Tag: Glutamate Association

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The most effective weapon

Probably the most effective weapon in the arsenal of glutamate industry claims that monosodium glutamate (MSG) is a “safe” food additive is the often-repeated statement that “FDA considers the addition of MSG to foods to be ‘generally recognized as safe’ (GRAS).”

According to The Glutamate Association:

Over the years, there have been numerous reports or complaints from people claiming they had side effects from foods that have MSG. Those include stomach upset, heart palpitations or headaches. In the 60s and 70s, some used the derogatory term “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome” because they believed that people experienced these side effects after eating Chinese food. 

However, researchers have done numerous studies, and there’s been no concrete evidence that MSG causes these ill effects unless consumed in large quantities — 3 grams or more. Typically, an average food serving has 0.5 grams or less of MSG. 

Because of this research, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) classified MSG as GRAS or “generally recognized as safe.”

The flaw in industry’s argument lies in the fact that there actually is no research that demonstrates that MSG is “safe.”

There are several dozen studies that demonstrate that MSG, which contains an excitotoxic – brain damaging – amino acid, kills brain cells in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus causing gross obesity, infertility, behavior disorders and more.

There are a handful of human studies and a myriad of reports that MSG causes migraine headache, asthma, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel, nausea, vomiting, seizures and more. 

There are a dozen or so badly flawed double-blind studies wherein, among other irregularities, the placebo used was not of some inert material, but triggered reactions identical to those caused by MSG. 

Moreover, by the FDA’s own admission, there are no studies that demonstrate the safety of MSG.  Or, to say it more precisely, the FDA has not identified even one study that they have used to back their claim that MSG is “safe.”

According to law, to be designated FDA GRAS (generally recognized as safe), an ingredient must be tested for safety using scientific procedures (with the same evidence as required for food additive approval), unless it is known to be safe through common use in food prior to January 1958.

Since the MSG in use today only entered the market in 1957, no claim can be made that it was known to be safe through common use in food prior to January 1958.  That leaves the requirement that ingredient must be tested for safety using scientific procedures.  A requirement that has not been met.

How do we know? We asked the FDA to point to the studies they used in making the claim that MSG is GRAS.  And guess what?  They haven’t responded with a single study. 

We also asked the FDA to removed MSG and its manufactured free glutamate toxic component (MfG) from the GRAS “list.”  And guess what?  They haven’t responded to that either.

So how does the FDA get away with declaring that MSG is GRAS when doing so puts them in violation of the law?  Who is the glutamate industry operative at the FDA in charge of making it happen?

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They’re having trouble keeping up with the Truth in Labeling Campaign

From the time they began revving up their propaganda until Kate Bratskeir’s article appeared in GoodRx (June 23, 2021), the Glutes had proclaimed that the glutamate in MSG was identical to the glutamate in plants, animals, and the human body. It’s one of their favorite things to say.

But now we find that the story has changed.  Indeed, Kate Bratskeir informed us that “The glutamate in MSG is chemically different from glutamate present in food proteins.”  And that, she said was “according to the FDA.”

This reminds me of the Glutes’ mantra about MSG having been safely used in food for over 2,000 years.  That changed shortly after The Truth in Labeling Campaign began pointing out, repeatedly, that MSG was invented in 1908.  Looks like now someone in one of Ajinomoto’s public relations firms read ‘Seven lines of evidence leading to the conclusion that manufactured free glutamate, no matter where it is found, is excitotoxic,’ or read one of Adrienne Samuels’ Citizen Petitions providing data to support the request that the GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status of monosodium glutamate be revoked.

You may not be paying a great deal of attention to the warnings of the Truth in Labeling Campaign but the Glutes certainly are.  They seem to be extremely careful about being caught in a lie.  And while one way to avoid that is to cautiously not respond to allegations (just like they never responded when it was pointed out that the placebos used in their double-blind studies cause reactions identical to those caused by MSG), a second way is to change out the lie they’ve been telling for a lie less likely to be discovered.

In this case, the Glutes have moved their emphasis from “the glutamate in MSG is identical to the glutamate in plants, animals, and the human body,” to “Our bodies metabolize both [the glutamate in MSG and the glutamate present in food proteins] in the same way.”

Why bother?  What’s the big deal?  The big deal is that while the Glutes have insisted that the two glutamates are identical, Adrienne Samuels has explained how the two forms of glutamate differ.  And rather than take the chance that some media source slips out from behind the veil of silence that the Glutes have had in place since the 1991 60 Minutes program on MSG, and actually broadcasts the truth about the toxicity of MSG, they’ll change out one lie for another one that won’t be as easily invalidated.

