Tag: truthinlabelingcampaign

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Dietitians who front for the glutamate industry want you to believe there’s ‘no scientific evidence that MSG is bad for you’

It appears that the never-ending stream of “MSG is safe” propaganda has been infused with new blood. Please welcome Elena Bruess, who joins the ranks of the glutamate-industry army with her piece “Dietitians say there is no scientific evidence that MSG is bad for you and is actually found in everything from tomatoes to instant noodles.”

You’ll find Bruess’ article below, edited to adhere more closely to the truth then as it was written. Edits from the Truth in Labeling Campaign are in red. We’ve also used strike-throughs for some of the more blatantly false statements from Bruess.

Elena Bruess
2020-10-16
MEDICALLY REVIEWED
Our stories are reviewed by medical professionals to ensure you get the most industry-friendly accurate and useful information about your health and wellness MSG.

  • MSG is a common food additive that is generally considered safe by the FDA.
  • There is no strong evidence, as defined by the glutamate industry, that links MSG to health risks, and despite some controversy, experts working for the glutamate industry say that worries about MSG are misplaced.
  • Though rare, Some people may have a sensitivity to MSG, which can lead to headaches or nausea or any of the other reactions listed in the following table after consumption (https://www.truthinlabeling.org/adverse.html). Also caused by MSG are brain damage, obesity, reproductive disorders, and behavior disorders, but they aren’t called sensitivities.
  • This article was medically reviewed by Samantha Cassetty, MS, RD, nutrition and wellness expert with a private practice based in New York City.

MSG is a flavor enhancer commonly associated with Chinese takeout food, but it’s also found in some canned goods and processed meats. Once thought to cause adverse side effects like headache and nausea, MSG has become a controversial additive. But, the science handed out by glutamate-industry agents says it’s not all that bad.

Here’s what the people who manufacture and sell MSG should say you need to know about MSG and its effects on your health.

What is MSG?

Monosodium glutamate, otherwise known as MSG, is not derived from a naturally occurring amino acid in our bodies. It is composed of the amino acid called “L-glutamic acid,” moisture, sodium, and unwanted by-products of L-glutamic acid’s manufacture. Amino acids are organic compounds that are essential for bodily functions. However, some amino acids, including neurotransmitter L-glutamic acid (L-glutamic acid when it’s a neurotransmitter) when present in quantity greater than needed for essential bodily functions, become toxic, firing repeatedly until the cells they are targeting are overwhelmed and die.

The substance is also not naturally present in most any foods., such as: It is manufactured in plants throughout the world. In the US, it is produced in Ajinomoto’s factory in Eddyville, Iowa. MSG is not naturally present in cheese, tomatoes, mushrooms, or seaweed.

  • Cheese
  • Tomatoes
  • Mushrooms
  • Seaweed

However, MSG is most commonly known as a popular food additive that has an extra savory, umami flavor, or as a flavor-enhancer with no taste of its own. It is produced by fermenting starch, sugar beets, sugar cane, or molasses. using carefully selected genetically modified bacteria that feed on starch or sugar and produce the glutamic acid used in MSG through their cell walls.

Some of the products that may contain MSG as an additive include:

  • Cured meats
  • Seasoning blends and bouillon cubes
  • Frozen meals
  • Cookies and crackers
  • Salad dressings
  • Mayonnaise

“It really can be in any packaged or processed food,” says Katherine Zeratsky, RD, LD, a registered and licensed dietitian at Mayo Clinic. The FDA labels all products with the additive MSG, but does not label products that have naturally occurring MSG because there is no such thing as “naturally occurring MSG.” All MSG is manufactured.

No, According to glutamate-industry agents, MSG is not bad for you

In 1968, a physician sent a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine. In it, he described symptoms like nausea and chest pressure that he claimed came from the Chinese food he ate in a restaurant serving Chinese food. He believed suggested that MSG among other things was might be to blame.

