Avoiding MSG: one of the most harmful food additives?

[Reese Leysen]

Update: awesome discussion, in light of all the responses, I've added a '?' at the end of the discussion title since I'm not so sure any more of the initial statement :)

Felt I had to share these videos.

[Optimus Skiver]

Yep, totally bad for you. I actually have a really good friend that has an allergy to it that causes her seizures. O.o The scary/funny thing is that when you go to oriental shops, they sell tubs of it. XD

[Sophie]

My mother is sensitive to MSG, Chinese restaurants pack their food with it for some weird reason, here they deny it! But we know an awesome Chinese/Japanese restaurant that has NO MSG or additives in the food, you can actually taste each vegetable and meat in the food, so why is it necessary for other restaurants?

[Muhammed Gouda]

simply because it's cheaper that way

[Radu Cornea]

Well now, time for school boys and girls. That is what is commonly regarded as the fifth basic taste: Umami. The Asian traditional cuisine (and some of the European kind) revolves around these "umami" concentrates.

[Muhammed Gouda]

no wonder i was hyper active when i was a kid

[Dean Leysen]

I've read about multiple studies that prove the destructive effects of MSG on children such as ADD symptoms for which they then get misdiagnosed and given ritalin (you don't even want to know) while when taken off the food that contains MSG the symptoms disappeared within a small time frame.

Does water do that too? ;)

[Lakatos]

Well, if you don't give someone water for a very long time, they will eventually get dehydrated and move slowly and stuff. And if you give him water, he will become "hyperactive" compared to his dehydrated state :P Just fooling around

I haven't heard of these studies before. Would you post the links to the studies, or at least their name and where were they published?

[Lakatos]

Are talking about water or MSG?

Well, mostly because it's useful for something. And from what I read there is no real evidence that points to MSG being truly harmful.

[Dan "topbob"]

I've known this for twenty years already luckily :D

[Megan]

thats sooo weird ... me and my bf tyler went out to get chinese food last night .. and i was talking about the msg and how its bad for you .. especially to people who eat foods with it in it a lot ...

iunno .. just odd how the night i was talking about it to him .. a discussion was made :P

[Andrew]

I wonder if this is the reason I have social anxiety. I used to eat a lot of junk like what they listed in the videos. I've noticed the healthier I eat, the less anxious I become.

[Karandash]

It's clear that additives are bad. If you think about it, it's only logical. There are however several different kinds of additives like colour, taste enhancers, preservatives and so on. While I can understand the motivation behind preservatives -- they allow the food to be stored longer -- I refuse to comprehend the deeper purpose of colorisers and flavorisers. It's plain insane, to buy and eat something that does not taste by itself, but with the addition of some artificial stuff it suddenly does. It's like eating a peace of tyre, that has been painted to look and taste like food. At the end it's just a peace of gum.

In the European Union food additives are codes as E numbers. The E number of MSG is E 621, where the initial 6 means it's a flavour enhancer. By the way, MSG is referred to as Mononatriumglutamat in some countries.