An interesting tidbit. When we last visited, restaurants in Washington DC that cater to legislators used little, if any, MSG. We know because Jack never ate anywhere without asking.
Do as they do, not as they say
Questions and answers: What’s causing the obesity epidemic?
What’s causing the obesity epidemic?
They’re called excitotoxins.
These are Jekyll and Hyde amino acids.
On the one hand, they’re absolutely necessary for human
health.
On the other hand, they turn toxic/poisonous when more are
eaten than needed.
What damage do they do?
They damage the brains of vulnerable people.
People who have had head injuries,
People whose brains are not yet mature,
A newborn child,
A child in the womb: a fetus.
How can excitotoxins get to the immature brains of newborns and
fetuses?
Excitotoxins are eaten by pregnant women.
Pregnant women pass what they eat to their unborn offspring
(fetuses) through the umbilical cord and the placenta.
Nursing mothers pass what they eat to their babies through mother’s
milk.
Exactly what damage do these excitotoxins do to the brains of fetuses and newborns that brings about obesity?
They obliterate (wipe out) the neurons (nerve cells) in that part of the
arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus that would have played a role in
weight control, had they not been destroyed.
And although the empty space left in the brain when the neurons are
destroyed is filled in with other cells, the neurons are not replaced.
What excitotoxins do this?
The one known best from research done in the 1970s is glutamic acid
(a.k.a. glutamate).
Glutamate is essential for normal body function. There has always
been glutamate in food. Why haven’t more people always been
obese?
Until 1957, the glutamate in food (and there is glutamate in
essentially all food) was almost always part of something larger than
itself. It was a part of protein. Scientists who wanted to examine
glutamate had to break the protein apart before they could examine it.
(They speak of glutamate being “bound up” in protein: tied to other
amino acids in long chains. That’s still true.)
Glutamate bound in protein is not excitotoxic. Only glutamate outside
of protein causes brain damage.
In 1957, the U.S. manufacturer of excitotoxic glutamate (for use in
monosodium glutamate) revised its manufacturing process, and from
that point on, virtually unlimited amounts of excitotoxic manufactured
free glutamate (MfG) were produced. After 1957, there was sufficient
MfG in ultra-processed food (at least in the U.S.) to provide the
“excess” amounts of MfG needed to cause brain damage.
Then why didn’t the “obesity epidemic” happen in 1957?
1957 was the year that the new and improved method for fabricating
virtually unlimited amounts of the excitotoxic – brain damaging – MfG
was put into production. But 1960 was the year that increased
obesity began to be noticed. 1960-62 saw the first statistics kept on
numbers of overweight people.
The evolution of Type 2 Obesity
Type 2 Obesity is the intractable, unyielding obesity that follows when excessive amounts of a toxic chemical:
1. Are ingested by pregnant women,
2. Are “fed” through the placenta to their fetuses,
3. Destroy brain cells in the fetus that would have played a role in weight control.
Check it out. The data are published.
The obesity epidemic was set in motion when virtually unlimited amounts of brain damaging flavor enhancers were added to practically every processed food and snack.
History paints a clear picture of the obesity epidemic timeline.
- Prior to 1957, there had been no reports of food-induced adverse reactions to flavor-enhancers, no studies demonstrating food-induced brain damage, no obesity epidemic, no infertility crisis, and the incidence of glutamate-induced abnormalities had not yet begun to skyrocket.
- 1957 was the year that a new and improved method for producing virtually unlimited amounts of the excitotoxic – brain damaging – (manufactured) free glutamate (MfG) was put into production.
- 1960 was the year that increased obesity began to be noticed. 1960-62 saw the first statistics kept on numbers of overweight people.
- In 1969, the first studies documented the fact that brain cells were destroyed following intake of substantial amounts of MfG. In that year, the first of many animal studies were published demonstrating that MfG causes brain lesions in the area of the brain responsible for appetite and satiety (i.e. weight control). Those studies documented the fact that brain cells were destroyed following intake of substantial amounts of MfG, that ablated brain cells were not replaced with neurons, and that the obesity manifested by those animals became evident as they reached maturity.
- By the mid-1970s, obesity had reached epidemic proportions.
And that’s the evolution of the obesity epidemic: Excessive amounts of free glutamate ingested by pregnant women are passed to their fetuses where it causes brain lesions in the arcuate nucleus followed by gross obesity.
