A warning you won’t read in the mainstream press

Hey Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and National Public Radio, why aren’t you talking about this?

Nowadays, the lifeline of urban population has been formed by commercial foods due to industrialization, urbanization, and rapid increase in working class. Commercial foods are time and energy saving foods but it compromising the nutritional value of foods. The term adulteration refers to the deliberate addition of compound which is usually not present in food. These compounds are known as food additives or food adulterant. Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) is one of the most common food additives. Several studies revealed that MSG has toxic effect on fetal development/fetus, children’s, adolescent, and adults. Physiological complication associated with MSG toxicity are hypertension, obesity, gastrointestinal tract troubles, and impairment of function of brain, nervous system, reproductive, and endocrine system. The effect of MSG depends upon its dose, route of administration and exposure time. Public awareness may play a major role in controlling the food adulteration by working in collaboration with National testing facilities to scrutinize each commercial food article from time to time. The aim of this review article is to highlight the deleterious impact of MSG on human health.”

–Chakraborty SP. Patho-physiological and toxicological aspects of monosodium glutamate. Toxicol Mech Methods. 2019 Jul;29(6):389-396. doi: 10.1080/15376516.2018.1528649. Epub 2019 May 6. PMID: 30273089.

Something to think about: The IGTC

History tells us that in 1969, the International Glutamate Technical Committee (IGTC) was founded as an association of companies engaged in the manufacture, sale and commercial use of glutamates. It sponsored, gathered, and disseminated research on the use and safety of monosodium glutamate; designed and implemented research protocols and provided financial assistance to researchers; promoted acceptance of monosodium glutamate as a food ingredient and represented members’ collective interests. Those collective interests were to sell monosodium glutamate.  It would appear that the IGTC was the brainchild of Ajinomoto Co., a leading manufacturer of monosodium glutamate. Or possibly Andrew Ebert, long time chairman of the IGTC, thought up the whole thing.  Ebert had been with Minnesota Mining and Minerals when they were producing MSG.

It was reported in 1994 that the IGTC was an association composed of physicians and/or scientists either employed by producers or users of glutamic acid and its salts, or doing research on it in university laboratories. Its annual budget was $250,000. Membership was $2,000/year, with Ajinomoto making up any shortfall between member-provided funds and that quarter-million.

In 1977, the IGTC spun off The Glutamate Association, with both organizations having close ties to the Robert H. Kellen Company of Atlanta, Ga. and Washington, DC.  Kellen is a trade organization and association management firm that specializes in the food, pharmaceutical, and healthcare industries. In 1992, Andrew (Andy) Ebert, Ph.D., chairman of the IGTC, was also senior vice president of The Kellen Company.

Once established, the IGTC assembled a cadre of scientists and others who conducted research for them and/or spoke publicly about the safety of monosodium glutamate. In the 1970s and 1980s, research sponsors were acknowledged.

The names of researchers Altman, Anantharaman, Auer, Bunyan, Ebert, Fernstrom, Filer, Garattini, Geha, Germano, Giacometti, Goldschmiedt, Heywood, Iwata, Kelly, Kenney, Kerr, Matsuzawa, Morselli, Newman, Owen, Patterson, Pulce, Reynolds, Saxon, Schiffman, Simon, Stegink, Stevenson, Takasaki, Tarasoff, Williams, Woessner, and Yang were notable, although there were others. In the late 1990s the names Torii, Shi, Jinap and Hajeb were added to the roster.

Steve Taylor deserves special mention. Although a prominent representative of the glutamate industry, he’s not included with the others because his ties to the IGTC have not openly been acknowledged. Although Taylor has repeatedly spoken out about the safety of MSG, only once to our knowledge has he acknowledged his ties to the IGTC.

When he introduces himself, he typically refers to his University of Nebraska affiliation, but not to the fact that he’s an agent of the IGTC.

Until he was mentioned to the FDA as having been responsible for supplying placebos containing excitotoxic aspartic acid (in aspartame) to the researchers conducting glutamate-safety double-blind studies for him, Ebert had been key to the research operations of the IGTC. This professionally respected pharmacologist and toxicologist had been with the IGTC from the beginning, recruiting researchers to carry out the research designed for them. In each case, that research has enabled Ebert’s people to proclaim (without justification) that a new study has demonstrated that monosodium glutamate is a harmless food additive.

