Reading that other thread on Chinese food got me thinking (and it got me hungry).
Why does Chinese food use MSG? Is it a traditional ingredient?
At my favorite Chinese resteraunt they always ask me if I want my food with or without MSG? Why is there even the option?
MtM
It tastes better…e.g. its a flavor enhancer.
I always thought MSG was a preservative and flavorless?
MtM
There is a widespread belief that MSG is awful and/or many people believe they are allergic to it. All scientific studies have disproven both things but people’s beliefs are not going to chage because of any scientific evidence. it is interesting to note that this is pretty much an American thing and my friends in other countries are amused when I tell them how some Americans believe MSG is pretty much like rat poison.
Nope! Monosodium Glutamate is a flavor enhancer. Due to the chemical sounding name most people think it is a very artificial substance which must be bad for you but, in fact, it is quite old and originally extracted from seaweed I believe. It is the main component of those boullion cubes you use for flavor.
Before you link to my old thread, let me again apologize for the title!
Actually, if you search for it, you’ll find several threads on it. Very informative.
I believe that the food with the highest ‘naturally occuring’ concentration of glutamates is parmesan cheese - which is why it is so ‘moreish’.
I grew up in Asian and there, it was just another ingredient you picked up at the store and put in the cabinet with the salt soy, fish, and satay sauces. My mom stopped using it early on (early 80s), however, because she was concerne with over-salinifying our food and bloodstreams.
Well, I don’t believe that it is awful or anything… but scientific evidence be damned, I swell up like a balloon when I get a meal full of the stuff. It’s quite tasty, just makes me feel like hell.
And it’s not just chinese food… it’s also used to flavor several types of breakfast sausages, I believe.
Parrothead do you eat Dorritos? They are one of many foods that contain MSG. I’ve found that MSG is in a lot of snack foods, not just Chinese food.
My experience has been the opposite of Peg’s. MSG was never something we bought, kept in the cabinet, and added to food. If it was in our foold, it was because it came with the food, in the sauce or what have you.
Cecil: Is MSG bad for you?
“Accent” flavor enhancer is MSG. I’ve never used it myself, but my Mon used to use it. And a Goggle search reveals many recipes that call it out. as an ingredient.
MSG is predominately used as a flavor enhancer. It was originally extracted from kombu seaweed although free glutamic acid is present in brewer’s yeast, milk, tomatoes, cheese and other common foods. Glutamic acid is a neurotoxic neurotransmitter that has many receptors in the body and not just on the tongue. The brain has many receptor sites and so does the hypothalamus, which has no impermeable blood barrier. Some 25% of the US population exhibit reactions to free glutamate acids in foods. Glutamate is an amino acid and a common component of many edibles, especially proteins. Monosodium Glutamate is the sodium salt of glutamic acid, created by mixing sodium, water and glutamate.
As a taste element, MSG contributes a sensation recently identified as a fifth flavor element (the others being salt, sour, bitter and sweet). Called unami, it is a silky perception normally associated with oleaginous or buttery foods. Mushrooms are a rich source of glutamates. It is for this reason that they frequent accompany steaks and other meats. They enhance the flavor and textural perception (i.e., mouth feel) of the meat, making it seem and taste like a more expensive cut. If you wish to perform a small experiment, prepare a common cut of beef, like sirloin. Taste an untreated piece of the cooked meat. Then dip another similar piece in some melted butter and consume it. The butter enhances mouth feel in ways similar to MSG.
MSG will not make bad food taste good. It is able to further enhance good tastes and also mask off flavors which is why it is quite popular with the food processing industry. MSG also allows restaurants to create sauces that have a rich texture without the time or expense of using reduced meat stocks. Although a Japanese discovery, Chinese cuisine is one of the more well known food types that uses MSG. Widely distributed in proteins, it is in a bound form vital to metabolism and brain function. Metabolic functions require about 50 grams per day. Free glutamic acid is another matter entirely.