Adrienne
RESOURCES:
Glutamic acid: initiator of the obesity epidemic (data)
https://www.truthinlabeling.org/assets/obesity_review_shortened_final_with_reference.pdf
Getting to the root of obesity (an overview)
https://www.truthinlabeling.org/assets/MASTERS_Perspective.pdf
How I know what I know about the obesity epidemic
https://www.truthinlabeling.org/assets/obesity_how_i_know.pdf
Seven lines of evidence leading to the conclusion that manufactured free glutamate, no matter where it is found, is toxic:
- Review of data that demonstrate that glutamate in human tissue becomes excitotoxic – brain damaging – when present in amounts that exceed what a healthy person needs for normal body function
https://www.truthinlabeling.org/assets/seven_lines/Seven_Lines_Line1.pdf
- Review of animal studies done in the 1970s that have demonstrated the toxicity of MSG and MfG: evidence that the glutamate in MSG and other flavor enhancers and protein substitutes becomes excitotoxic – brain damaging – when present in amounts that exceed what a healthy subject needs for normal body function.
https://www.truthinlabeling.org/assets/seven_lines/Seven_Lines_Lines2.pdf
- Review of animal data offered inappropriately as evidence that MSG is harmless
https://www.truthinlabeling.org/assets/seven_lines/Seven_Lines_Lines3.pdf
- Review of Alerts from independent researchers warning of dangers posed by ingesting MSG.
https://www.truthinlabeling.org/assets/seven_lines/Seven_Lines_Line4.pdf
- Review of human studies that have demonstrated the toxicity of MSG – and some thoughts on why there are so few of them
https://www.truthinlabeling.org/assets/seven_lines/Seven_Lines_Line5.pdf
- Review of glutamate industry human studies rigged to produce negative results
https://www.truthinlabeling.org/assets/seven_lines/Seven_Lines_Line6.pdf
- Thank you letters from people helped by information on the webpage of the Truth in Labeling Campaign
https://www.truthinlabeling.org/assets/seven_lines/Seven_Lines_Line7.pdf
In memory of Jim Turner, attorney, consumer advocate and champion in the fight against chemical sweeteners
A crusader in the war against aspartame, Jim passed away at his home in Washington, DC on January 25. Below is a tribute to Jim published by the Children’s Health Defense Team at its website the Defender.
****************
The Children’s Health Defense team was deeply saddened to learn of the death of attorney James Turner on Jan. 25.
Turner, 81, was a consumer crusader and champion in the fight against chemical sweeteners who began his public advocacy career as one of Ralph Nader’s Raiders.
In 1970, Turner wrote “The Chemical Feast, a best-seller that exposed the food industry’s failure to protect the food supply. His fight to remove cyclamate from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Generally Recognized as Safe list led to the book being removed from the market, but it was republished in 1976 by Penguin Books.
A graduate of The Ohio State University (OSU) on a U.S. Navy scholarship, Turner served in the OSU student senate for three years. He received his law degree from The Ohio State University College of Law (now Moritz College of Law) where he served as Chief Justice of the Moot Court.
Between undergraduate and law school, Turner was a lieutenant on active duty in the U.S. Navy. He graduated with distinction from the Naval Justice School and served as a nuclear weapons handling officer and gunnery officer aboard the U.S.S. Purdy and the U.S.S. Austin.
Turner played a major role in the fight against the artificial sweetener aspartame. He also worked with Dr. John Olney in the late 1960s during the Senate hearings about monosodium glutamate (MSG) in baby foods.
Turner was concerned about Olney’s research proving aspartame caused brain lesions in baby rats and he fought to make sure it would not get approved as an artificial sweetener. He discovered that the aspartic acid in aspartame had similar properties to glutamate — an ingredient in MSG.
Representing a Washington, D.C. public interest group, Consumer Nutrition Institute, Turner and Olney filed formal objections with the FDA and challenged the validity of some of the key aspartame safety tests that the manufacturer, Searle, had submitted to the FDA.
Turner and Olney highlighted evidence that aspartame was causing brain damage, brain tumors, seizures and changes in animal brain chemistry and therefore it may have the potential to affect pregnant women and young children.
