MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE (MSG)

[Guest guest]

Adrienne Samuels runs the truthinlabeling website together with her husband.

The *Truth in Labeling* Campaign <http://www.truthinlabeling.org/> Focuses

on the issue of monosodium glutamate in food and drugs, which some people

consider is causing their health symptoms.

www.*truth*in*labeling*.org

 

There's far more to the devastating effect to MSG as " only " life-threatening

reactions: Excitotoxins are the major cause of the obesity epidemic and play

a major role in Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative dieseases. As many

overweight people switch to diet-drinks they let themselves in to more

damage. Aspartame is known to cause diabetes.

 

Here is an article by Russell Blaylock, author of Excitotoxins: The Taste

that Kills.

In the US monosodium glutamate is now sprayed in agriculture as a crop

enhancer.

Dorothee

http://www.aliv-e.com/en/education/articles/excitotoxins.asp

 

Excitotoxins, neurodegeneration

and neurodevelopment

 

By Dr Russell L. Blaylock, MD

 

A growing number of clinicians and basic scientists are convinced that a

group of compounds called " excitotoxins " play a critical role in the

development of several neurological disorders, including migraines,

seizures, infections, abnormal neural development, certain endocrine

disorders, neuropsychiatric disorders, learning disorders in children, AIDS,

dementia, episodic violence, lyme borreliosis, hepatic encephalopathy,

specific types of obesity, and especially the neurodegenerative diseases

such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Parkinson's disease,

Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease and olivopontocerebellar

degeneration.'

 

An enormous amount of both clinical and experimental evidence has

accumulated over the past decade, supporting this basic premise.' Yet, the

FDA still refuses to recognise the immediate and long term danger to the

public caused by the practice of allowing various excitotoxins to be added

to the food supply; excitotoxins such as MSG (monosodium glutamate),

hydrolysed vegetable protein and aspartame. The amount of these neurotoxins

added to our food has increased enormously since their introduction. For

example, since 1948, the amount of MSG added to foods has doubled every

decade. By 1972, 262,000 metric tons were being added to foods. Over 800

million pounds of aspartame have been consumed in various products since it

was approved. Ironically, these food additives have nothing to do with

preserving food or protecting its integrity; they are all used to alter the

taste of food. MSG, hydrolysed vegetable protein and natural flavouring are

used to enhance the taste of food, while aspartame is an artificial

sweetener.

 

These toxins (excitotoxins) are not present in just a few foods, but,

rather, in almost all processed foods. In many cases they are being added in

disguised forms, such as natural flavouring, spices, yeast extract, textured

protein, soy protein extract, etc. Experimentally, we know that when

subtoxic levels of excitotoxins are given to animals in divided doses, the

animals experience full toxicity, i.e., the excitotoxins are synergistic.

 

Also, liquid forms of excitotoxins, as found in soups, gravies and diet soft

drinks, are more toxic than that added to solid foods; this is because they

are more rapidly absorbed and reach higher levels in the blood.

So, what are excitotoxins?

 

These are substances, usually acidic amino acids, that react with

specialised receptors in the brain in such a way as to lead to destruction

of certain types of neurons. Glutamate is one of the more commonly known

excitotoxins. MSG is the sodium salt of glutamate. This amino acid is a

normal neurotransmitter in the brain. In fact, it is the neurotransmitter

most commonly used by the brain. Defenders of MSG and aspartame usually ask

how a substance that is used normally by the brain could cause harm. It is

because glutamate, as a neurotransmitter, exists in the extracellular fluid

only in very, very small concentrations?no more than 8 to 12 uM

[micromoles/litre]. When the concentration of this transmitter rises above

this level, the neurons begin to fire abnormally. At higher concentrations,

the cells undergo a specialised process of delayed cell death known as

" excitotoxicity " ; that is, they are excited to death.