Ebert was the face of the IGTC, and his influence can still be felt at every level. He’s served on the FDA Food Advisory Committee; the Grocery Manufacturers of America (Technical Committee on Food Protection, the Codex Subcommittee on Food Additives and the GRAS-FASEB Monograph Committee); the National Food Processors Association; the Institute of Food Technology (Technology Toxicology and Safety Evaluation Division, and Scientific Lecturer); the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences Assembly of Life Sciences (Food and Nutrition Board: the Committee on Food Protection, and the GRAS List Survey); the AMA (Industry Liaison Panel); the FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Food Standards Program as an industry observer; and the International Food Additives Council as executive director.

As a food industry pharmacologist and toxicologist, Ebert has provided scientific and technical expertise for programs of many associations managed by The Kellen Company.

It looks like since he was exposed for supplying excitotoxin-containing placebos to his researchers, Ebert no longer sits as chairman of the IGTC. 

In 2009, his name appeared as being on the IGTC Executive Committee. His move from the glutamate industry limelight coincided with the posting of information on the Truth in Labeling Campaign website about his role in designing the IGTC’s “scientific” studies and supplying aspartame-laced placebos (placebos that cause reactions similar, if not identical, to those caused by MSG) to his researchers. Toward the end of the 1990s, we began to see the names of Takeshi Kimura and Yoshi-hisa Sugita, Ph.D., associated with the IGTC. Both Kimura and Sugita came from Ajinomoto. 

Jumping ahead to 2022, it looked like the IGTC had moved its offices to Brussels, with Michael Rogers, IGTC chairman, leaving The Glutamate Association and its International Glutamate Information Service (IGIS) to run Ajinomoto’s U.S. operation while the IGTC continues to focus on whatever it will take (no holds barred) to keep MSG profitable. According to the Global Civil Society Database the IGTC’s aims are to “study, assemble and disseminate scientific data and information related to all aspects of the safety, quality and use of glutamate and its salts, particularly monosodium glutamate with a particular emphasis on their use in foods for human beings; promote the uses of glutamates as food ingredients especially on an international level.”  The six organizations that carry out its work are:

EUROPE – PARIS
European Committee for Umami (ECU)

JAPAN – TOKYO
SOUTH KOREA-SEOUL
Amino Acids Seasoning Alliance of Northeast Asia (ASANA)

REPUBLIC OF CHINA – TAIPEI

Taiwan Amino Acid Manufacturers Association ROC (TAAMA)

SOUTH AMERICA – SAO PAULO

Institute for Glutamate Sciences in South America (IGSSA)

SOUTHEAST ASIA – BANGKOK

Regional Committee for Glutamate Sciences (RCGS)

U.S.A. – WASHINGTON, DC

The Glutamate Association United States (TGA)

The IGTC no longer sponsors studies alleging to demonstrate the safety of MSG.  Instead, they sponsor consensus meetings to which they send delegates who discuss the safety of MSG and submit reports of their meetings to any media that will take them.

Something to think about

As the glutamate industry pumps out ever increasing amounts of excitotoxic free glutamate to be used in food, the incidence of glutamate-induced disease and disability has been growing.

Check it out.  You’ll find the numbers in market reports and at the national library of medicine’s PubMed.gov.

And don’t be put off by the fact that there are other toxins in the environment that surely contribute.  That doesn’t make glutamate’s harmful role any less a factor.

Will the real poison please stand up!

If MSG is bad for you – as Jeffrey Steingarten, food critic for Vogue once asked, “why doesn’t everyone in China have a headache?”

Why? Because at the time Jeffrey Steingarten was conducting his often quoted “investigation” as to the headache status of people in Shanghai, the Chinese didn’t use a lot of processed food, meaning they didn’t have exposure to large quantities of manufactured free glutamate (MfG), the toxic ingredient in MSG.  And the little that they used was sprinkled onto the dish they were making as they were finishing it. So, you wouldn’t expect everyone is China to have a headache.

I wonder what Mr. Steingarten, who claims to be “not” an “unbiased observer” of “phony food allergies and intolerances” would say if he knew that in 1969, it was discovered that glutamate is an excitotoxic – brain damaging — amino acid.  It is a Jekyll and Hyde chemical that when ingested in quantity kills brain cells in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus as well as elsewhere.

Since 1957, virtually unlimited quantities of this manufactured free glutamate (MfG) have been added to processed and ultra-processed foods.  That was when the Japanese company Ajinomoto began producing MfG using carefully selected (patented) genetically modified bacteria to feed on carbohydrates such as sugar, and excrete glutamate through their cell walls. And Big Food recognized that there was profit to be made by producing MfG to enhance the flavor of food, and started mass producing their own MfG-containing hydrolyzed proteins, yeast extracts, maltodextrin and more than 40 other MfG-containing ingredients to be used as flavor-enhancers.