Turner and Olney were worried there was no way to control how much NutraSweet (aspartame) children were ingesting. Searle had not tested aspartame on humans and safe dosage data for children was not available. Turner and Olney insisted if children ate too many products containing NutraSweet they could easily cross the threshold that could trigger seizures.
After the Ramazzini Institute studies in Italy demonstrated for the second time that aspartame was a multipotential carcinogen, Turner wrote:
“When I testified before Congress in 1987 … I stated that just because a substance reaches the market it should not be treated as sacrosanct. It must be recognized that over time a substance that we know harms people will continue to harm people… If the standard of food safety is that a substance that only harms some people, but not all people is going to be allowed on the market, then special policies should be adopted to protect those at risk.
“This was never done… victims of aspartame continue to develop neurodegenerative disease, suffer diabetes, drug interactions, obesity, heart disease and loss of vision. Never has the public been warned that it triggers birth defects, a catastrophe the eminent Dr. Louis Elsas warned Congress about.
“In fact the average consumer of aspartame is not aware that the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) says that an acceptable daily intake (ADI) of aspartame is 40 milligrams/kilogram of body weight — about the amount in a six-pack of diet soda for a 10-year-old boy. Nor do they now know how to tell if that amount is being exceeded by intake of the more than 5000 food and drug products currently sweetened with aspartame.”
Turner worked fiercely to get aspartame banned — especially after Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino wrote a bill to ban it in 2007 with the help of Stephen Fox of Mission Possible NM in Santa Fe.
In a documentary on aspartame, “Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World,” Turner definitively points out that Donald Rumsfeld had total complicity in the forced approval of the toxin.
In 2021, Turner was instrumental in forcing the FDA to release its documents on aspartame.
At the time of his death, Turner had been preparing a lawsuit to get aspartame banned, using the Delaney Clause, incorporated into the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act by the Food Additives Amendment of 1958. The clause requires the FDA to ban food additives found to cause or induce cancer in humans or animals as indicated by testing.
He wrote:
“The only responsible thing to do is ban the sweetener. And if they refuse to ban it then it should carry heavy warnings… To loose upon an entire unwarned continent a chemical that destroys the fetus, triggers mental illness and cancer, and sickens millions without a word of warning is corrupt and depraved. EFSA is responsible to prevent such depredations, not simply protect the greedy pockets of the poison producers.”
Turner’s longtime friend and associate, Dr. Betty Martini, stated:
“I’ve known Jim for decades. Never once has he deterred from his passion to get this toxin removed. He told me the FDA told Dr. Olney and him that they would never allow children to ever get aspartame because it causes birth defects and mental retardation, yet it’s in countless children’s products, and many have perished.”
Martini said she was exhilarated about Turner’s upcoming bombshell suit against the FDA — a gigantic step in finally removing aspartame from the marketplace.
Unfortunately, Turner became ill, robbing him of the chance to complete his last courageous act to free people from the dreadful addictive excitoneurotoxic, carcinogenic drug masquerading as an additive, she said.
Dr. Ralph Walton said of Turner: “The world has lost a powerful, courageous and consistent voice in the decades-long effort to demonstrate the hazards of aspartame.”
We, at the Children’s Health Defense Team, salute a great man who spent decades working to remove deadly toxins like aspartame from the market making the food and drug supply a safer place for the public.
Many more of his accomplishments could be listed but this is what he should most be remembered for.
Watch this podcast in which Turner discussed the horrors of aspartame.
Note from the Truth in Labeling Campaign: Aspartame is what the FDA approves for use in glutamate-industry double blind study placebos, having the nerve to claim that they have demonstrated that MSG is “safe.”
‘Recycled FDA commissioner’ with Big Pharma ties, returns to head agency. But does it really matter?
Dr. Robert Califf, a prominent cardiologist with extensive clinical research experience and big ties to Big Pharma, who served as FDA commissioner during Obama’s final year in office has once again been appointed top boss at the FDA.
Califf, who was dubbed the “ultimate industry insider” in 2015, hasn’t changed much during the years since he last was tagged to run the FDA. He may have even improved on his Pharma connections.
The consumer group Public Citizen notes that after Califf left the FDA in 2017 he “revived his lucrative ties with FDA-regulated pharmaceutical companies, receiving consulting fees totaling tens of thousands of dollars…”
The group called for the Senate to reject “Biden’s recycled FDA commissioner pick.”