This single incident — along with 1968 also saw the first studies of MSG-induced brain damage, studies subsequent MSG study on of mice, primates, and various other animals that found suffered brain damage after being administeringed extremely high doses of MSG. that were non-reflective of human intake — Industry focused on the Letter to the Editor to draw attention away from the studies that demonstrated brain damage. The letter combined with the studies of MSG-induced brain damage led to the popular idea that ingesting MSG would result in adverse health effects. Due to the original letter, this became known as “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome.”

Regardless, However, contrary to popular belief, according to glutamate-industry propaganda, MSG is not bad for most people.

While there have indeed been some studies that hint at possible negative effects, such as obesity or nerve damage, glutamate industry agents maintain that worries about MSG are misplaced. The majority of Their evidence appears to be based on the falsehood that there are no studies that have found that man-made MSG is metabolized identically to its naturally occurring counterpart. Even if there were such studies, which there are not, their results would be irrelevant to the safety of MSG. Illustrating the deceptive practices use by glutamate industry agents, note that the link given in this paper is not even to a study. To repeat, if there were studies of glutamate metabolism, no matter what their outcomes, they would be irrelevant to the question of and poses no health risk.

MSG was grandfathered GRAS in 1958 based on its previous use. It has never been tested for safety. But even had it been tested before being grandfathered, in 1957 the method used for producing MSG changed from extraction of glutamate to bacterial fermentation of glutamate wherein glutamate is secreted through the cell walls of genetically modified bacteria. And as is true of glutamate produced prior to 1957, the glutamate produced using the post-1957 procedure has never been tested for safety. In fact, the FDA even placed the substance on the GRAS list, short for “generally recognized as safe.” That was just one of the many things the FDA has done when asked to do so by Ajinomoto.

“Throughout the literature, there really isn’t firm evidence in any way that MSG is unhealthful,” says Soo-Yeun Lee, PhD, a food scientist, and professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The fact that Dr. Lee said it doesn’t mean it’s true. In 1957 studies of MSG-induced retinal toxicity were first published by Lucas and Newhouse, with studies of MSG-induced brain damage following. In addition to studies that demonstrate MSG’s toxicity, are the industry studies that have been rigged to enable researchers to conclude that they found MSG to be harmless. Rigging a human double-blind study would often include using an excitotoxic amino acid like aspartic acid (found in aspartame) in placebos. Aspartame causes adverse reactions identical to those caused by MSG.

Lee conducts research on flavor and taste, including a more recent focus on MSG as a salt substitute. With one third the amount of sodium as table salt, she says MSG can reduce sodium content in snack food.

Most people consume twice as much salt as they should, and lowering this salt intake can reduce high blood pressure and accompanying risks, such as stroke or heart disease.

Some people may be sensitive to MSG

However, just like any food, a small percentage of people may have a short-term negative reaction to MSG. But given the fact that “anecdotal” reports of serious and life-threatening reactions abound, and sales of MSG are no longer robust, it would appear that considerable numbers of people may have long-lasting debilitating reactions. Though it’s important to note that MSG could be mixed with other additives or processed ingredients, Zeratsky says, so it may not always be what’s causing the issue.

For those who may be sensitive to MSG, some symptoms are short-term and often mild. They may include:

  • Headaches
  • Nausea
  • Flushing or sweating
  • Facial pressure, numbness
  • Rapid heartbeats
  • Chest pain

The full list of reactions which includes fibromyalgia, shortness of breath, atrial fibrillation, tachycardia, seizures and more can be found here: https://www.truthinlabeling.org/adverse.html.

If you experience these symptoms and think MSG is to blame, the best option is to begin avoiding food containing the ingredient. For those who feel their symptoms are more severe, consult your doctor.

The bottom line

While some may have a negative reaction, MSG is considered said by its manufacturers to be safe for the majority of people to consume. Overall, MSG is a useful, profit-making, savory enhancer with few health risks according to those who stand to gain by its sale. There’s not much controversy here, just a whole lot of flavor. toxic deception.


