It’s repeated over and over and over again in glutamate-industry propaganda: “backed by science.” The current meaningless feel-good phrase designed to con you into thinking monosodium glutamate is good for you.
The only science that the Glutes use is rigged to guarantee to conclude that MSG is both “safe” and a good thing to eat. Rigged? Yes, “rigged.” The details are spelled out for you in a little post called “designed for deception.” But if you don’t care to read all the details, just remember that the placebos they have been using in their double-blind studies since 1978 all produce the same reactions that are caused by MSG, and it’s on that basis they make their claim that MSG is harmless.
Encouraged by an invitation from LinkedIn, I just posted my goal for 2022 on my LinkedIn page. And that made me realize that I might achieve that goal a lot sooner if health-conscious people would start talking about ‘type one obesity’ – speaking out so loudly that healthcare professionals would act on the fact that there are people out there who have no control over their weight and would give them the help that they need to deal with their disabilities. So, I’m sharing with you and hoping that you will share with others.
Losing weight is the number one goal for Americans in 2022. It was also at the top of the list last year, the year before that, and on and on.
As I see it, there are two types of obesity (similar to the two types of diabetes). Type 1 obesity is something that can’t be controlled with diet and exercise. Type 2 obesity can be controlled with diet and exercise – if a person chooses to do so and is willing to put out the effort.
My goal for 2022 is to share what I discovered about type 1 obesity as I was researching the dangers of MSG and MfG (manufactured free glutamate). I’m hoping that doing so will help wipe out the shame and blame suffered by people with a condition over which they’ve never had control.
Most people understand that if you consume more calories that you need, you’ll put on weight. What I discovered (or more precisely uncovered) is that before a child’s brain is fully developed, it is possible to damage that part of the brain that regulates appetite and turns off the desire to continue eating. Each of us should have been born with a switch, so to speak, that turns hunger on and off, telling us when we’ve had enough to eat. I discovered that it’s possible to wipe out the part of the brain that contains the “switch.” And that happened to so many people in the 1960s and 1970s (and continues to happen to this day), that it’s being called the “obesity epidemic.”
My goal is to share that information. In this age of instantaneous communication that shouldn’t be a difficult goal to attain. And the most effective way to be successful would be to publish a well thought out, well researched article in a medical journal focused on obesity, explaining that excitotoxic amino acids fed to pregnant women will be passed on to the fetus where it will damage that part of the brain responsible for weight control.
But editors of medical journals don’t seem to have an interest in publishing something that might displease Big Food. True, my goal for 2022 may appear difficult, even unattainable, but as Nelson Mandela said, “It always seems impossible until it’s done.”
Part of an ongoing series of Truth in Labeling Campaign blogs about plant-based protein substitutes.
Screenshot from Vox.com | AP Images for Beyond Meat
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.
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.
“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.
Don’t let your concern about such things as skin rash, migraine headaches, and heart irregularities caused by monosodium glutamate (MSG) distract you from the fact that MSG kills brain cells (that don’t repair themselves) and in turn disrupts the endocrine system.
You might say that just about everyone has heard of MSG-migraines. Every headache clinic that we know of lists MSG as a headache trigger. And the Glutes either ignore the relationship entirely or simply say it isn’t so.
If pushed to the wall, industry always falls back on its old standby called Chinese Restaurant Syndrome, which erroneously implies that MSG-reactions are limited to those reported by Dr. Ho Man Kwok in The New England Journal of Medicine in 1968.
You’ll never hear the Glutes talking about MSG-induced brain damage, MSG-induced obesity, or MSG-induced infertility. If you read the medical literature, you’ll find studies of MSG-induced brain damage, MSG-induced retinal degeneration, MSG-induced obesity, and MSG-induced infertility going back over 60 years to research from Lucas and Newhouse in 1957. And you won’t hear about that from the major media outlets (and even the not-so-major ones). Ever since 60 Minutes aired a segment on MSG in 1991, no media outlet has even suggested that MSG might be toxic.
Although spring is still some weeks away, here at the Truth in Labeling Campaign we’re not waiting to do our spring cleaning.