But they didn’t. Despite being close, 50 YEAs to 46 NAYs, Califf’s nomination was confirmed. But in the scheme of how things work at the FDA, does the name of the FDA head really matter?
Big Food and Big Pharma run the show at the FDA, with agents in place at every level saving the commissioner from making hard decisions – such as how to continue to claim that toxic MSG and its toxic manufactured free glutamate (MfG) are harmless.
But thinking on the bright side, maybe the Senate confirmation hearings could be made to serve a different purpose. Perhaps someone could get those 46 Senators who voted against Califf to have the use of toxic glyphosate (Roundup) banned – or even just limited. Or, maybe they could order an investigation as to why the FDA continues to serve the glutamate industry and not have MfG banned from use in processed foods – or at least labeled. Now that would really be something.
The missing warnings
Hey Giant Food Stores, while you’re issuing “warnings” about milk ingredients, where’s the warning about the numerous excitotoxic (brain damaging) amino acids in the “food” you sell?
The warning and ingredient list below is from the Giantfoodstores.com grocery page to purchase the Frito-Lay variety pack. Only the ingredients that positively contain or create MfG (manufactured free glutamate) during processing are in red type. Disodium Inosinate and Disodium Guanylate, which work synergistically with MfG to intensify its actions, are noted as well.
Warnings
Doritos Cool Ranch Flavored Tortilla Chips, Doritos Nacho Cheese Flavored Tortilla Chips, Fritos Chili Cheese Flavored Corn Chips, Lay’s Sour Cream & Onion Flavored Potato Chips, Cheetos Crunchy Cheese Flavored Snacks: Contains milk ingredients.
Product Disclaimer
GIANT is committed to providing accurate nutritional information to its customers. As an important part of that effort we voluntarily provide such material on our website.
Ingredients
Doritos Cool Ranch Flavored Tortilla Chips: Corn, Vegetable Oil (Corn, Canola, And/or Sunflower Oil), Salt, Corn Starch, Tomato Powder, Lactose, Whey, Skim Milk, Onion Powder, Sugar, Garlic Powder, Monosodium Glutamate, Maltodextrin (Made From Corn), Cheddar Cheese (Milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes), Dextrose, Malic Acid, Corn Syrup Solids, Buttermilk, Natural And Artificial Flavors, Sodium Acetate, Artificial Color (Red 40, Blue 1, Yellow 5), Spice, Citric Acid, Disodium Inosinate, And Disodium Guanylate.
Doritos Nacho Cheese Flavored Tortilla Chips: Corn, Vegetable Oil (Sunflower, Canola, And/or Corn Oil), Maltodextrin (Made From Corn), And Less Than 2% Of The Following: Salt, Cheddar Cheese (Milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes), Whey, Monosodium Glutamate, Buttermilk, Romano Cheese (Part-Skim Cow’s Milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes), Romano Cheese (Cow’s Milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes), Whey Protein Concentrate, Onion Powder, Corn Flour, Natural And Artificial Flavor, Dextrose, Tomato Powder, Lactose, Spices, Artificial Color (Yellow 6, Yellow 5, Red 40), Lactic Acid, Citric Acid, Sugar, Garlic Powder, Skim Milk, Red And Green Bell Pepper Powder, Disodium Inosinate, Disodium Guanylate, Potassium Chloride, And Sodium Caseinate.
Fritos Chili Cheese Flavored Corn Chips: Corn, Corn Oil, Whey, Salt, Spices, Maltodextrin (Made From Corn), Cheddar Cheese (Milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes), Canola Oil, Potassium Salt, Tomato Powder, Monosodium Glutamate, Onion Powder, Natural Flavors, Romano Cheese (Cow’s Milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes), Dextrose, Sugar, Buttermilk, Sodium Caseinate, Annatto Extracts, Butter (Cream, Salt), Citric Acid, Sunflower Oil, Garlic Powder, Disodium Inosinate, Disodium Guanylate, And Caramel Color.
