Tag: Monosodium Glutamate

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Don’t expect to learn the truth about MSG from today’s U.S. researchers

I’m certainly not afraid to speak out. I’ve been speaking out on the hazards of MSG for more than 30 years along with Jack Samuels, slowing down only to grieve his death and tell his story, “It Wasn’t Alzheimer’s, It Was MSG.” Given that the US maker of MSG controls the medical journals, the media, and the FDA as well as legislators who might have FDA oversight, speaking out has been limited to updating our fact-based webpage, making it easier to use and writing blogs. And I filed three Citizen Petitions with the FDA requesting that MSG and the toxic glutamate in it be stripped of their GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status. But apparently those who would or could do something for the welfare of the American people were not paying attention.

But something changed in the 2020s. Maybe the pandemic caused some soul searching – at least in Asia and Africa. Maybe there was so much free-glutamate in processed food (free-glutamate being the toxic ingredient in MSG and all other flavor enhancers) that the numbers of people reacting to flavor enhancers escalated to the point that it couldn’t be denied. Or maybe Ajinomoto’s campaigns to clear MSG of its bad name backfired, and people realized that it was lies that were being told over and over and over again in industry propaganda dressed up as news — or lies being told by celebrity chefs who really don’t use MSG in their cooking.

Today a friend of the Truth in Labeling Campaign sent me a copy of this research: “Worldwide flavor enhancer monosodium glutamate combined with high lipid diet provokes metabolic alterations and systemic anomalies: An overview” that included the warning, “This comprehensive review formulates health care strategies to create global awareness about the harmful impact of [MSG with a high lipid diet] on the human body and recommends the daily consumption of more natural foods rich in antioxidants instead of toxic ingredients.”

And that wasn’t the only warning I’ve seen in recent years. Others have included:

  • Study of the Toxic Effects of Monosodium glutamate on the Central Nervous System (Egypt)
  • Entering a new era of quantifying glutamate clearance in health and disease (Canada)
  • Anti-inflammatory activity of ginger modulates macrophage activation against the inflammatory pathway of monosodium glutamate (Egypt)
  • Targeting metabotropic glutamate receptors for the treatment of depression and other stress-related disorders (USA)
  • Modulation of immune functions, inflammatory response, and cytokine production following long-term oral exposure to three food additives; thiabendazole, monosodium glutamate, and brilliant blue in rats (Egypt)
  • Natural products as safeguards against monosodium glutamate-induced toxicity (Iran)
  • Dietary monosodium glutamate altered redox status and dopamine metabolism in lobster cockroach (Nauphoeta cinerea) (Nigeria)
  • Antiapoptotic and antioxidant capacity of phytochemicals from Roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa) and their potential effects on monosodium glutamate-induced testicular damage in rat (Egypt)
  • Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)-Induced Male Reproductive Dysfunction: A Mini Review (Nigeria)

In the 1980s, researchers focused on identifying and understanding abnormalities associated with glutamate, often for the purpose of finding drugs that would mitigate glutamate’s adverse effects. It is well documented that free glutamate is implicated in kidney and liver disorders, neurodegenerative disease, and more. By 1980, glutamate-associated disorders such as headaches, asthma, diabetes, muscle pain, atrial fibrillation, ischemia, trauma, seizures, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, depression, multiple sclerosis, schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), epilepsy, addiction, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), frontotemporal dementia and autism were on the rise, and evidence of the toxic effects of glutamate were generally accepted by the scientific community. A November 15, 2020 search of the National Library of Medicine using PubMed.gov returned 3872 citations for “glutamate-induced.”

Millions of health care dollars could be saved by simply considering MSG when making diagnoses. And if the truth about the toxic potential of free glutamate were told and its use in food reduced, disease and disability would certainly be reduced with it. Given that free glutamate plays a role in a wide variety of abnormalities, decreasing the amount of free glutamate added through ingestion of free glutamate in flavor enhancers and protein substitutes to the body’s glutamate pools certainly wouldn’t do any harm, and many have argued that evidence says that decreasing the presence of excitotoxic amino acids in processed and ultra-processed foods is called for. It’s time to follow the science of independent researchers and not the propaganda spewed forth by the glutamate industry.