The fallback to the metabolism of glutamate is a no-brainer, for there’s no research on the subject.  Certainly there are studies of the metabolism of glutamic acid (on November 28, 2021, 8,223 such studies were cited on pubmed.gov).  But there’s been no study of the metabolism of MSG. While “metabolism” of MSG has been mentioned many times, often by Glutes saying that the metabolism of the glutamate in MSG and the metabolism of glutamate from plant and animal proteins do not differ, there has been no study of the metabolism of MSG.

Another way to avoid being caught in a lie about the safety of MSG would be to simply stop lying about the safety of MSG.

Resources

Seven lines of evidence leading to the conclusion that manufactured free glutamate, no matter where it is found, is excitotoxic. https://7lines.org and https://bit.ly/3vkZ6Cl

Citizen Petition #1

https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=FDA-2021-P-0035-0001


Citizen Petition #2

https://www.regulations.gov/document/FDA-2021-P-0267-0001

Citizen Petition #3

https://www.regulations.gov/document/FDA-2021-P-0301-0001

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FDA/industry collusion: here’s how it works

The fiction about the safety of monosodium glutamate (MSG) is written by the U.S. manufacturer of MSG and distributed throughout the world by its many “outlets,” described in part in “Meet the Glutes:” https://www.truthinlabeling.org/glutes.html.

A large part of the Glutes’ post-1957 success in marketing MSG has been due to the close cooperation of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) – the Glutes official mouthpiece for the “safety” of MSG. They’ve been partners since 1968 when the toxicity of MSG was first recognized. (https://www.truthinlabeling.org/assets/industrys_fda_final.pdf)

The Glutes rely heavily on repeating the statement that the FDA finds MSG to be GRAS (generally recognized as safe). The fact that in assigning GRAS status to MSG the FDA has violated its own rules is just one of many examples of the FDA’s allegiance to the glutamate industry (https://www.truthinlabeling.org/assets/FDA_is_in_violation_FINAL.pdf).

The story of FDA/glutamate-industry collusion is told in the pages of “Industry’s FDA” which can be accessed at https://www.truthinlabeling.org/assets/industrys_fda_final.pdf    

It details:

  • Blatant lies told about the safety of MSG, lies originating with the glutamate industry and repeated by the FDA,
  • Dispensing positive information about MSG while withholding information that might be considered negative,
  • Officially approving study protocols for MSG-is-safe studies that used placebos known to cause the same adverse reactions as those caused by MSG test material,
  • Refusing to collect reports of reactions to MSG “because we know that no one reacts to MSG,” and
  • Withholding key information from dietitians, nutritionists, consumers, and the medical community.

The most recent FDA contribution to the Glutes’ marketing plan has been the FDA’s failure to post my scathing response to the Glutes’ attack on my Citizen Petition FDA-2021-P-0267. Suppression of information such as that is often used by the glutamate-industry to promote their product.

My Citizen Petition FDA-2021-P-0267 was posted by the FDA on February 28, 2021. The Glutes sent in a condemnation of the Petition, received on August 15 and posted on August 19 (a four-day delay in posting).  In turn, I submitted a comment in which I tore apart the Glutes’ criticism, pointing out that platitudes but no data made up the body of their retort. My comment was marked received by the FDA on October 20, but as of November 3 it had not been posted (14 days without posting).

My guess (based on past glutamate-industry behavior) is that my critique of the glutamate-industry response would never have been posted had I not had the temerity to search out a way to contact Docket’s Management and disputed the omission.

“Oh” was what I heard from the person who picked up the phone when I finally got connected. “It must have been because it was so large that it got overlooked. Just give me half an hour to 45 minutes, and you’ll be able to see it posted.” (And in an hour, it was posted.)

More on suppression of information can be found in The toxicity/safety of processed free glutamic acid (MSG): a study in suppression of information. Account Res. 1999;6(4):259-310. doi: 10.1080/08989629908573933. PMID: 11657840.

We invite you to learn more about the FDA at https://www.truthinlabeling.org/assets/industrys_fda_final.pdf where you can get a feel for how your tax dollars are being spent for the benefit of the glutamate industry.

Adrienne

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The ruse of the whistleblowers

Somewhere in the millions of mystery stories that have been written, you’ll come across the words “If you want to catch a criminal you have to learn to think like a criminal,” which would be good advice for dealing with certain people in the glutamate industry.

I thought of those words when I read a post about the dangers of MSG that didn’t sit quite right with me, and I thought of them again when a new webpage surfaced.  It would be a perfect ploy for the “Glutes” to set up people as anti-MSG activists, get them quite a bit of publicity, and, when needed, have those people “blow the whistle” and declare that that they had been mistaken when they wrote or spoke of the dangers of MSG.

That would be similar to quoting words taken out of context and using that to smear the writer.  Directors of the Truth in Labeling Campaign have, in the past, been set-up for that purpose.