The first thing that needs to be cleaned up and tossed out is the idea that the safety of MSG is controversial.
Like everything else the “Glutes” put out to deceive you into believing that MSG is “safe,” claiming that the safety of MSG is controversial is part of their basic con.
The only “controversy” here is that the Glutes continue to say MSG is “safe” despite clear and copious data demonstrating MSG is toxic.
There really is nothing to debate. But being that selling MSG is their business, they work very hard on twisting the truth. Here are the facts of the matter:
1. The opinion that free glutamic acid (the active component in MSG) causes brain damage, is based on data amassed between 1969 and 2021 by neuroscientists studying the brain.
2. No data demonstrating anything to the contrary exist. Those who manufacture and sell MSG say that MSG is harmless or “safe” by pointing to studies that failed to find toxicity. That’s a big difference.
Here’s how it works:
They claimed to have replicated studies of glutamate induced toxicity from the 1970s without finding toxicity, but they were not true replications. Rather, the methods and materials used in setting up studies and analyzing results prevented identifying evidence of MSG toxicity.
From the 1980s until it was made public that they were using placebos in their double-blind studies that caused reactions identical to those caused by MSG test material, their claims of “safety” were based on studies that were rigged to exclude the possibility that MSG was anything but “safe.”
Since being exposed, claims of safety now come from what’s called consensus meetings. These are meetings organized and paid for by the U.S. manufacturer of MSG or their agents where participants discuss the safety of MSG and publish the conclusion that they find it to be “safe.”
MSG is a toxic ingredient. There should be no question about the truth of the matter. In that sense, there really is no controversy.
The second thing that needs to be tossed is the notion that the FDA protects consumers.
But industry’s control of the FDA reaches far beyond that. An opinion piece in the September 2, 2021 New York Times titled “America Desperately Needs a Much Better F.D.A.” gives some detail.
New year’s resolutions
1. Start thinking MfG
MSG is toxic as ever and you don’t want to forget that. But you need to also know that the poison in MSG is manufactured free glutamic acid (MfG). And MfG can be found in dozens of other ingredients, not just MSG. (https://www.truthinlabeling.org/assets/names_ingredients_linkedin.pdf).
If this seems confusing remember that the U.S. manufacturer of MSG has spent millions of dollars trying to confuse you and everyone else – and has been quite successful.
2. Realize that you are not alone in reacting to MSG and MfG. Besides possibly suffering reactions, everyone is vulnerable to brain damage from ingesting MSG and MfG.
It’s likely that you, along with millions of others, have been conned into thinking that there’s something mentally wrong with you. You’re not just told that no one is sensitive to MSG. The big con is to get you – personally — to doubt yourself. You’re told that:
if you were truly reacting to the glutamate in MSG, you’d also be reacting to the glutamate and beef and chicken and mushrooms and tomatoes. Here’s why that’s one of the big scams the Glutes push to make consumers doubt themselves. The glutamate in MSG is free glutamate. The glutamate in unadulterated beef, chicken, mushrooms and tomatoes is not free. It’s bound, tied in chains to other amino acids. Bound glutamate does not cause either brain damage or adverse reactions.
If you think you are reacting to MSG, get tested by an allergist. That’s another one of their big scams. The reaction to MSG/MfG is not an allergic reaction. It’s a reaction to a poison, and an allergy test will be negative.
Not so personal is the alleged “evidence” that MSG is safe. Put simply, the U.S. manufacturer of MSG designs and executes studies that couldn’t possibly find anything wrong with MSG. Basic to getting that job done is setting up double-blind studies where the placebo causes reactions identical to reactions caused by the MSG test material. “Designed for deception” has the details. https://www.truthinlabeling.org/deception_web.html
3. If you are overweight consider that your obesity may have been preset when your pregnant mother consumed large amounts of MfG, which would have destroyed that part of the brain needed for weight regulation – leaving you without the ability to use diet and exercise to control you weight.
“Dose dependent toxicity of glutamic acid: a review,” published in the International Journal of Food Properties, explains.