Lay’s Sour Cream & Onion Flavored Potato Chips: Potatoes, Vegetable Oil (Canola, Corn, Soybean, And/or Sunflower Oil), Skim Milk, And Less Than 2% Of The Following: Salt, Whey, Onion Powder, Parsley, Sour Cream (Cultured Cream, Skim Milk), Dextrose, Maltodextrin (Made From Corn)., Natural Flavors, Medium Chain Triglycerides, Lactose, Citric Acid, Buttermilk, And Whey Protein Concentrate.
Lay’s Barbecue Flavored Potato Chips: Potatoes, Vegetable Oil (Canola, Corn, Soybean, And/or Sunflower Oil), Sugar, And Less Than 2% Of The Following: Dextrose, Salt, Maltodextrin [Made From Corn], Molasses, Torula Yeast, Onion Powder, Spices, Tomato Powder, Paprika, Natural Flavors, Corn Starch, Caramel Color, Yeast Extract, Paprika Extracts, Garlic Powder, And Mustard Seed Oil.
Cheetos Crunchy Cheese Flavored Snacks: Enriched Corn Meal (Corn Meal, Ferrous Sulfate, Niacin, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Vegetable Oil (Corn, Canola, And/or Sunflower Oil), Cheese Seasoning (Whey, Cheddar Cheese [Milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes], Canola Oil, Maltodextrin [Made From Corn], Natural And Artificial Flavors, Salt, Whey Protein Concentrate, Monosodium Glutamate, Lactic Acid, Citric Acid, Artificial Color [Yellow 6]), And Salt.
Had they listened, the obesity epidemic would have been stopped before it took hold, and infertility would never have reached crisis proportions
Sections below taken in part from the obituary of John W. Olney posted at Washington University in St. Louis, THE RECORD.
“John W. Olney, MD, the John P. Feighner Professor of Psychiatry and a professor of pathology and immunology, died April 14, 2015. He was 83.
“A longtime leader in the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Olney remained active in research until the last few days of his life.
“He studied neurotransmitters in the brain and how they can become toxic under certain circumstances. He was the first scientist to propose that when high concentrations of the neurotransmitter glutamate were released from brain cells, the glutamate could overexcite cellular receptors and destroy cells through a process he named ‘excitotoxicity.’”
More than a talented researcher, John Olney was a kind and caring human being. Seeing the dangers posed by use of free glutamate in food, he published articles on the subject and spoke out on the dangers of MSG, putting his reputation and research funding at risk. In 1972 he testified before the Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs, warning that ingestion of MSG places humans at risk, with the greatest risk being for the very young. He gave evidence to a National Academy of Science panel organized to determine whether MSG ought to be banned from baby food, only to find that it had been an “industry arranged whitewash” carried out by a group of scientists with almost no experience in neuropathology. In 1991 he was interviewed for the only 60 Minutes segment ever aired questioning the safety of MSG.
In 1993 he gave testimony to the FDA’s review of the safety of monosodium glutamate – and convinced other neuroscientists to join him. Never hesitating to do what he could to stem the tide of the growing use of MSG, he then was a plaintiff in a lawsuit designed to force the FDA to require appropriate labeling of monosodium glutamate when present in food.
“John was truly a unique individual who had an enormous impact in psychiatry and across many scientific and clinical disciplines,” said Charles F. Zorumski, MD, the Samuel B. Guze Professor, professor of neurobiology and head of the Department of Psychiatry. “He was an innovator and a pioneer. Literally, the field of studying glutamate as an excitotoxin, and even the word ‘excitotoxicity’ itself, can be traced to John’s seminal studies in the late 1960s and 1970s. And his most recent work on the effects of drugs on the developing brain has changed how pediatric anesthesia is done.
“Olney came to Washington University in 1964 as a resident in psychiatry and joined the faculty in 1968. He started his medical training at age 28, leaving a job in the U.S. Army to pursue a medical degree when his sister was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Born in Marathon, Iowa, Olney earned his bachelor’s and medical degrees from the University of Iowa.
“In addition to working with glutamate, Olney studied the effects of anesthetic drugs, such as ketamine, on the developing brain. He did important and much-cited research into fetal alcohol syndrome, concluding that if a pregnant woman consumed as few as two drinks, the alcohol could cause nerve cells in the fetal brain to die. And Olney found that as the brain continued to develop in the years after a baby was born, anesthetic drugs also had the capacity to do damage. Consequently, he recommended that elective surgery be avoided in very young children whenever possible.
