What am I eating?
June 12, 2008
Posted by CindyC in : Opinions & Thoughts , trackback
I guess both CindyW and I have been thinking about food. So far this week, we’ve talked about chopping boards, farmer’s market(sort of) and farmed vs. fresh salmon. Warning, this is another post about food but it’s about more about an additive to make food taste more like, well, food.
Most of us have heard of MSG or monosodium glutamate, an additive often associated with Chinese food. Having grown up in a Chinese household, I never gave MSG much thought – other than it added flavor to food and it’s not good for you. Recently, my friend sent me an email about hidden ingredients in food, one of which was MSG. What surprised me was not just the vast number of foods that contains MSG or the variety of names it hides behind but why MSG is used.
Taking a step back, MSG can be naturally manufactured in our bodies (from the amino acid call glutamic acid or glutamate) as well as synthetically made. Thus, MSG manufacturers often argue that MSG is not harmful because our bodies make it naturally. Of course, this doesn’t take into consideration that as a food additive, we would ingest far more MSG than what our bodies would make or require, not to mention the health issues and allergies caused by excess MSG.
So why is MSG added to food? The presence of MSG tricks your taste buds in thinking the food is protein and nutritious. That means food manufacturers can cut cost by putting less real food and still make you think that there’s real food. In addition, MSG stimulates the pancreas to produce insulin, even when there are no real carbohydrates to digest. Excess insulin makes blood sugar drop and voila, you are hungry soon after you eat, which makes you want to eat more. What a great way for restaurants and manufacturers to sell even more “food” to satisfy your craving!
Don’t think you are avoiding MSG if you don’t eat Chinese food or soy sauce. It can be found in many American foods and restaurants including KFC, Burger King, Taco Bell, Doritos, Campbell’s Soup, Progresso, Lipton soups mixes. Plus, MSG goes by many different names: hydrolyzed protein, yeast extract, sodium cassinate and textured protein to name just a few. If you want to find out more about foods to avoid, MSG Truth has a great list plus lots of background information. Truth in Labeling has a fairly extensive list of MSG aliases to watch out for.
I guess I now know why I get these strange cravings for McDonald’s French fries….
CindyC at Organicpicks
If you enjoyed this entry, please subscribe to the Organic Picks Blog
Copyright 2007 Organicpicks
Find More Green Products & Reviews..
Comments»
Yuk! It was the idea of high fructose corn syrup in EVERYTHING that made me change to a whole foods diet a couple years ago, even before my local diet (still nibble of a few packaged products from time to time). MSG seems just as bad. It’s like Michael Pollan said - is it really food we are eating or just food like substances. I vote for the real stuff!
MSG also masquerades under the name “natural flavors”. Not all “natural flavors” contain MSG but a fair number of them do. After becoming more aware and reading ingredients, it really is just better to make your own. The stuff being sold at stores today is just full of loads of unidentifiable, hidden yukky stuff.
Thanks for this alert! I knew msg was bad but I didn’t know it masqueraded as protein or that it has what you’d have to consider addictive properties. More and more I just make my own stuff or eat things from the garden/csa/farmers market raw if I don’t have time to cook.