Adrienne Samuels (2020) Dose dependent toxicity of glutamic acid: a review, International Journal of Food Properties, 23:1, 412-419, DOI: 10.1080/10942912.2020.1733016
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Need a project to get your mind off the world situation? How about helping us spread the truth about the obesity epidemic and the infertility crisis!
We recently came across this press release issued in 2010: USDA-ARS and Ajinomoto launch sodium glutamate research collaboration. Wait…what?
Why in the world would the U.S. Department of Agriculture be cozying up with Ajinomoto, likely the world’s largest manufacture of monosodium glutamate?
The eleven-year-old release came from the Ajinomoto PR office, describing how this “powerful partnership” will “seek a better understanding of how to improve eating behaviors and human health” (a quote from then Ajinomoto president Masatoshi Ito, who is now listed as chairman of the company).
This “research” collaboration, the release states, “will add to the growing base of science around umami, widely accepted as the fifth basic taste.”
To be sure, the USDA ARS (Agricultural Research Service) does plenty of research. A long list of current collaborations and projects include biological control of coffee berry borer and combating the threat of fusarium wilt to cotton production. But this is something else entirely. An Ajinomoto-funded promotion of its product utilizing the name and resources of a federal agency. And not just any product, but one known to be a neurotoxic (brain damaging), obesity promoting, headache inducing additive, that untold numbers of citizens would like to avoid entirely.
We tracked down the scientist named in the press release, Dr. Kevin Laugero, of the USDA/ARS Western Human Nutrition Research Center (the WHNRC’s mission is described in part as conducting “nutrition interventions” that will help “prevent obesity and related metabolic disorders.”), located at the University of California, Davis campus, and sent him an email. No response.
We then contacted the USDA/ARS public affairs office, which didn’t have very much to say except that perhaps we should contact Ajinomoto to learn more. They also said that sometime in the new year they may be able to reach Dr. Laugero. We are also filing a Freedom of Information Act request with the USDA.
Even if our research hits a brick wall, this is still a stunning illustration of how closely connected industry is with our so-called watchdog federal agencies, which includes, of course, the FDA. Another example of how they’ve been partners in crime for decades.
Over a decade ago Progresso and Campbell’s duked it out over whose soup contained less MSG. Called the “soup wars,” the first shot was fired by Campbell’s in a 2008 ad that said more Progresso soups contained monosodium glutamate than Campbell’s. Soon after, Progresso took out a full-page ad in the New York Times stating that “Campbell’s has 95 soups made with MSG.”
Now, those big brands tell different stories about the MSG in their products.
Campbell’s has decided to focus on how safe MSG is. They tell us that “MSG occurs naturally in many foods, such as tomatoes and cheeses,” while in fact MSG is manufactured. It does not appear “naturally” anywhere.
Along with that, “for those looking to avoid MSG,” Campbell’s has “clean label” soups. Those are soups that contain the same toxic manufactured free glutamate (MfG) that’s in MSG, which will be found in ingredients such as yeast extract, whey protein concentrate and natural flavoring, without any mention of the toxic glutamate in them.
Progresso has taken it a step further, claiming that its “focus on quality ingredients” means they’ve ditched using this excitotoxic additive all together.
Not exactly.
Progresso New England clam chowder is advertised as “no MSG added,” yet it contains natural flavor, yeast extract and whey protein concentrate. The brand’s Chicken & herb dumpling soup also states “No MSG added,” but contains natural flavor, corn protein (hydrolyzed), soy protein isolate and a second listing of natural flavor. Those are just two examples, we could go on and on, but you get the idea. All of those ingredients contain MfG.
Considering what’s contained in those soups, and how big and bold Progresso makes the claim of “No MSG added” one might think there’s no FDA regulation against such fraud. But there is.
Over 25 years ago the FDA issued this statement:
“While technically MSG is only one of several forms of free glutamate used in foods, consumers frequently use the term MSG to mean all free glutamate. For this reason, FDA considers foods whose labels say “No MSG” or “No added MSG” to be misleading if the food contains ingredients that are sources of free glutamates, such as hydrolyzed protein.”