 

It should also be appreciated that the effects of excitotoxin food additives

generally are not dramatic. Some individuals may be especially sensitive and

develop severe symptoms and even die suddenly from cardiac irritability, but

in most instances the effects are subtle and develop over a long period of

time. While the food additives MSG and aspartame are probably not direct

causes of the neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's dementia,

Parkinson's disease or ALS, they may well precipitate these disorders and

certainly worsen their pathology?as we shall see. It may be that many people

with a propensity for developing one of these diseases would never develop a

fullblown disorder if not for their exposure to high levels of foodborne

excitotoxin additives. Some might only have had a very mild form of the

disease, if not for the exposure. Likewise, foodborne excitotoxins may be

harmful to those suffering from strokes, head injury and HIV infection, and

certainly should not be used in a hospital setting.

 

The discovery of excitotoxins

 

In 1957, two opthalmology residents, Lucas and Newhouse, were conducting an

experiment on mice to study a particular eye disorder.' During the course of

this experiment, they fed newborn mice MSG and discovered that all

demonstrated widespread destruction of the inner nerve layer of the retina.

 

Similar destruction was also seen in adult mice, but was not as severe as in

the newborns. The results of their experiment were published in the Archives

of Opthalmology and soon forgotten. For 10 years prior to this report, large

amounts of MSG were being added not only to adult foods but also to baby

foods, in doses equal to those given to the experimental animals.

 

Then, in 1969, Dr John Olney, a neuroscientist and neuropathologist working

out of the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University in St Louis,

repeated Lucas and Newhouse's experiment. " His lab assistant noticed that

the newborn of MSG exposed mice were grossly obese and short in stature.

 

Further examination also demonstrated hypoplastic organs, including

pituitary, thyroid and adrenal, as well as reproductive dysfunction.

Physiologically, they demonstrated multiple endocrine deficiencies,

including of TSH, growth hormone, LH, FSH and ACTH. When Dr Olney examined

the animals' brains, he discovered discrete lesions of the arcuate nucleus

as well as less severe destruction of other hypothalamic nuclei.

 

Since this early observation, monosodium glutamate and other excitatory

substances have become standard tools in studying the function of the

hypothalamus. Recent studies showed that glutamate is the most important

neurotransmitter in the hypothalamus.' Later studies indicated that the

damage by monosodium glutamate was much more widespread, affecting the

hippocampus, circumventricular organs, locus ceruleus, amygdala, limbic

system, subthalamus and striatum.6 More recent molecular studies disclosed

the mechanism of this destruction in some detail.'

 

Early on, it was observed that when neurons in vitro were exposed to

glutamate and then washed clean, the cells appeared perfectly normal for

approximately an hour, at which time they rapidly underwent cell death. It

was discovered that when calcium was removed from the medium, the cells

continued to survive.

 

Subsequent studies have shown that glutamate and other excitatory amino

acids attach to a specialised family of receptors (NMDA, kainate, AMPA and

metabotrophic) which in turn, either directly or indirectly, opens the

calcium channel on the neuron cell membrane, allowing calcium to flood into

the cell. If unchecked, this calcium will trigger a cascade of reactions,

including free radical generation, eicosanoid production and lipid

peroxidation, which will destroy the cell. With this calcium triggered

stimulation, the neuron becomes very excited, firing its impulses

repetitively until the point of cell death, hence the name " excitotoxin " .

 

The activation of the calcium channel via the NMDA?type receptors also

involves other membrane receptors such as the zinc, magnesium, phencyclidine

and glycine receptors.

 

In many disorders connected to excitotoxicity, the source of the glutamate

and aspartate is endogenous. We know that when brain cells are injured, they

release large amounts of glutamate from surrounding astrocytes, and this

glutamate can further damage surrounding normal neuronal cells. This appears

to be the case in strokes, seizures and brain trauma. But, food-borne

excitotoxins can add significantly to this accumulation of toxins.

Countering the FDA's spin on MSG safety

 

In July 1995, the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology

(FASEB) conducted a definitive study for the US Food and Drug Administration

(FDA) on the question of safety of MSG.' The FDA wrote a very deceptive

summary of the report in which it implied that, except possibly for asthma

patients, MSG was found to be safe by the FASEB reviewers. But, in fact,

that is not what the report said at all.

