Remember to check out Saturday’s Secrets week 4 here!
Saturday’s Secrets: Week 4
Food for Thought
Who has more clout with the FDA? Is it Big Food or Big Pharma?
The FDA requires this statement to appear on all direct-to-consumer drug advertising:
You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.fda.gov/medwatch, or call 1-800-FDA-1088.
But you won’t find a phone number dedicated to taking reports of negative side effects of food.
In the mid 1990s, when there was consumer pressure (and a lawsuit) on the FDA to identify and label MSG and its toxic manufactured free glutamate (MfG), one could report reactions to the FDA’s Adverse Reactions Monitoring System (ARMS) if you could figure out a way to reach them. But ARMS was eventually shut down, not because it was no longer receiving reports, but because “They” knew that MSG and MfG and aspartame and sulfites were harmless.
A new twist to glutamate-industry disinformation
“MSG has an image problem.”
That was the first sentence in the latest online propaganda received by the Truth in Labeling Campaign today.
“An estimated 42% of us are trying to limit or avoid MSG entirely, according to the International Food Information Council,” as reported by Karen Ansel in the TODAY article appearing at msn health — Is MSG bad for your health? The Surprising truth.
Is that an admission or what? Especially coming from the IFIC, an industry front group that’s been representing Ajinomoto, MSG’s U.S. manufacturer, for years. (It was the IFIC that orchestrated the damage control plan for Ajinomoto when concerned about the 60 Minutes program on MSG in 1991.) *
Then Ansel goes on to ask, “Is MSG really as problematic as we’ve been led to believe, or is it time to give it a second look?” And the answer, of course, is that it’s time to give MSG a second look.
From that point forward, the piece reads like much of the glutamate-industry propaganda we’ve seen over the years. As would be anticipated, there’s growing reference to MSG as a salt substitute, ignoring, as always, the downside of substituting excitotoxic amino acids for sodium. But there’s also a hint that authors for glutamate-industry propaganda are getting hard to come by, as evidenced by Ansel giving her article over to Toby Amidor, quoting generously from Amidor who has been representing Ajinomoto for years.
The article concludes by saying: “In the end, if you’re one of those people who is MSG sensitive, it makes sense to avoid it. For everyone else, there’s no need to stress about it.”
Are you serious? No need to stress if you don’t get something you notice like a-fib or headache after consuming MSG? Think about the fact that you won’t be able to notice the brain damage that occurs if you accumulate more glutamate than your body requires.
Resources
Excitotoxins:
https://www.truthinlabeling.org/assets/seven_lines/Seven_Lines_Line1.pdf
“It Wasn’t Alzheimer’s. It Was MSG.” Page 34. https://www.truthinlabeling.org/assets/it_wasnt_az.pdf
PROPAGANDA 101: The 8 ingredients in cutting edge propaganda:
http://truthinlabeling.org/blog/2019/05/01/propaganda-101-the-8-ingredients-in-cutting-edge-propaganda/ Featuring Stefan Chin’s YouTube presentation
Six Big Fat Lies:
https://www.truthinlabeling.org/lies.html
Seven Lines of Evidence leading to the conclusion that manufactured free glutamate, no matter where it is found, is excitotoxic:
https://bit.ly/3vkZ6Cl and https://7lines.org
* 60 Minutes:
Saturday’s Secrets!
Remember to check out Saturday’s Secrets Week 3 here!
Grocery cartels: Gobbling up food dollars at the ‘expense of farmers, food chain workers and eaters’
When the non-profit Oxfam created a graphic several years ago showing how just 10 companies* control practically everything you’ll find in the supermarket — from pet and baby food to soup to nuts — it was an eye-opening look into the world of Big Food.
Now, Food & Water Watch has gone a step further. Its new report The Grocery Cartels explains how the Covid-19 pandemic became a profit-maker for mega food retailers, helping dish out the final death blow to smaller grocers.
While operations such as Walmart and Costco appear to offer convenience and lower prices, the pandemic “pulled back the curtain on the idea that the current food system offers abundance, efficiency, and resilience.”