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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No, Ashley Urtecho, you won’t find MSG in tomatoes, meat or cheese

“MSG is safe” propaganda shows up in all kinds of places, but it’s of most value to those who make millions pandering poisons for profit when it has a medical ring to it.

Today it was a blog sponsored by “NYC Pain Specialists,” authored by intern Ashley Urtecho titled “Is It Safe to consume MSG?” that caught our eye.

In a short two pages, Ms. Urtecho spews out more than a half dozen deceptive, misleading and downright false statements about MSG. But our favorite (which is an out-and-out lie), is the one Ms. Urtecho starts out with, “Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) is a popular flavor additive primarily found in Chinese cuisine, but can also be found in tomatoes, meats, and certain cheeses.”

We’ve said it before, and looks like we’ll be saying it again and again:

  • MSG is manufactured.
  • MSG is man-made in food processing or chemical plants.
  • In the U.S. MSG is manufactured in a plant in Eddyville Iowa.
  • There is no MSG (glutamate yes, but not MSG) in tomatoes, meats, or any cheeses – unless the manufacturer has added it.


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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Was the Center for Science in the Public Interest ever really interested in the public?

It’s not unheard of for corporate propagandists to hijack grassroots organizations to further their agendas. Of course, the bigger, more respected and highly financed a non-profit group is, the better.

From what we’ve learned in dealing with the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), led until three years ago by its salt-and-fat fighting guru Michael Jacobson, we can’t help but wonder when CSPI lost its way, promoting industry strategies instead of the “public interest.”

When Jacobson stepped down as president of CSPI in 2017 (although still said to be serving as a senior scientist with the organization), he was hailed as a “pioneer of food activism.” CSPI got big media buzz on crusades such as the movie-theater popcorn “Godzilla” campaign and the fettuccini Alfredo “heart attack on a plate” press release – leading to the group frequently being referred to as the “Food Police.”

But as Jack Samuels (co-founder of the Truth in Labeling Campaign) discovered many years ago, asking for CSPI’s involvement in what we thought would make more people aware of the dangers of MSG ended up going in the other direction.

Science in the corporate interest?

When Jack first approached CSPI back in the early 1990s, it seemed the group was aware of both the health risks of consuming MSG as well as the fact that the FDA was refusing to provide full disclosure of manufactured free glutamate (MfG) on food labels (still true to this day).

In 1993 he received a letter from Margo Wootan (recently promoted to CSPI vice president for nutrition) that indicated CSPI knew full well there is a difference between natural and “synthesized MSG,” as she called it. “It is a question that does not seem to be adequately addressed,” she wrote, accurately stating that manufactured MSG contains both D and L glutamic acid, which might explain why some people “react only to synthesized/added MSG but not to naturally occurring glutamate” that contains only “L.” (For more on that topic, go here).

While that might seem like a negligible point, it’s key to the glutamate industry’s spin that there is zero difference between unadulterated glutamic acid (including what’s found in the human body) and manufactured glutamic acid.

Jacobson and CSPI had the power to turn that into headlines. But they didn’t. Perhaps it wasn’t as sexy as “heart attack on a plate,” but it sure would be as important to the public.

After Jack received that initial note, which made him think we had found allies in our efforts to inform consumers, CSPI’s attitude mysteriously changed.

Jack described one case where an independent journalist was planning to cover a meeting of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), organized to hear testimony on the safety of MSG. The writer canceled, however, after talking to Jacobson and being told MSG was a “non-issue,” and that he would be wasting his time.

Later, when Jack had high hopes that the FDA was taking notice and might act on unlabeled MfG in food, a CSPI staffer wrote to the agency saying that not enough was known about MSG to take any action. Jacobson even went so far as to tell the Wall Street Journal in an interview in 2007, “I don’t see normal amounts of MSG as posing a risk to the vast majority of people.”