A bit different but clearly designed for the same purpose would have been the scheme to discredit the work of Dr. David Allen.  In setting up the fail-safe agenda of the glutamate industry for the glutamate industry, the FDA had referred to the research of Dr. David Allen which identified 3.0 grams MSG as an asthma trigger.

Once the 3-gram figure had been established as the amount that would cause an MSG reaction, the research reported by David Allen would be discredited – just in case someone should later refer to the fact that Allen had also found that .5 grams of MSG could also cause a reaction. The work of discrediting Dr. Allen was left to Drs. Simon and Stevenson or Scripps Clinic, LaJolla, California.

Setting up someone as an anti-MSG activist ready to “blow the whistle” could certainly be in the works, and it would not surprise me. The campaigns, propaganda, clear-cut lies and media exploits I’ve already seen lead me to believe that at this point, anything is possible.


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.

Resources

It Wasn’t Alzheimer’s, It Was MSG. (2013) A. Samuels. Pp 47-50; Pp103-106; Chapters 6 and 9. https://www.truthinlabeling.org/assets/it_wasnt_az.pdf

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Your turn to tell the FDA what you think of their promoting poisons for use in food

In March of this year, I submitted a Citizen Petition to the FDA requesting that the FDA Commissioner remove misleading and incorrect information presently displayed on the FDA website in a post titled “Questions and Answers on Monosodium Glutamate” (Q&A) and replace it with accurate information about monosodium glutamate (MSG) toxicity.  

Both the Glutamate Association and the International Hydrolyzed Protein Council responded with characteristic glutamate industry propaganda, stating that the Q&A accurately reflects the data and information on MSG, and that Petitioner’s proposed changes should be rejected.

And I, with characteristic vigor, tore their response apart, pointing out the deceptive and misleading statements and outright lies – in six parts, no less (links below).

Part 1: https://www.regulations.gov/comment/FDA-2021-P-0301-0028

Part 2: https://www.regulations.gov/comment/FDA-2021-P-0301-0027

Part 3: https://www.regulations.gov/comment/FDA-2021-P-0301-0026

Part 4: https://www.regulations.gov/comment/FDA-2021-P-0301-0025

Part 5: https://www.regulations.gov/comment/FDA-2021-P-0301-0024

Part 6: https://www.regulations.gov/comment/FDA-2021-P-0301-0023

Now it’s your turn to tell the FDA what you think of their promoting poisons for use in food.  Even one sentence will help get the word out. 

Below is the link you need to use to post your comment. Just click on the blue “comment” button on the upper left side of that page and cut and paste your story or start writing in the box provided.

https://www.regulations.gov/document/FDA-2021-P-0301-0001/comment

It’s the easiest thing in the world to do – and could even be therapeutic. 

Adrienne Samuels

PS Our new website, 7 Lines of Evidence, has just posted a special page about the connection between free glutamic acid and obesity. Check it out here: https://7lines.org/obesity-and-mfg/


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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Toxic glutamate in your food?

When I filed three citizen petitions with the FDA at the beginning of this year, I wasn’t expecting the Glutamate Association to respond. It typically never acknowledges anything negative about its flagship product MSG, that is loaded with toxic free glutamate. But this time it did.

Now, inspired by those comments from the “Glutes” I have produced a website dedicated to laying out the evidence behind the requests made in those petitions — one being that manufactured free glutamate (MfG) and those ingredients that contain MfG should be removed from the FDA’s list of GRAS (generally recognized as safe) substances.

It’s no secret that disease and disability may be caused, at least in part, by toxic chemicals released into the air and added to food. But while chemicals such as lead and asbestos and hazardous air pollutants are recognized as noxious by government agencies, poisonous chemicals used in foods and beverages are rarely acknowledged as such.

The website “Seven Lines of Evidence leading to the conclusion that manufacture free glutamate is toxic,” was created to draw attention to the class of chemicals known as excitotoxins – brain damaging amino acids – recognized by neuroscientists as being toxic, but not acknowledged by the FDA as such. 

Glutamic acid (as in pea protein isolate) and aspartic acid (as in aspartame), two of the three excitotoxic amino acids used in food, are being used as flavor enhancers, protein supplements, and low calorie (diet) sweeteners, added in quantity to infant formula, enteral care products, protein powders, dietary supplements, processed foods, so-called “plant-based” products, snacks, anything that is hydrolyzed, some pesticides/fertilizers and pharmaceuticals.

The FDA, EPA, and USDA will claim that the excitotoxins used in food are perfectly safe.  The evidence says otherwise.

You’ll find Seven Lines of Evidence at https://7lines.org/.  Please use the contact form at the webpage for questions and comments.

In Health,

Adrienne Samuels, Ph.D.
Director, Truth in Labeling Campaign