Adrienne Samuels


If you have questions or comments, we’d love to hear from you. If you have hints for others on how to avoid exposure to MfG, send them along, too, and we’ll put them up on Facebook. Or you can reach us at questionsaboutmsg@gmail.com and follow us on Twitter @truthlabeling.

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Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, ALS, MS, epilepsy and 10+ other diseases all have this in common

It looks like Ajinomoto is fighting tooth and nail, pulling out all the stops to convince the public that their brain damaging (excitotoxic) monosodium glutamate (MSG) is harmless. They’re pouring millions of dollars into buying advertising space in newspapers throughout the world, issuing press releases, covertly publishing YouTube commercials dressed up as news, buying testimonials from celebrity chef, sports personalities, and good-looking young women who call themselves “sci moms.” They’ve mastered brainwashing on social media. Yet people keep getting sick after eating MSG. Not everyone, of course, just lots of people. And Ajinomoto’s MSG sales have been slipping.

There’s something else, too. Scientists are beginning to realize that somehow glutamate has something to do with increases in 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, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), frontotemporal dementia, and autism. No one has yet identified a cause and effect relationship, but the scientific community now recognizes that glutamate is associated with each of them. Data? A January 18, 2020 Medine search (www.pubmed.gov) for “glutamate-induced,” returned 3742 references.

If you have questions or comments, we’d love to hear from you. If you have hints for others on how to avoid exposure to MfG, send them along, too, and we’ll put them up on Facebook. Or you can reach us at questionsaboutmsg@gmail.com and follow us on Twitter @truthlabeling.

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The art of lying about the safety of MSG

Straight from the horse’s mouth: How to tell your story, market your idea and sell your product without mentioning that its use could be lethal

Nobody does it better than Ajinomoto and their team of public relations specialists.   Since 1957, when they changed the way they manufactured monosodium glutamate (a.k.a. MSG), and reports of reactions to MSG began to circulate, they’ve waged one hell of an effective marketing campaign aimed at convincing consumers (and anyone who might influence consumers) that MSG is harmless. And their success is evidenced by the facts that researchers in the United States rarely study the effects of MSG toxicity and medical journals don’t often publish studies that even suggest MSG might be toxic. Mainstream media dutifully carry Ajinomoto’s message while physicians don’t diagnose for MSG-sensitivity, and the FDA gives false testimony to the safety of MSG.

Recently, Jeryl Brunner writing in Forbes, interviewed one of Ajinomoto’s own, who showed us how it’s done.

Building Tia Rains’ expert/celebrity status

Brunner’s interview starts with Jeryl Brunner explaining that Tia Rains, an Ajinomoto executive, is “crusading to change the perception of monosodium glutamate.” Following are the feel-good words you’re supposed to associate with Tia Rains (without realizing that you’re being brainwashed).  They’re used interchangeably by Rains and Brunner to build Rains’ expert/celebrity image.

  • Nutrition (nutritionist)
  • Scientist
  • Nutritional scientist
  • Her true calling
  • Mastering the art
  • Devoted
  • Educating
  • Optimize
  • Understand
  • Guru
  • Inspired
  • Swimmer (a sports figure)
  • PhD
  • Passion
  • Research

Then there are statements about Tia Rains’ “crusade”:

  • Her specialty is debunking misperceptions of maligned foods. 
  • She’s focused on translating nutrition science into application to advance public health. 
  • She’s dedicated to mapping out a communication approach that resonates with her audience.

The headline actually reads — “For Decades, This Nutrition Scientist And Marketing Guru Has Inspired Millions To Change Misperceptions.” 

Brunner goes on to say,

“Nutrition scientist Tia Rains is devoted to educating people about the food they eat. Her passion for nutrition developed from being a child competitive swimmer. Rains knew that nutrition could optimize her performance and she wanted to understand how.

“For two decades Rains has spent most of her professional career mastering the art of nutrition communications. A PhD in nutritional sciences, her specialty is debunking misperceptions of maligned foods. 