Jacobson continued to practically parrot the glutamate industry when he told a writer in 2013 that he has been “waiting 30 years to see any decent studies, especially of people who claim to be extremely sensitive to MSG…”

And, as the saying goes, actions speak louder than words. Currently CSPI actively promotes food products that contain MSG and MfG, such as Campbell’s Vegetable Soup with beef stock, loaded with yeast extract, hydrolyzed soy protein, hydrolyzed wheat gluten and monosodium glutamate. The group has a photo of the can with a green box around it indicating the soup’s superiority to other, higher-salt brands on its Pinterest page.

For anyone who still believes that CSPI is a consumer watchdog, ferociously guarding your best interests, it’s time to take another look. That reputation is certainly what supports the group, which is said to have an annual income of over $17 million, mostly from newsletter subscriptions and to a lesser degree, donations. And with the new CSPI president, Peter Lurie, coming straight from the FDA, it doesn’t seem too likely that the group will change its tune anytime soon.

As was said in an editorial over 20 years ago: With enemies like CSPI, the industrial barons squeezing the life out of our natural bounty need no friends.


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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Industry’s FDA

It’s no secret that the FDA represents the interests of Big Food and Big Pharma – not consumers. Here is a small example of its allegiance to large corporations that we hadn’t noticed before. Unfortunately, many people still believe that if the FDA says something it must be true.

The following comes from the FDA page called “Questions and Answers on Monosodium glutamate (MSG)” found here: https://www.fda.gov/food/food-additives-petitions/questions-and-answers-monosodium-glutamate-msg accessed on 7/22/2020.

What is MSG?

The FDA says that monosodium glutamate (MSG) is the sodium salt of the common amino acid glutamic acid. Glutamic acid is naturally present in our bodies, and in many foods and food additives.

How is it made?

The FDA says that MSG occurs naturally in many foods, such as tomatoes and cheese. People around the world have eaten glutamate-rich foods throughout history. For example, a historical dish in the Asian community is a glutamate-rich seaweed broth. In 1908, a Japanese professor named Kikunae Ikeda was able to extract glutamate from this broth and determined that glutamate provided the savory taste to the soup. Professor Ikeda then filed a patent to produce MSG and commercial production started the following year.

What is MSG?

Mono (single) sodium glutamate in science-speak is glutamate tied to a sodium ion, just as monopotassium glutamate would be glutamate tied to a potassium ion. That’s the makeup of the mono sodium glutamate occurring naturally in our bodies. (Glutamate is rarely found “free,” but is ordinarily tied to an ion such as sodium or potassium.)

The monosodium glutamate that Ajinomoto is selling is made up of manufactured glutamate, the impurities that invariable accompany manufactured glutamate, and sodium.

How is it made?

MSG doesn’t occur naturally anywhere — it’s made – manufactured! The monosodium glutamate that Ajinomoto is selling is a product made in Ajinomoto’s plant in Eddyville Iowa where glutamate is produced by genetically modified bacteria that secrete glutamate through their cell walls, which is then mixed with sodium. (The process for manufacturing MSG has been patented, and as the process is improved over time new patents are awarded.)

Want to learn more about how the FDA cooperates with industry? You’ll find it on the webpage of the Truth in Labeling Campaign, on Pinterest, in It Wasn’t Alzheimer’s, It Was MSG, in The toxicity/safety of processed free glutamic acid (MSG): A study in suppression of information, and in countless books such as White Wash by Carey Gillam, and Eating May Be Hazardous To Your Health – The Case Against Food Additives by J. Verrett and J. Carper.


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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CAUTION!

Are the plant-based diets you’re thinking about eating made with plants or in plants?

Don’t be taken in by the con artists whose “plant based” products are made out of chemicals in chemical factories with virtually nothing added that’s grown in water or in the ground.


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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If MSG is ‘natural’ why have hundreds of patents been issued for methods of producing it?

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) found in an animal, vegetable, or mineral was manufactured and then ingested or added in some manner.

Below are just three examples of patents pertaining to the manufacture of MSG. There are literally hundreds more. MSG is man-made.