Although not an allergen, many people do show reactions to large doses of MSG, especially in the absence of food. An excerpt from this article mentions some of the toxic side effects MSG can have:
“According to Dr. Samuels, the evidence of toxicity is overwhelming. Exposed laboratory animals suffer brain lesions and neuroendocrine disorders. Scientists studying retinal degeneration in mice treated with free glutamic acid have noted that these mice also became grotesquely obese following administration of free glutamic acid. The vulnerable hypothalamus in our brains regulates weight control, as well as other endocrine functions. When the brain is deluged with more free glutamic acid than it can handle, scientists know that problems and diseases can develop. For example, they know that a diverse number of disease conditions such as ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a progressive degeneration of neurons and motor cells of the brain), Alzheimer’s disease, seizures, and stroke are associated with the glutamate cascade.”
Personally, I do not use MSG at all and avoid it whenever possible. I believe that any competent chef can create wholesome and appealing foods without using such flavor enhancers. MSG currently shows up in some 40 different “natural flavorings” used in the processed food industry. It is one more reason to avoid fast food and preprocessed or snack food items.
There are many pages on the internet which claim MSG is bad for you but none of them make any convincing case. They are full of general assertions but I have seen no reliable scientific studies which show anything of the sort.
A page which starts like a cheap anti-capitalist pamphlet needs to be taken with large doses of MSG to make it more palatable.
Great, we now know what Dr Samuels thinks. We know there are many who think like him or worse but it proves nothing.
Well, you could say that about any ingredient but the point is most people like the taste and would only want to avoid it if there is a good reason and the evidence so far is that there is no good reason to avoid it.
Put me in the “no problem with MSG” camp. I used to use Accent when I was in my teens to make steaks taste better. I don’t use Accent any more, not because of MSG fears, but because I decided I liked the taste of the meat better without it. I still eat KFC chicken though, and KFC uses MSG. I’ve never experienced any problems with MSG.
As for myself, MSG definitely enhances the taste of food; food is more “full-flavored” with it. Unfortunately it can have the side effect of dehydrating me (the same if I eat too much salty food (and yes this means that salty snacks with MSG are a double whammy)). This can cause severe headaches unless I drink sufficient amounts of fluids.
I prefer that restaurants state whether or not they add extra MSG. Only excessive amounts cause me any problems, then only if I don’t drink enough water while eating. Even if a restaurant doesn’t state it’s MSG quantities, I’ve improved my palate to where I can detect MSG fairly well. And increase why water intake.
This only amounts to anecdotal evidence. My hypothesis is that different people have different sensitivity to MSG. If you’re sensitive, modify your behavior accordingly.
(1) Many people claim it does cause them allergic reactions but this has no scientific support so we see that there is no consensus on what exactly is bad about MSG.
(2) Define “reaction”. Define “large doses”. I can say many people do shows reactions to large doses of water (they drown). I can also say many people show reactions to large doses of raisin bran (they get fat). Such a statement is meaningless. Why would anyone need to consume “large quantities”?
Well, duh!. Consume “large quantities of salt or vinegar in the absence of food and tell me what happens”.
I will say again this phenomenon is an American thing and I have never seen anyone from other countries say they had any reaction to MSG. Are Americans genetically different?
Accent meat tenderizer is MSG.
There was a great Chinese restaurant that I used to go to regularly and they used MSG, a great deal of it, and I would end up with a migraine the next day.
I am not sure if that’s the case. According to the Chinese, MSG gives food a flavour of “freshness” (<em>xian</em>), which is a difficult concept to explain. If you have eaten fresh chicken (i.e., never frozen before being cooked), there is a marked difference between that and frozen chicken. It’s also why fresh seafood tastes better than frozen ones.
I thought the reason chinese food often has MSG is because it’s an ingredient in the meat tenderizers they use. That’s why you always seem to get msg even if you say you don’t want it. The meat tenderizer is what gives the meats in chinese goods that nasty consistency.