“Olney was a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. He was a recipient of the Wakeman Award for Research in the Neurosciences, the Dana Foundation Award for Achievement in Health and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Biological Psychiatry.”
Maybe now that it has been demonstrated that excitotoxic glutamate ingested by a pregnant woman will cause brain damage in her fetus and newborn, leading to intractable obesity (the obesity epidemic) and reproductive disorders (the infertility crisis), someone will listen. Adrienne Samuels
What changed in 1957 that triggered the obesity crisis?
Did you ever wonder why consumers didn’t have problems with monosodium glutamate before 1968? That’s one of the favorite stories told in the ongoing MSG-is-safe-for-you propaganda, and it happens to be true. True, because of a 1957 invention that enabled production of so much MSG so quickly that it became easily and cheaply available. What had once been a harmless amino acid available and used in limited quantity became poisonous when available and used in great quantity.
Until Dr. Kwok wrote his well-known 1968 letter titled “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome,” physicians passed off reactions to MSG as allergic reactions, and the brain damage caused by MSG wasn’t obvious.
Prior to 1957, the amount of free glutamate in the average diet had been unremarkable. But that 1957 change (in which Ajinomoto switched from extraction of glutamate from a protein source, a slow and costly method, to a method of bacterial fermentation), allowed them to churn out virtually unlimited amounts of MSG. And Ajinomoto began to market its product aggressively. Shortly thereafter, food manufacturers found that profits could be increased by utilizing flavor-enhancing additives that contained free glutamate. Over the next two decades, the marketplace became flooded with manufactured/processed free-glutamate in ingredients such as hydrolyzed proteins, yeast extracts, maltodextrin, soy protein isolate, and MSG. And an ever-increasing variety of free glutamate-containing products became readily available to consumers who were being actively solicited.
Prior to 1957, the date of Ajinomoto’s launch of mass-production, there had been no reports of MSG-induced adverse reactions; no studies demonstrating MSG-induced brain damage; no obesity epidemic; no infertility crisis; and the incidence of glutamate-induced abnormalities such as multiple sclerosis (MS), Parkinson’s disease, and autism had not yet begun to skyrocket.
In 1968, eleven years after Ajinomoto began mass producing MSG, the first report of MSG-induced adverse reactions was made public. And soon MSG-induced obesity and infertility would be recognized in young adults who had suffered glutamate-induced brain damage before birth or as newborns.
Why are these people standing in line for a bucket of soy protein isolate, yeast extract and some breadcrumbs?
Part of an ongoing series of Truth in Labeling Campaign blogs about plant-based protein substitutes.
Last August there was a five-hour feeding frenzy at an Atlanta Kentucky Fried Chicken location.
The restaurant, decked out in special green paint to match the new colored KFC buckets, had a parade of customers that went around the building. They all were lining up for the new offering, a “plant-based” concoction made by Beyond Meat dubbed “Beyond Chicken,” which sold out in a few hours.
All the hype, news stories, and press releases (the CEO of Beyond Meat said his “only regret is not being able to see the legendary Colonel himself enjoy this important moment”) becomes even more ridiculous when you realize what these folks were waiting to purchase – a brew of brain-damaging chemicals constructed to look like a chicken nugget.
Now, this mixture of soy protein isolate, natural flavors, yeast extract and pea extract (all sources of manufactured free glutamate, or MfG) will be rolling out at 4,000 KFC locations around the U.S.
The entire concept of these so-called “plant-based meats” are the ultimate in deceiving the public. They are certainly not health foods, they won’t turn meat-eating consumers into vegans, and for those who already shun animal products this new KFC fake fare isn’t even prepared in a vegan or vegetarian manner, being cooked in the same oil as the actual KFC chicken is.
So, what’s the attraction?
As we said in a blog at the end of December, sales of these “substitute” foods (what the FDA calls them) have taken a nosedive. Despite scores of fake meat, chicken and even fish products easily available in both supermarkets and restaurants, sales have gone flat. It appears that consumers are catching on to this con. And for those still in the dark about what these foods are made from, the novelty of tasting something fake that’s pretending to be something real has worn thin.
Could it be that the only thing keeping this phony food market seemingly afloat is the sheer amount of press being given to it? The new KFC mock chicken was mentioned in practically every news source you can think of, including vegan and vegetarian publications. The ones we saw applauded it, some giving three cheers to all the chickens that will be saved by KFC (which certainly remains to be seen).