1. US3281247A – Process for producing monosodium glutamate

https://patents.google.com/patent/US3281247A/en

2. CN104211611A – New fermentation technology of sodium glutamate

https://patents.google.com/patent/CN104211611A/en

3. WO1996031459A1 – A process for the preparation of monosodium glutamate

https://patents.google.com/patent/WO1996031459A1/en

Below are general discussions pertaining to methods used in production of MSG (written by scientists, not by Ajinomoto’s hired hands).

1. Optimization of glutamic acid production by Corynebacterium glutamicum using response surface methodology

Naiyf S. Alharbia, Shine Kadaikunnana, Jamal M. Khaleda, Taghreed N. Almanaaa,Ganesh Moorthy Innasimuthub, Baskar Rajooc, Khalid F. Alanzia, Shyam Kumar Rajaram.

Journal of King Saud University – Science. Volume 32, Issue 2, March 2020, Pages 1403-1408.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1018364719318440

2. Tasty waste: industrial fermentation and the creative destruction of MSG

Sarah E. Tracy

Food, Culture & Society (2019). 22:5, 548-65,

https://doi.org/10.1080/15528014.2019.1638117

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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If you’re wondering what the umami flavor is, be confused no more

Umami is often described as that marvelous flavor experience you get when foods are at their peak, or served with a little something that gives the taste buds a boost to enhance that already delicious flavor.

Kikunae Ikeda discovered that little something early in the 20th century when he realized that pairing foods with a touch of seaweed could create a desirable taste sensation. It has also been observed by foodies that there is something about mushrooms and tomatoes that accomplishes the same thing. Start with good fresh food, pair it with seaweed, mushrooms, or tomatoes, and with those flavor-enhancers you can get heaven on a plate.

There are other ways to make food tasty. Garlic and onions have been recognized for centuries along with a multitude of other spices and seasonings. But they aren’t flavor enhancers. They don’t improve the flavor of foods, they simply add to it.

Ikeda, who was a chemist, did more than just notice the flavor-enhancing capacity of seaweed. That something else he found was chemically analyzed, put into a bottle, patented, and is now known as monosodium glutamate or MSG. Ikeda had discovered that it was glutamate, an amino acid found in considerable quantity in seaweed, that gave taste buds a boost, enhancing the flavor of foods seaweed was paired with.

The story of how that works differs depending on the source. Is it being told by those who profit from the sale of MSG, or by independent scientists? Ajinomoto has developed a PR narrative built around changing MSG’s identify from a pre-1969 flavor-enhancer to a post-2000 fifth taste. According to Ajinomoto, MSG has a taste of its own. According to Ajinomoto, there are MSG receptors just as there are receptors for sweet, sour, bitter, and salty.

Independent scientists are more likely to point out that what Ajinomoto’s people refer to as MSG-receptors, are actually glutamate receptors. Glutamate, which is a neurotransmitter, stimulates glutamate receptors in the mouth and on the tongue causing the cells on which those receptors are located to swell, so to speak. And these larger, swollen surfaces triggered by MSG stimulation cause food consumed with MSG to be perceived as having a “bigger” taste than it would otherwise.

In 1969, John W. Olney, M.D., published the first of several papers that detailed the facts of MSG-induced toxicity. A year earlier, the New England Journal of Medicine had published a letter titled “Chinese-restaurant Syndrome.” Since that time Ajinomoto has worked vigorously to refute the findings of Olney and others or simply make sure they don’t have public exposure, downplay the reactions reported by individuals who are poisoned by MSG, or do whatever else is necessary to convince consumers that MSG is a harmless product. (That subject is dealt with in detail elsewhere.)

Possibly Ajinomoto’s most successful marketing tool has been to pair the acronym “MSG” with the word “umami.” Just as Pavlov’s dogs learned to anticipate food when a bell was sounded, so are humans being conditioned to associate the feel-good word “umami” with the food additive MSG.

Responding to the growing awareness that the ingredient called monosodium glutamate causes obesity and infertility, along with adverse reactions like tachycardia, migraine headache, asthma, and seizures, Ajinomoto has been striving to fool consumers by giving that ingredient a new name. Don’t reduce its toxicity (if indeed that could be done). Just covertly rebrand MSG.