Despite the myth of a competitive marketplace, or the “illusion of choice,” the current food retail system we have now, says Food & Water Watch, “is functioning as it was designed: to funnel wealth from local communities into the hands of corporate shareholders and executives.”
For example, Food & Water Watch found that in 2019, four companies, Walmart, Kroger, Costco and Albertson’s, were taking in an estimated two-thirds of all grocery sales. When the pandemic took over in 2020, major supermarket chains saw “double-digit growth and surging stock values.” Walmart, in fact, takes in $1 out of every $3 spent at a food retailer.
Despite Walmart’s “Save money. Live better” slogan, Food & Water Watch reveals that the mega store is well-known to up its food prices once “it becomes the dominate grocery retailer in town.”
As Food & Water Watch points out, “market power enables intermediaries like retailers and processors to capture an ever-growing share of food dollars, at the expense of farmers, food chain workers and eaters.”
And while we’re encouraged to “shop small” at independently owned retailers this holiday season, it seems our options where food is concerned, both brand-wise and where it’s purchased, are becoming smaller and smaller.
Read the Food & Water Watch full report here: https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/IB_2111_FoodMonoSeries1-SUPERMARKETS.pdf
*The Big Ten food companies: Nestle, Coca-Cola, Unilever, Danone, Mars, Mondelez, Associated British Foods, Kellogg’s, General Mills and Pepsico.
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
Have a thankful Thanksgiving!
Genuine? Wait, what?
(Author’s note: When I came upon Colleen Christensen’s November 12th blog, the first thing I noticed was this caveat at the top: “This post was developed in a sponsored partnership with Ajinomoto however, as always, all opinions are genuine.”)
I’m betting that Colleen Christensen Nutrition is not the least bit interested in publishing my comments to her blog, “MSG (MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE): OK TO EAT.”
I’ll apologize to her if I’ve misjudged, but years of reading glutamate-industry propaganda tell me that she’s just another bird in the glutamate-industry’s nest of journalists-for-hire – and that’s not a wild guess, either. Not only does the blog start out by saying that it comes from a “sponsored partnership with Ajinomoto,” but it contains links to official glutamate industry disinformation.
Colleen ended her blog with the following paragraph:
“Despite much of the negativity we see associated with MSG, the ingredient is safe to consume and offers real taste and nutrition benefits (like sodium reduction.) Many of the misperceptions around this ingredient are rooted in racism, misinformation, and flawed studies.”
Here’s my response:
Colleen,
You’re probably not interested in the fact that ingestion of free glutamate in processed food, snacks, protein powders and protein drinks, protein substitutes, dietary supplements, enteral care products, infant formula and pharmaceuticals may contribute to accumulation of free glutamate that causes brain damage and adverse reactions such as heart irregularities, fibromyalgia, chronic pain, depression, and seizures as well as abnormalities such as obesity, reproductive dysfunction, multiple sclerosis and neurodegenerative disease. But just in case I’ve misjudged, I’ll share information with you here that I have shared with others.
Resources
1. Seven lines of evidence leading to the conclusion that manufactured free glutamate, no matter where it is found, is excitotoxic:
https://www.truthinlabeling.org/assets/seven_lines_master_mfg_notmsg.pdf
2. Adverse reactions known to be caused by MSG: https://www.truthinlabeling.org/assets/reactions_list2.pdf
3. Names of the 40+ ingredients that contain Manufactured free Glutamate (MfG): https://www.truthinlabeling.org/assets/names_ingredients_linkedin.pdf
4. It Wasn’t Alzheimer’s It Was MSG – a true story, Samuels A. (2003).
https://www.truthinlabeling.org/assets/it_wasnt_az.pdf
5. Samuels A. 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.
https://www.truthinlabeling.org/assets/manuscript2.pdf
6. Samuels A. (2020) Dose dependent toxicity of glutamic acid: a review, International Journal of Food Properties, 23:1, 412-419, DOI: 10.1080/10942912.2020.1733016
7. Truth in Labeling Campaign website:
https://www.truthinlabeling.org/
8. Seven lines of evidence leading to the conclusion that manufactured free glutamate, no matter where it is found, is excitotoxic, website:
https://7lines.org
9. Glutamate-induced – on pubmed.gov: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=glutamate-induced
Note: It is only since 1957 that there has been sufficient free glutamate available to cause it to be excitotoxic
Adrienne
Saturday’s Secrets have been moved!