Unfortunately, long ago the FDA stopped punishing or even scolding those who violate the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act – but that doesn’t make this any less a violation of FDA rules.
Campbell’s and Progresso are far from the only food manufacturers who engage in this “clean label,” “No MSG added” trickery. And soups are not the only products promoted this way.
So, when you pick up a product that states “No MSG” or “No added MSG,” you’ll know that you don’t even need to read the ingredient label.
Here at the Truth in Labeling Campaign we’ve posted quite a bit about fake meat products that contain brain-damaging amino acids. These plant-based, so-called alternative proteins aren’t made from plants but in plants.
Not long ago, products such as Beyond Meat, the Impossible Burger and others appeared to be unstoppable. They managed to infiltrate supermarkets, restaurants such as Burger King and Dunkin’ Donuts and even more elegant sit-down establishments.
Now, however, something is happening to the fake food industry – a great many consumers just aren’t buying these “substitute” foods (as the FDA calls them) anymore. U.S. sales of the Beyond brand (makers of Beyond Meat and the Beyond Burger) recently took a deep dive. Other manufacturers in the pretend food business are seeing their profits sink as well. One CEO of a Canadian company said the “category performance” of plant-based products “has basically flatlined.”
Could it be that people are becoming aware that fake fish, mock meat and counterfeit chicken are nothing more than highly processed promotors of obesity, infertility and migraines? Have consumers figured out that they contain large amounts of manufactured free glutamate (MfG) — the same toxic ingredient found in monosodium glutamate? In other words, are folks catching on to this con?
We believe so.
While it’s no shock that a cattleman wouldn’t support bogus burgers, the comments one made about these ersatz meat products is a bit surprising (perhaps he reads the TLC blog!).
Robert McKnight, Jr., president of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, said in a trade publication article that medical professionals are concerned about plant-based “meats” as they contain “dozens of highly processed, laboratory-invented ingredients.”
You’ll find an assortment of those “laboratory-invented ingredients” in most all of these products. For example, take a look at four of the top ingredients in Beyond Beef, all that contain MfG:
Pea protein
Rice protein
Natural flavors
Dried yeast
The Impossible Burger does even better, with 6 MfG-containing ingredients:
Soy-protein concentrate
Natural flavors
Potato protein
Yeast extract
Food starch, modified, and
Soy-protein isolate
Now, there’s even “fish-free” tuna on the market. Good Catch brand is a catch of 7 brain damaging MfG ingredients:
Pea protein isolate
Soy protein concentrate
Faba protein
Lentil protein
Soy protein isolate
Citric acid, and
Yeast extract
Despite all the clever marketing and hoopla over these foods, a recent survey found that nearly half of the consumers questioned want “more information” about plant-based foods before trying them, and over 43 percent want “complete transparency of ingredients.”
But based on the ingredients already on the labels, we’ve seen enough to say that they are nothing more than well-packaged chemical concoctions.
Last week we told you about a product called AuxiGro, a plant yield enhancer that contains MSG’s toxic component MfG (manufactured free glutamate). According to a label found on the Internet, AuxiGro WP (wettable powder) contains 29.2 percent L-glutamic acid.
The Truth in Labeling Campaign first learned of AuxiGro in the late 1990’s and tracked its approval in the U.S. as it made formal objections to federal and state authorities, including the California Department of Pesticide Regulations.
Emerald BioAgriculture, which manufactured AuxiGro for the U.S. market, told us this past summer that they “exited the AuxiGro business” starting in 2005, with final sales of the product in 2007. “It is no longer available,” they said.
Or is it?
We recently came across this video (posted below) from 2014, a testimonial for using AuxiGro on raspberries from Mexico. You don’t need to speak Spanish to get the drift of it – big, beautiful berries, all due to AuxiGro.
While it’s hard enough to determine what pesticides and fertilizers have been used on U.S. grown produce, it’s practically impossible to uncover what has been applied to imports. We have noticed, however, that the imported berries in the supermarket are exceptionally large this year. Is that due to AuxiGro? We’ll probably never know, but where fruits and vegetables are concerned, bigger isn’t always better.
