# So the whole MSG thing was racist hysteria?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-whole-msg-thing-was-racist-hysteria/954223>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Tags:** food-cooking\
**Created:** [November 12, 2021, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-whole-msg-thing-was-racist-hysteria/954223 "2021-11-12T04:02:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 37

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**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2021, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-whole-msg-thing-was-racist-hysteria/954223/37 "2021-11-12T11:55:08Z")

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> [@Is MSG bad for you?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-msg-bad-for-you/847850/5):
>
> Data point: Myself. MSG sometimes affects me this way. It appears to be only large doses, as Chinese food was often reputed to contain.

Have you considered alternative hypotheses:

1. Your headaches were psychosomatic; and
2. Confirmation bias is at work (i.e., you did sometimes have headaches after eating at Chinese restaurants, and based on what you heard, you attributed these to MSG)?

These seem a lot likelier to me than the idea that there’s some mysterious property to MSG that food scientists have yet to discover, despite the extensive research into just this area.

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