What Actually Is MSG, & Is It Bad For You?

Here be science:

Tasty molecules

There are two things in MSG:

• Sodium, much-maligned and/but also an essential mineral, in moderation
• Glutamate, an amino acid naturally found in many foods and produced by your body

On which note: glutamate is important for digestion, muscle function, immune function, and brain chemistry. It is also naturally present in foods such as mushrooms, cheese, tomatoes, and broths.

As for how it works in culinary terms, cooking and fermentation release glutamate from proteins, creating umami flavor, which enhances savory flavor in general.

Misleading research headlines played a role too, for example:

• Research linking excess glutamate to conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease was later shown to involve abnormal glutamate regulation within the body, not dietary MSG
• A much-publicized 1969 study found brain and retinal damage after mice were injected with immense amounts of MSG, leading some reports to wrongly suggest that eating MSG caused brain damage.
• During the late 1960s and early 1970s, many physicians considered “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome” to be a genuine condition. Modern research has soundly refuted this.

In contrast, research now recognizes glutamate as an essential part of normal metabolism, and in fact MSG can help reduce the need for added fat or sodium (yes, MSG has sodium, but ⅓ of what table salt does) while maintaining flavor.

For more on all of this, enjoy:

Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!

Want to learn more?

You might also like:

Monosodium Glutamate: Sinless Flavor-Enhancer Or Terrible Health Risk? ← our main feature on this with much more detail

Take care!