditions.

Your last sentence is very troubling: You feel the negative effects when eating certain foods that you 'suspect' contain MSG. To me, that really sounds like you may psyche yourself out. ie. that you worry about MSG so much that it starts to cause you stress about it, and it's a self-fulfilling prophecy/placebo effect/whatever. Anyway, I can't tell you with 100% certainty that MSG is healthy or not, but I can tell you that there are cultures that consume it in large quantities that seem largely unaffected.

Re: It's the Umami – Why the Truth About MSG is So Easy to Swallow

#22

Post by vertis »

droopyEyelids wrote: post #10

My qualm with MSG doesn't involve its health effects, but the fact that MSG makes telling the difference between good food and crap far more difficult. If you'd like to see a demonstration of what I mean, boil a pound of dried beans, and add some MSG. I find you'll eat the otherwise unflavored, bland beans with the same mechanical compulsion as a bag of potato chips. In that way MSG spoils the sport of preparing deli…

That could also be a good thing though. Eating all of those beans vs eating fatty salty potato chips.

Re: It's the Umami – Why the Truth About MSG is So Easy to Swallow

#24

Post by mahranch »

hristov wrote: post #16

I really do not like these articles that say "science says not to worry, you must be a very stupid and uneducated person to be worried about this." Any honest scientist will tell you that science does not know exactly how the human body processes food and there is no model which will exactly predict the effects of the human body ingesting a certain food. Saying that the experimental results are mixed does not make me…

"MSG is especially worrying because there are some studies that show negative effects of MSG"

Have you read the actual studies? There are no "mixed" studies, they're all conclusive. One of the biggest studies done was a decade long and found absolutely nothing.

Sources:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2222.2009....

http://www.livestrong.com/article/408512-neurological-effect...

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-52156839.html

Re: It's the Umami – Why the Truth About MSG is So Easy to Swallow

#25

Post by scarmig »

gwern wrote: post #15
binarymax wrote: post #4

I've heard that the sickness associated with MSG is more likely due to ingesting old rice. If you want to get glutamates in your food, when cooking with meat proteins, add mushrooms, seaweed, or even a single prawn or anchovy.

> I've heard that the sickness associated with MSG is more likely due to ingesting old rice. Yes, I remember there being a British, I think, study in 2011 or 2012 that bought samples of cooked rice from various oriental food sellers and found that some were contaminated (moist warm food left out for hours); the reasoning is that when people report sickness or allergy to the MSG that oriental food in the West is notor…

Huh, is this bad? I typically cook enough rice in a rice cooker for two days and leave it out and haven't had any adverse symptoms...

Re: It's the Umami – Why the Truth About MSG is So Easy to Swallow

#26

Post by tedunangst »

scarmig wrote: post #25
gwern wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've heard that the sickness associated with MSG is more likely due to ingesting old rice. Yes, I remember there being a British, I think, study in 2011 or 2012 that bought samples of cooked rice from various oriental food sellers and found that some were contaminated (moist warm food left out for hours); the reasoning is that when people report sickness or allergy to the MSG that oriental food in the West is notor…

Huh, is this bad? I typically cook enough rice in a rice cooker for two days and leave it out and haven't had any adverse symptoms...

There are probably fewer people coughing and sneezing in your kitchen than the average restaurant. :)

Re: It's the Umami – Why the Truth About MSG is So Easy to Swallow

#28

Post by elbii »

Different rates of uptake. That's the difference. That's why eating a box of cherry tomatoes and a bowl of ramen have drastically different effects on your sense of well-being.

At the very least, people should be made aware whether it's in certain foods. Then they can choose what's best for them.

Personally, MSG bedrocks me. I have to take a sick day off work in some cases after eating an MSG-laden meal. I've developed the skill to taste it now, after a brief tour through Asia. So I guess I can manage.

The surest bet is just to eat natural. What have humans been eating for the past 2,3, 10 million years? Please, give me a plentiful variation of all that.

But this practice of deeming artificial foods "safe" for consumption after a few year's testing reeks of greedy arrogance.

Re: It's the Umami – Why the Truth About MSG is So Easy to Swallow

#29

Post by anonymous »

dsrguru wrote: post #7

This article is both accurate and highly misleading. The author is correct that there is very little reliable evidence that links glutamic acid and/or glutamate to health problems. The backlash against MSG as a result of the "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome" craze, was not rooted in scientific inquiry. However, MSG is not just a source for glutamate like seaweed and tomatoes are. MSG is the sodium salt of glutamic acid a…

"Chinese Restaurant Syndrome" is real though. Or rather I personally can't eat most things at chinese restaurants and this article was the first time I heard that this is actually a named thing, i.e. this is the first time I hear of CRS. Though I think it's more to do with the fat they use to fry rice in -- there is one place around here which serves chinese-style stir-fried noodles, but eating there reliably does not trigger any symptoms. They are also the priciest noodles around. Maybe CRS should just be named "bad cheap fried food syndrome". It's not a TLA, but you can just smush all the words together and call it bacheff syndrome.
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