The rebranding process has evolved slowly, and because Ajinomoto’s narrative changes from time to time depending on the PR firm employed and the marketing plan being executed, the details are not necessarily crystal clear. In hindsight it appears that the first step was to get people to believe that monosodium glutamate was more than the flavor enhancer previously described by Ajinomoto in food encyclopedias. That was before the game plan was changed to get people to believe that monosodium glutamate was a basic taste, and that there were specific taste receptors for MSG in the human body.

To facilitate that change, researchers were encouraged to conduct studies underwritten (directly or indirectly) by Ajinomoto for the purpose of finding something from which they could conclude the MSG had a taste of its own. Discussion of that research is beyond the scope of this paper, but it consists in large part of doing multiple studies, publishing only the one in a hundred that comes out as desired by industry and reporting none of the others. There are indeed numbers of published studies that Ajinomoto will point to as evidence that MSG is a fifth taste. (There are also published studies that Ajinomoto will point to as evidence that MSG is a harmless food additive – studies that included use of placebos containing excitotoxic aspartic acid which causes brain damage and adverse reactions identical to that caused by the excitotoxic glutamic acid component of MSG.) And there are no studies that would dispute the industry-sponsored ones because, at least in part, there would be no funding for such research.

With studies alleging that MSG has a taste of its own, different from salty, sweet, bitter, and sour, wordsmiths began spinning industry’s tale. Slowly, in story after story, MSG would be referred to as an ingredient – like sugar and salt are ingredients. Not a flavor enhancer. An ingredient with a taste of its own.

And then that ingredient, which had, and still has a bad name, would be rebranded. The new name would be “umami,” a word that has been in the Japanese vocabulary for over a century meaning “delicious taste.”

Today, the word “umami” means different things to different people. A chef concerned with use of wholesome ingredients may brag that his creations are flavorful — are the essence of umami.

But to those who manufacture and sell MSG, “umami” is a marketing tool used to sell their product. Clearly lots of people have bought into Ajinomoto’s story (or maybe it’s more correct to say that Ajinomoto has bought lots of people). But if you delve deeply into market reports, or have friends in the industry, you will find that their propaganda isn’t working the way they had anticipated, and Ajinomoto is losing money.

The rigged research, the deceptive and misleading statements, and the bold-faced lies haven’t stemmed the tide of reports of MSG-induced reactions. Not even Edelman’s multimillion-dollar campaign to clear MSG’s bad name seems to have made a difference. It will be interesting to see how quickly chefs and other celebrities who now talk about “umami” realize that they are being used by Ajinomoto to promote a toxic product.

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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Bless you Dr. Tetyana Obukhanych for speaking out

Animal studies tell us that the glutamic acid in MSG, autolyzed yeast, maltodextrin, glutamic acid and the 40+ other ingredients that contain manufactured free glutamic acid causes brain damage – kills brain cells. Those who manufacture and sell the products that contain excitotoxic glutamic acid tell us that those were just animal studies and they don’t matter.

Ajinomoto, world’s largest producer of MSG tells physicians, the FDA, the World Health Organization, the media and everyone else that there are hundreds of studies showing that MSG is harmless. I’ve read all of them and can tell you that their animal studies were rigged to look for the wrong thing in the wrong place, at the wrong time, making their report of “no brain damage” meaningless.

The ways in which human studies were rigged are too numerous to discuss here, but basic to most has been use of excitotoxic aspartic acid as a placebo in double-blind studies of excitotoxic glutamic acid. In those studies, both the excitotoxic monosodium glutamate test material and the placebo which contained excitotoxic aspartic acid, triggered the same reactions (as they always do). In other words, not only did subjects react to MSG, they reacted to a “placebo” that contained an excitotoxin known to cause the same reactions as those caused by MSG. It is on these studies (which actually describe reactions caused by MSG), that the Glutes base much of their claim that MSG does not trigger reactions.