 

I summarised, in detail, my criticism of this widely reported FDA deception

in the revised paperback edition of my book, " Excitotoxins: The Taste That

Kills <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0929173252/alivecom02> " , by

analysing exactly what the report said and failed to say.' For example, it

never said that MSG did not aggravate neurodegenerative diseases. What it

said was, there were no studies indicating such a link; specifically, that

no one has conducted any studies, positive or negative, to see if there is a

link. A vital difference.

 

Unfortunately for the consumer, the corporate food processors not only

continue to add MSG to our foods but go to great lengths to disguise these

harmful additives. For example, they use such names as " hydrolysed vegetable

protein " , " vegetable protein " , " textured protein " , " hydrolysed plant

protein " , " soy protein extract " , " caseinate " , " yeast extract " and " natural

flavouring " . We know experimentally that when these excitotoxin

taste?enhancers are added together, they become much more toxic than is seen

individually.'' In fact, excitotoxins in subtoxic concentrations can be

fully toxic to specialised brain cells when used in combination. Frequently

on supermarket shelves I see processed foods, especially frozen or diet

foods, that contain two, three or even four types of excitotoxins.

 

We also know, as stated, that excitotoxins in liquid forms are much more

toxic than solid forms because they are rapidly absorbed and attain high

concentration in the blood. This means that many of the commercial soups,

sauces and gravies containing MSG are very dangerous to nervous system

health, and should especially be avoided by those who have one of the

above?mentioned disorders or who are at a high risk of developing one of

them. They should also be avoided by cancer patients and those at high risk

for cancer, because of the associated generation of free radicals and lipid

peroxidation. "

 

In the case of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), we know that consumption

of red meats, and especially MSG itself, can significantly elevate blood

glutamate to levels much higher than seen in the normal population. " Similar

studies, as far as I am aware, have not been conducted in patients with

Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease. But, as a general rule, I would

certainly suggest that persons with either of these diseases avoid MSG

containing foods as well as red meats, cheeses and pureed tomatoes, all of

which are known to have higher levels of glutamate.

 

It must be remembered that it is the glutamate molecule that is toxic in

monosodium glutamate. Glutamate is a naturally occurring amino acid found in

varying concentrations in many foods. Defenders of MSG safety allude to this

fact in their defence. But, it is free glutamate that is the culprit. Bound

glutamate, found naturally in foods, is less dangerous because it is slowly

broken down and absorbed by the gut so that it can be utilised by the

tissues, especially muscle, before toxic concentrations can build up,

Therefore, a whole tomato is safer than a pureed tomato. The only exception

to this as stated, based on present knowledge, is in the case of ALS. Also,

the tomato plant contains several powerful antioxidants known to block

glutamate toxicity. "

 

Hydrolysed vegetable protein is a common food additive and may contain at

least two excitotoxins: glutamate and cysteic acid. Hydrolysed vegetable

protein is made by a chemical process that breaks down the vegetable's

protein structure purposefully to free the glutamate as well as aspartate,

another excitotoxin. This brown, powdery substance is used to enhance the

flavour of foods, especially meat dishes, soups and sauces, Despite the fact

that some health food manufacturers have attempted to sell the idea that

this flavour enhancer is " all natural " and " safe " because it is made from

vegetables, it is not. It is the same substance added to processed foods.

 

Experimentally, one can produce the same brain lesions using hydrolysed

vegetable protein as by using MSG or aspartate.

 

 

Source: *Medical Sentinel*, vol.4, no. 6, Nov-Dec, 1999

Order the book Excitotoxins; The Taste That

Kills<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0929173252/alivecom02>

 

On 4/4/08, surpriseshan2 <surpriseshan2 wrote:

>

>

> MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE (MSG)

> _http://www.holisticmed.com/msg/msg-basics.txt_

> (http://www.holisticmed.com/msg/msg-basics.txt)

> Adrienne Samuels, Ph.D.,0 September, 1995

> The Basics

> MSG sensitivity is a sensitivity to free glutamic acid that occurs in food

>