You likely already know that the food ingredient monosodium glutamate (MSG) isn’t good for you. You may even know some of the popular reasons why. But did you know that MSG is primarily used by the food industry to keep us addicted to ‘big taste, little nutrition’ food? It’s an industry secret. Read on to find out why MSG makes you eat more fast food while fattening up the food industry’s bottom line.
Aside from high fructose corn syrup, artificial colors, and ingredients made with chemicals called ‘flavor packets,’ MSG is at the top of the list of food additives to avoid.
Monosodium Glutamate, or MSG, is a trigger substance that food makers are very aware of. It was put in food to cause pavlovian response, creating a trigger for you to eat more and never feel satiated. The FDA calls MSG ‘generally recognized as safe,’ though the ingredient has been found to cause skin rashes, itching, hives, vomiting, asthma, heart irregularities, seizures, chest pain, nausea, weakness, and especially headaches and migraines, among other health issues.
A study published in the Journal of Headache Pain reveals how just a single dose of monosodium glutamate caused headaches in healthy subjects that were tested.
This study conducted its research using double blind, placebo-controls and found that MSG intake caused spontaneous pain, jaw aches, high blood pressure, and other unwanted side effects including nausea, fatigue, stomach ache, tight-jaw (TMJ), dizziness, and chest pressure. So exactly how is this considered GRAS by the FDA?
When this very inexpensive, concentrated form of salt is added to your food, it makes you crave sugar, and also interferes with an important set of hormones that control satiation. That means when you eat MSG, your body doesn’t remember how to tell you it’s full, so you just keep eating. Since the ‘salty’ taste makes you crave the taste of ‘sweet,’ you are likely to go back for cookies once you’ve had some nachos covered in processed cheese, or a burger full of MSG.