Saturday’s Secrets have been moved from the pages of the Truth in Labeling Campaign to its own website: https://saturdaysecrets.org/saturdays-secrets-best-kept-secrets-of-the-glutamate-industry/
There you’ll discover a new secret each Saturday, giving you time to absorb each one and carefully consider the damage that excessive use of free glutamate is doing to human health.
Should you want to lean more immediately, however, below are seven links to evidence of the toxicity of free glutamate that is accumulated from consumption of processed foods, snacks, protein powders and protein drinks, protein substitutes, dietary supplements, enteral care products, infant formula and pharmaceuticals.
1. Seven lines of evidence leading to the conclusion that manufactured free glutamate, no matter where it is found, is excitotoxic: https://www.truthinlabeling.org/assets/seven_lines_master_mfg_notmsg.pdf
2. It Wasn’t Alzheimer’s It Was MSG – a true story
Samuels A. (2003): https://www.truthinlabeling.org/assets/it_wasnt_az.pdf
3. The toxicity/safety of processed free glutamic acid (MSG): a study in suppression of information: Samuels A. Account Res. 1999;6(4):259-310. doi: 10.1080/08989629908573933. PMID: 11657840. https://www.truthinlabeling.org/assets/manuscript2.pdf
4. Dose dependent toxicity of glutamic acid: A review
Samuels A. (2020) International Journal of Food Properties, 23:1, 412-419, DOI: 10.1080/10942912.2020.1733016
5. Adverse reactions known to be caused by MSG: https://www.truthinlabeling.org/assets/reactions_list2.pdf
6. Names of the 40+ ingredients that contain Manufactured free Glutamate (MfG): https://www.truthinlabeling.org/assets/names_ingredients_linkedin.pdf
7. Seven lines of evidence leading to the conclusion that manufactured free glutamate, no matter where it is found, is excitotoxic, website: https://7lines.org/
Also, see the Truth in Labeling Campaign website: https://www.truthinlabeling.org/
Note: It is only since 1957 that there has been sufficient free glutamate available to cause it to be excitotoxic
Excitotoxic free glutamate: The ultimate trade secret
Everyone loves a secret. Some like to keep them all to themselves. Kids love to share them with their best friends.
Trade secrets are a very special type of secret that describe practices or processes of a company generally not known outside of the company. They are often products of internal research and development.
Moreover, to be legally considered a trade secret in the United States, a company must make a reasonable effort to conceal the information from the public, the secret must intrinsically have economic value, and the trade secret must contain information.
Trade secrets of the glutamate industry are unique in that they obscure the toxic nature of their products, concealed from public view by a well-coordinated effort that involves both government and private industries.
Glutamate industry fabrications spring from the basic falsehood that monosodium glutamate (MSG) is a harmless, or even beneficial, food additive. They go on to twist the facts of MSG’s chemical structure, lie about the permeability of the blood-brain barrier, fail to define terms and/or define terms to meet their needs, parade half-truths before the public (leaving out anything that might contradict their story), take materials out of context and convert them to their own advantage, cite studies that support their story while ignoring others, recite the history of production and use of MSG (leaving out significant aspects of that story), rig the research presented as evidence that MSG is harmless, and maintain a close working relationship with the FDA.
The Truth in Labeling Campaign has written volumes about the toxic effects of MSG and its free glutamic acid component. With our new blog, Saturday’s Secrets, we’re reducing years or research to simple sound bites, focusing on the multitude of secrets that the glutamate industry doesn’t want you to know.
We invite you to join us for the launch of Saturday’s Secrets on Nov. 20th. Stay tuned for details.