MSG (Food Profile)

Amanda Son

Dr. Ann Anagnost

Anthropology 269

21 September 2008

MSG: Healthy or Not?

What is MSG? MSG or monosodium glutamate is a fine, white powder salt that acts as a flavor enhancer commonly used in foods. While many people think that it is an artificial chemical, it is actually a substance that “occurs naturally in beets, kelp, mushrooms, tomatoes, wheat, and soybeans” as stated in the world's largest food encyclopedia. However, now, it is made commercially from wheat or from fermenting sugar beet molasses. For a long time, there has been a battle raging on whether MSG is a neurotoxin or an indispensable element of cooking.

Scientifically, MSG is the salt of the L-glutamic acid (GLU) which is the most common amino acid found in the body. According to James J. Kenney, Ph.D., R.D of the National Council Against Health Fraud, GLU is common, it is naturally in every plant and animal. In actuality, “most proteins found in plants and animals contain from 5 to 25% GLU”. Also, the human body produces glutamate naturally; it is a substance that plays a vital role in the normal functioning of the human body's nervous system. As Americans, we consume at least 5,000 – 10,000 mg of GLU daily and in contrast, Americans consume very little added MSG. According to the FDA, MSG is recognized as being safe and is classified as a food ingredient. In a 1995 report by the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, they found no evidence that posed MSG as a serious threat to the public health. Conversely, there are still many groups of people and individuals that believe MSG poses a serious threat to the body's health and well-being.

Despite studies that show that MSG is relatively benign and harmless, there is still research claiming the destructiveness and harmfulness of monosodium glutamate. Many groups, such as the National Organization to Stop Glutamate claim that MSG causes “headaches, migraines, stomach upset, flushing, sweating, numbness, rapid heartbeats, chest pain, shortness of breath, weakness, and mood changes. They even claim that MSG can create neurological disorders such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer’s disease. However, due to the propaganda aspect of the site, not all of the health problems listed have been evidenced nor shown to be related to the consumption of MSG. In other studies though, MSG is shown to be harmful when consumed in high levels. It is shown that MSG has been known to destroy brain tissue in mice, but in feeding MSG to other animals such as dogs, monkeys, and rabbits, it failed to show any brain damage. The animals were fed high doses of 42g MSG/Kg body weight, for an average man, the dose would be around 6 pounds of MSG daily.

With all this controversy over MSG, one wonders why companies even bother to add the substance in food. If a food additive was given the title of being a neurotoxin that causes bodily harm, shouldn't companies stop adding the harmful substance? However, while there are many negative claims on MSG, there are still studies coming out asserting the safeness of MSG. Moreover, there are several other reasons why. First, MSG is a flavor enhancer, while it does not have real taste of its own, it tricks and stimulates the taste buds in the tongue so that the tongue tastes other flavors more vividly. In essence, it makes food taste better. Many people also regard the flavor to a fifth taste, umami. The Japanese describe umami as being a salty and meaty flavor. Secondly, more insulin is produced due to the stimulation of the pancreas. In a sneaky tactic, the food industry uses MSG to release more insulin, thus when insulin is released, blood sugar drops, resulting in hunger. So, MSG can also create hunger, which will result in more money for the food companies. Thirdly, adding MSG in food allows food companies to use less resources. The MSG in food will make people believe that there are more protein in food then there actually is.

MSG, whether it is healthy or not cannot be fully answered, there are still studies and researches that are going on that are trying to answer the very question. While MSG will always carry a stigma as being a processed food additive that is harmful to the body or “crack for the brain”, there will always be studies that will counter that claim and vice versa. Avoiding MSG in food is extremely hard, MSG is almost in everything. In most foods, MSG can be listed as other things such as 'flavor enhancer'. MSG is also produced during processing can also be listed as natural flavoring, bouillon, soy sauce, seasonings, protease, whey, and anything protein fortified as stated by Mary Moss, a writer for www.helium.com. One of the best ways to avoid eating excess MSG is to eat foods that are as close to their source as possible, as stated by Michael Pollan in his book, The Omnivore's Dilemma, “ “Eating is an agricultural act, as Wendell Berry famously said. It is also an ecological act, and a political act, too. Though much has been done to obscure this simple fact, how and what we eat determines to a great extent the use we make of the world—and what is to become of it. To eat with a fuller consciousness of all that is at stake might sound like a burden, but in practice few things in life afford quite as much satisfaction” (Pollan 10). Another is to avoid processed food and eat locally and organically. To avoid MSG consumption, the common mantra of eating should be as said by Michael Pollan, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

Work Cited

Kenney, Ph.D., R.D., F.A.C.N. , James . "Is MSG a Serious Public Health Problem? ." 09022008 1-5. 22 Sep 2008 .

