Ajinomoto began its challenge to MSG toxicity in 1968, following the revelation that MSG killed brain cells in laboratory animals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Contrary to the myths circulated by the Glutes, the first hint that MSG might be toxic came from studies of the retina done by Lucas and Newhouse back in 1957. That was followed by a study titled \u201cBrain lesions, obesity, and other disturbances in mice treated with monosodium glutamate\u201d done by Olney and published in 1969 after having been shared with Ajinomoto in 1968. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The take-away from that research would have been that MSG causes brain damage and, possibly independently, also damages the retina. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ajinomoto began its challenge to MSG toxicity in 1968 after learning of Olney\u2019s work, by pretending to replicate Olney\u2019s studies. They set up studies that couldn\u2019t possibly demonstrate brain damage. Not by falsifying data, because that would have been deemed fraudulent. Instead, they rigged their studies by using methodology that would guarantee their results would come out as desired \u2013 techniques that would make it impossible to conclude \u201cwith certainty\u201d that MSG caused brain damage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As time went on and reports of reactions to MSG increased, Ajinomoto moved to human double-blind studies that were also rigged to guarantee that researchers could claim to find no evidence of MSG toxicity. In those studies, as many people would react to placebos as reacted to MSG because the placebos contained an excitotoxin (the aspartic acid in aspartame) that was so similar to the excitotoxic glutamic acid in MSG that it would cause the exact same reactions as would be caused by MSG.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the Glutes talk about MSG getting a bad rap, they don\u2019t talk about brain damage or retinal degeneration, both of which are caused by ingestion of MSG. They don\u2019t mention MSG-induced obesity or infertility, also caused by MSG. And they\u2019re not very specific about MSG-reactions like migraine headache either. Our research suggests that this \u201cbad rap\u201d they\u2019re so fond of talking about is just another attempt to hide the truth about toxic MSG and clean up MSG\u2019s bad name. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Out of curiosity we searched for examples of \u201cbad raps\u201d — statements made about MSG that industry claims are simply not true. But we couldn\u2019t find any. We found only fallacious statements made by the Glutes about the safety of MSG.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Doesn\u2019t look like MSG got a bad rap at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you have questions or comments, we\u2019d love to hear from you. If you have hints for others on how to avoid exposure to MfG, send them along, too, and we\u2019ll put them up on <\/em>Facebook<\/em><\/a>. Or you can reach us at questionsaboutmsg@gmail.com and follow us on <\/em>Twitter @truthlabeling<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n References<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n