“Rains started at Kraft Foods where she found her true calling at the nexus of science and application. Then she lead nutrition research at a contract research organization. From there she moved to the Egg Nutrition Center where she led a successful effort against the public vilification of eggs.

“Her latest endeavor is crusading to change the perception of monosodium glutamate, better known as ‘MSG.’ As Vice President of Customer Engagement and Strategic Development at Ajinomoto Health & Nutrition North America, Rains is a health and nutrition advocate within the food and nutrition industry. She is focused on translating nutrition science into application to advance public health.” 

Here’s how Rains would inspire you to change your opinion on MSG being toxic, using “art and science.”

Ordinarily, there would be five parts to the “art and science” of generating propaganda:

1. A positive image of the person delivering the message (an expert or a celebrity)

2. A recitation of the good things about the product,

3. A recitation of how the product (MSG) has been maligned,

4. A recitation of what’s bad about those who contradict claims that the product is worth buying, and,

5. A recitation of alleged “facts” – lies that people will be told about MSG.

In Brunner’s article, however, the focus is on the expertise of the person making the presentation as she exposes the root of all this “misinformation” (which, Rains says, is a 1968 article in the New England Journal of Medicine).  

To accomplish that, Rains and Brunner use words that will resonate with her audience as she:  

Builds sympathy for poor maligned MSG:

  • “MSG is one of the most baselessly demonized ingredients in American history.”
  • “We’re attempting to overturn a terrible and long history of xenophobia and misinformation.”
  • “MSG became an easy target and the stigma took hold.”  

Praises the success of her efforts to convince people that MSG is “safe”:

  • “To date, her efforts have contributed to more than twelve million Americans becoming more positive toward the ingredient.”   

Reinforces the positive image that Rains has built for herself:

  • “I hope we can get to a place where we’re leaning more on science than personal feeling, or even fear.”
  • “Every time I present facts and get someone to shift their perception, I’m reminded of why I do what I do.”   
  • “As a scientist, I’m an analytical thinker by training and recognize the importance of research and data. I am able to make science accessible and understandable for the average consumer. But I also think critically about the variety of factors that inform a perception and then see how we can work with researchers and experts to examine why they persist. Credible data is important when creating successful marketing campaigns.”

Urges followers to deliver a balance of logic and emotion:

  • Be logical.  Logic gives people confidence in the message.
  • Play to the audience’s emotions.  Emotion allows people to take ownership of Rains’ campaign and work to have others work with her to change their negative opinions about MSG.

Speaks of the benefits of using MSG:

  • It’s critical for people to taste what MSG does to food and truly experience it. 
  • MSG can be used as a replacement for table salt.

Recites some of the half-truths told by the glutamate industry:

  • “Decades of research validates MSG’s safety.”

(NOTE: the research said by Rains to validate MSG’s safety is badly flawed, in some cases using placebos made of excitotoxic amino acids that cause reactions identical to those caused by MSG.)

  • “Public health organizations around the world stand by its use in the food supply.” 

(NOTE: The organizations referred to by Rains did no research of their own on the safety of MSG (neither library nor laboratory research), but were given material to review by Ajinomoto and Ajinomoto’s agents, which includes the FDA.)

For more information see: https://www.truthinlabeling.org/assets/industrys_fda_final.pdf

For obvious reasons, neither Brunner nor Rains mentions brainwashing which, we have observed, is her basic modus operandi.  Brainwashing can be accomplished in many different ways. Here it’s done by pairing the three letters MSG with feel-good words.  Just as food was paired with ringing a bell for Pavlov’s dogs to condition them to salivate when a bell was rung, pairing “MSG” with happy, soothing words will make people feel good every time they think “MSG.”

What more could a propaganda artist ask for than a couple of pages of subtle brainwashing displayed on the pages of Forbes.


If you have questions or comments, we’d love to hear from you.  And if you have hints for others on how to avoid exposure to MfG, send them along, too, we’ll put them up on Facebook.  You can also reach us at questionsaboutmsg@gmail.com and follow us on Twitter @truthlabeling