"Monosodium Glutamate." Practically Edible. 22 Sep 2008 .

Moss, Mary. "Monosodium Glutamate (MSG): Effects on health." www.helium.com. 22 Sep 2008 .

Pollan, Michael. Omnivore's Dilemma.

“What exactly is MSG?." MSG Truth . 22 Sep 2008 .

Pho

Pho, a traditional Vietnamese rice-noodle soup. Pho has become a huge hit in America. Almost everybody I know has had it and most of them love it. It is usually served in a huge bowl of rice noodles in beef broth. It is usually served with thin cuts of beef, there are variations that includes tendon, tripe, meatballs, chicken, or vegetarian. The soup is garnished with ingredients such as onions, cilantro, basil, lime, and bean sprouts. The soup is usually flavored with hoisin sauce, fish sauce, and the hot sauce Sriracha. Pho is also very hard to make, the broth is very time intensive. The broth is generally made by simmering beef bones, oxtails, onions, and spices such as anise, ginger, and cloves, it usually takes several hours.

Back at home in Federal Way, there are many Vietnamese restaurants that serve pho. In fact every Vietnamese restaurant I have encountered serve pho. Even here, at UW, I have seen at least 6 Vietnamese/Pho restaurants on University Avenue. Pho is everywhere and it will probably never go away. I love pho, the soup is great on cold rainy days. I love my soup extremely spicy and very red. Funny thing, I used to hate pho. Before I could never eat it, it would always give me stomach aches and headaches. However, after having to eat in many times because of my sister's and friend's obsession with the soup, I have grown to love it. My mother, who also loathed the soup has gotten to love it. Pho is just one of those food that everybody enjoys, I have noticed very little people who hate it.

*Pizza Pizza*

In class we baked pizza. The day before, the class made pizza dough, pesto, and caramelized onions. To make the pizza, were supposed to take the pizza dough and pull it to make it thin. Then we had to spread the tomato sauce or pesto thinly on the dough. We were told to put toppings on our pizza sparingly or it wouldn't bake properly. My groups favorite toppings on our pizza were tomato sauce, frommagio cheese, Parmesan cheese, a bit of mozzarella, and mushrooms. After we were done with the pizza were now waiting for our turn in line to bake the pizza. The special thing about the oven is that it is an authentic wood-fire pizza oven. When hot enough, it gets to 800 degrees and bakes the pizzas in approximately 2 – 3 minutes. Before our pizza got the turn in the oven, other student's pizzas were already done, when the other pizzas were finished, we were able to sample other student's pizza.

First of all, I usually get my pizza from places such as Pizza Hut, or Dominoes. I rarely ever get to eat homemade or fancy pizza made in expensive restaurants. The pizza I am used to eating are not healthy, they are instead very greasy, typical, American takeout pizzas. Eating the freshly prepared pizza that I and my fellow classmates made rocked my world. To me, this was the best pizza I have ever tasted. The crust was light and crispy and the cheese and mushrooms gave a lot of flavor. It was also very fresh and hot. Eating the other student's pizzas was also an adventure in itself, every person had a different kind of pizza, some students added pine nuts, pesto, walnuts, or fresh basil. Each pizza was different, there was no similar pizza.

Along with pizza, it was also our last EFS class. Honestly, I thought a lot of people would end up skipping the last day of class, however, I was proven wrong, instead everybody arrived to the gathering albeit a little late. With everybody at the pizza gathering and having fun, it proves that food brings people together. This class brought a lot of people together, I have made new friends even before school actually started. It was great having everybody together having fun, everybody was excited to try other people's pizzas and everybody was willing to share. This pizza gathering was a great activity for the class and it was saddening to watch everybody leave knowing that we will all never have the same class ever again.

*The Deception of Diet*

I enjoy the occasional soda. Most of the time, if I decide to drink soda I go with the diet. Why? Like most people who indulge in diet coke, we believe that diet is better, even healthier. We believe that if we drink a soda, we should go for the diet because it has no calories. Honestly, why blow our daily calorie intake on soda when we can be stinting our calories on food instead!

A couple days ago in class, we were to sample a small cup of diet coke along with ramen. We were told to savor the flavors and describe it. Along with that activity, Ann told us a story of how her husband's teeth ended up dissolving due to his addiction to diet coke. After class, since I also drink diet soda, I did a little research on it. The results were not surprising to me, I've known already that diet soda is not great, that it's not healthy. Due to the use of aspartame in diet sodas, it is believed that because they are so much sweeter than actual sugar, drinking much of it will abuse the systems in your body and might actually desensitize your body to sugar-like substances and can make you gain more weight, which is not the result most people are looking for when they drink diet.