Read what immunologist Dr. Tetyana Obukhanych tells us about vaccines. It appears those who profit from the sales of vaccines have the same teachers and/or use the same PR firms as those in the glutamate industry, Big Tobacco, the purveyors of toxic pesticides and fertilizers and the corporations that spew cancer-causing pollutants into the air. Individual welfare can’t hold a candle to the economic welfare of the rich and powerful.

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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Dietary guidelines for Americans. An ongoing food industry joke.

It was thirty years ago, but it seems like just yesterday. Despite an allergy to petrochemicals that was so bad I couldn’t tolerate reading a newspaper, on that particular Thursday I picked up Jack’s Chicago Tribune, turned to an inside section and read the announcement that the FDA was holding hearings and asking for input on nutritional labeling that would soon be appearing on food labels.

Over the weekend I worked nonstop to convince Jack he had no choice but to attend. This was a once-in-a-lifetime chance. He had to give testimony to the fact that monosodium glutamate used in food causes adverse reactions. And on Monday he called the FDA Chicago office requesting permission to testify.

Dr. George Schwartz flew in from Santa Fe to take part in the hearings. We had read his book, In Bad Taste: the MSG Syndrome, but had not yet met him. We also met Barbara Mullarkey, who introduced us to the horrors of vaccines as well as various toxic foods. But it was Big Food that stole the show. They were there, all of them, representatives of major food companies each pretending to suggest labeling that would benefit consumers, while actually pushing ways to hide the salt, sugar, trans fats and any of the other undesirables that permeated their products.

I hadn’t thought about those days for years. Then a press release issued by the Nutrition Coalition titled “Member(s) of USDA committee blow whistle on serious flaws in dietary guidelines process,” arrived in my inbox. The first sentence summed it up, saying: “One or more Members of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Suggest Process Lacks Scientific Integrity and Rigor.” (The Dietary Guidelines are promoted by the Secretaries of Agriculture and Health and Human Services as “information that helps Americans make healthy choices for themselves and their families.”)

Could it be? Isn’t Big Food still in charge of safeguarding the many secrets of those harmful ingredients used in food, typically well hidden from consumers? Did someone object to the fact that while the Dietary Guidelines spoke of nutritional value and healthy eating patterns, they didn’t mention avoidance of toxic food additives?

The whistle-blowing letter was dated June 2, 2020, addressed to Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and Alex Azar, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The critic(s) provided details of reviews that were unreliable and scientific evidence that was excluded. “Ensuring that all the best and most current science is properly reviewed for the purposes of establishing the 2020 DGA (Dietary Guidelines for Americans) is fundamental, and any action to rely upon unreliable reviews or exclude scientific evidence must be considered flawed. The thought that many dozens, if not hundreds of scientific studies are being excluded by the DGAC (Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee) is unconscionable.”

Who are these people, the 20 nationally recognized experts chosen to serve on the independent 2020 DGAC? Their charge is to review scientific evidence on topics and questions identified by the Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services and provide a report on their findings to the Secretaries.

The DGAC chairperson and one other are at the University of California, Davis, home of one of our finest programs for food technology, serving the interests of Big Food. One is at the Baylor College of Medicine, Baylor being on record as hosting research initiated by glutamate-industry interests. One is at the University of Iowa, seat of the original industry-sponsored deceptive and misleading studies of the safety of MSG and aspartame. Possibly all belong to the Institute for Food Technologists, professional designers of chemical-laced foods.

Why would some of these people provide reviews that are unreliable and/or omit relevant studies from consideration? Do some or all of these people serve the interests of Big Food just as Andrew G. Ebert, Ph.D., toxicologist, respected member of the Institute for Food Technologists, and unacknowledged chairman of Ajinomoto’s International Glutamate Technical Committee served the glutamate industry until he was exposed for supplying placebo material containing excitotoxic aspartic acid to researchers doing industry’s double-blind studies of the safety of MSG?

The question remains unanswered. Did someone object to the fact that while the Dietary Guidelines spoke of nutritional value and healthy eating patterns, they didn’t mention avoidance of toxic food additives?

Adrienne Samuels

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