What you won’t be hearing from the media is how food chemists have managed to make a laboratory concoction comprised of highly processed ingredients that, when tweaked enough, will manage to have a chicken-like taste. It’s not easy to do. Perhaps that’s the “Kentucky Fried Miracle” they are advertising.
Here’s a look at what this faux foul is made from. The ingredients in red are all sources of MfG, the very same excitotoxic, brain damaging, glutamic acid found in all flavor enhancers, including MSG.
Water, Enriched wheat flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Soy Protein Isolate, Expeller Pressed Canola Oil, Enriched bleached wheat flour (Bleached Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Wheat Gluten, Natural Flavor, Yeast Extract, and less than 2 percent of: Breadcrumbs (Wheat Flour, Distilled Vinegar, Sea Salt, Leavening (Sodium Bicarbonate), Inactive Yeast, Spice Extractives), Chili Pepper, Citric Acid, Garlic Powder, Leavening (Sodium Bicarbonate, Sodium Aluminum Phosphate, Monocalcium Phosphate), Modified Wheat Starch, Onion Powder, Pea Extract, Rice Flour, Salt, Spice, Titanium Dioxide (for color). (List provided by Women’s Health magazine).
Obviously, there’s no “miracle” here, just a witches’ brew of chemically processed ingredients and flavorings.
If you’re not a TLC blog reader, here’s a quick rundown of some of the things free glutamate is associated with: Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, stroke, ALS, autism, schizophrenia, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), epilepsy, ischemic stroke, seizures, Huntington’s disease, addiction, frontotemporal dementia, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and autism.
For a list of ingredients that contain excitotoxic amino acids, go here, also check out our website to learn more.
Another deceptive marketing term to watch out for
“Delicious,” “hearty,” “nutritious,” and “wholesome,” are just some of the buzz words used to catch your eye in the supermarket. But nothing is as overused and fraudulent as the term “all natural.”
Since all natural has no official definition, Big Food uses it without the least little concern on anything it cares to, including products that are so blatantly unnatural that companies have been sued for using the term. Kashi brand, owned by Kellogg’s, is one example. While the company settled several cases instead of going to court and paid out close to $9 million (much of it going to “reimburse shoppers” a small fraction of their purchase price), Kellogg’s only promised to clean up its language, not the Kashi ingredients.
The Kashi California class-action lawsuit, settled in 2014, involved falsely advertising cereals, bars, cookies and crackers as “all natural” or made with “nothing artificial” when they contained, according to the complaint, “an array of chemicals.”
The court documents also stated that Kashi shakes are “composed almost entirely of synthetic and unnaturally processed ingredients…” many of which are “shocking.” Also mentioned in the complaint was this interesting tidbit: “Defendants (Kashi) also added several highly process excitotoxins to its products that are hidden sources of monosodium glutamate, a.k.a. ‘MSG.’”
We recently checked out some Kashi products starting with Kashi GO Original cereal. The very first ingredient is soy protein concentrate, which always contains manufactured free glutamate (MfG), the very same excitotoxic, brain damaging, glutamic acid found in all flavor enhancers including MSG.
Kashi GO dark cocoa contains even more MfG-containing ingredients, namely lentil protein, pea protein and natural flavors. Many in the “GO” lineup, in fact, contain soy, lentil or pea protein – all sources of MfG.
The Kashi Go Protein Waffles aren’t any better, containing whey protein concentrate (said to be organic, so that makes it an organic excitotoxin!), and natural flavors.
Soon after the class-action cases were settled, an odd array of feel-good Kashi stories started circulating. “Eat This, Not That!,” for example bragged about the “10 things you don’t know about Kashi,” such as how they “help farmers” and are “friends to honey bees.” Other articles focused on their whole grains and that they are “health-conscious foods.” Of course, it could have been a coincidence, but we’ve observed that it’s common for PR firms to plant such favorable press after getting negative publicity.
As shoppers are becoming leerier of “all-natural” claims, Big Food is looking for other ways to deceive consumers. One expert in food labeling said “I think we’re seeing the end of the golden age of natural. We’ll see more words like ‘Simply’ instead.”
So, now we know another deceptive marketing term to watch out for.