Now that I am in college, I now have even easier access to soda, regular or diet. However, now that I am in college, I know that I should be mindful of my diet and that I should avoid drinking all kinds of soda. The class activity gave me motivation to research diet coke, now I know how bad it really is. While I will still indulge in the occasional diet, I will try to drink more water or even juice.

My Guilty Pleasure

One of my guilty pleasure is ice cream. I cannot resist the creamy texture of ice cream. I love eating at Cold Stone or Baskin Robbins. Other times I just end up getting a pint size Ben & Jerry's, Cherry Garcia from the supermarket. When I do eat ice cream, I do not eat the regular serving size, I just end up eating as much as I can. While eating too much ice cream is a very bad thing, it is something that I just can't give up. It is one of my favorite food and dessert. I love eating healthy food, I grew up eating many different kinds of vegetables due to my Korean heritage. Despite my love for vegetables, I still love eating many different varieties of ice cream. It is just the type of food that I cannot resist.

*Why I Am Not Vegetarian*

I love vegetables, most of the time, I choose vegetarian meals instead of meals with meat. However, I am not a vegetarian, nor will I ever become a vegetarian. In Pollan's book, The Omnivore's Dilemma, he discusses how industrialized animals are fed a corn/grain diet, a diet that they are not made for just to be made bigger in a shorter amount of time. Along with a diet that they should not be eating, the animals are treated in abysmal ways, they are often cooped up in small places with tons of other animals. While Pollan was not able to see the slaughter of the animals in industrialized slaughter houses, it's a good guess that the animals are killed in a non-favorable method.
Unlike industrialized farms, Pollan describes the method, a local farmer, Salatin uses on his farm. In Salatin's farm, the animals are happy, they are treated the way animals should be treated, in short, the animals do what the animals were made to do. For example, the pigs on his farms spent most of their times being happy running around in mud and manure, the cows spent most of their times out in the pastures, and the chickens were out and about in the fields picking out worms. Pollan even described the slaughter of the chickens, one in which he was directly involved in, the chickens were slaughtered in a glass like building where customers were able to see the slaughter of the chickens, to see that the chickens are killed in a respectable way.
Despite any of the descriptions by Pollan, none of it really affected me. While the way the animals were treated did disgust me for a while, it did not affect on my decision to eat animals. In fact, I love eating meat, Korean meat dishes especially. I was raised eating Korean meat dishes like bulgogi and kalbi, so while I don't have an ethical reason on why I am eating meat it is more of a cultural reason.

University Cuisine!

It's been about 3 weeks since I've came to live in Lander. It's been 3 weeks of eating mostly the food given to us by 1101. Honestly, I am tired of eating disgusting college food. The first day that I came to live the dorm life, I was excited. Finally, I was on my own, away from my parents, away from the constant nagging of my mother, and away from Federal Way. Unfortunately, being away from my mother means being deprived of her cooking. One of the things I miss the most about being away from home is my mother's cooking. I miss home cooked Korean meals made lovingly by my mother. Being here, in Lander at the University of Washington, I don't get to eat Korean food at all anymore which results in me getting cravings for things like kimchi, bulgogi, or any type of Korean soup. When I'm not eating the food given to us by 1101, I resort to eating food coming from a box, which is not healthy at all. Due to the lack of a fully prepared kitchen and ingredients, I usually start nuking things in the microwave to fulfill my hunger. After these 3 weeks, I swear that I am gradually expanding.

Eating healthy is hard, eating healthy in college is almost impossible. As stated by Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma, "When you can eat just about anything nature has to offer, deciding what you should eat will inevitably stir anxiety." He also says that the way we eat represents our most profound engagement with the natural world. What I hate most about the food made in Lander's 1101 is that it is industrialized food, while I may be wrong, I am confident that the food given to us is cheap. By reading The Omnivore's Dilemma, I am sure that 1101's meals are 100% made of corn - food is held together by corn, the soda is sweetened by corn, and the meat given to us to eat was fattened up by corn. Back at home, my usual meal consisted of rice, kimchi, tofu, and an assortment of other vegetables, rarely did I eat burgers, fries, soda, or mac and cheese for dinner. I am hoping that I will only stay in Lander for 2 years and by junior year, I will be my own meals in my own kitchen in my own apartment.