Even today, not everyone in China gets MfG-induced headaches.

Warnings the FDA isn’t sharing

In 1992, a study done by the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) on the safety of amino acids in dietary supplements warned about the use of manufactured free glutamate (MfG) in supplements.

That information was never shared with the public.

As early as 1990, the FDA became aware that MfG produced through acid hydrolysis of proteins contains carcinogenic mono and dichloro propanols that contribute to the development of cancer.

That information was never shared with the public.

Since 1990, the FDA has been thinking about sharing it.

MSG: a double whammy to your liver

When Dr. Russell Blaylock came out with his eye-opening book in 1994, “Excitotoxins: the Taste that Kills,” he forecast an ongoing obesity epidemic based on the sheer amount of MSG and other excitotoxins dumped into processed foods and beverages.

Now, almost three decades later he says, “Unfortunately, my prediction has come true. Obesity is now a national epidemic – not just among adults, but also among children, even the very young.”

But the damage caused by our national obesity epidemic didn’t stop with extreme weight gain. It has helped to foster another widespread condition (even called a “pandemic” by some doctors and researchers), known as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, or NAFLD. This chronic liver condition was a rare occurrence only a few decades ago. Now it’s not only rampant among adults but being diagnosed more and more in kids, some just toddlers.

As the name implies, NAFLD is a buildup of fat in the liver, something that can progress to a life-threatening condition called non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), which can lead to liver failure and liver cancer.

MSG has the distinction of contributing to NAFLD and NASH is two ways. As Blaylock revealed in Excitotoxins, it had been decisively shown in research that baby mice fed MSG became “grossly obese,” and that their “obesity was very difficult to reverse.” (Today, researchers turn to MSG as a tool to fatten up their lab animals for obesity studies.)

The other way MSG is helping to create this pandemic of liver disease was found in a study showing how low doses of MSG (extremely easy to consume if you eat any kind of processed food), combined with the ever-popular sweetener high fructose corn syrup, “greatly increased the risk” of both liver conditions, Blaylock recently reported.

HFCS, a cheap genetically modified sugar substitute, is extremely toxic to the liver. Study after study has found a significant connection between ingesting all forms of processed fructose and liver damage.

As for MSG and the manufactured free glutamate (MfG) it contains, it not only is a major cause of obesity that leads to NAFLD, but has been linked to numerous other conditions including many incapacitating neurological disorders.

Ironically, many processed foods labeled as “low-cal,” which are pitched to those hoping to lose weight, contain the worst additives when it comes to weight loss, as well as liver health. For example, HFCS-90, with a whopping 90 percent fructose, is often added to diet dishes, as only a small amount is needed for sweetening. And since lower-calorie processed foods are typically made from cheap, tasteless ingredients, MSG and other forms of MfG are added liberally.

While Dr. Blaylock has made a significant contribution to our understanding of the toxic nature of MSG and other excitotoxins — warning for decades about the dangers of consuming them – unfortunately, you still don’t have to look very hard to find them in our food supply.

But perhaps as even more children sadly fall victim to suffering the consequences of the widespread use of such additives, more people will join those already demanding change in how processed foods are made and regulated.

We often get questions about yeast: Does it contain monosodium glutamate?

Although yeast ingredients are popularly used to replace the flavor enhancer called monosodium glutamate (MSG), yeast does not contain any MSG. But don’t stop reading yet!

Yeast DOES contain the same toxic amino acid that’s found in MSG — excitotoxic glutamic acid. That’s why Big Food loves yeast so much. They can add as much of this noxious flavor enhancer as they want and not be required to mention MSG on the label despite what these two additives have in common.

A recent yeast industry (yes, there’s a yeast industry) market report tells some of the secrets of why it’s so popular.

“By product type, the global yeast ingredients market can be categorized into yeast extract, yeast autolysates, dry yeast, yeast flavor, and ‘others’. The yeast extracts market is high, as yeast extracts act as a replacement for monosodium glutamate, and consumers highly inclined towards natural ingredients and health concerns. Yeast extracts also offer a unique aromatic taste, which is important in low-salt-content foodstuffs…” Zenit News: “Yeast and yeast ingredients market 2020 research reports, industry size, in-depth qualitative insights, explosive growth opportunity, regional analysis by 360 market updates”

The basics

To understand the toxicity of yeast extract, you have first to understand the basics of toxic glutamate found in food.

Glutamate must be free to be harmful, meaning it can’t exist as part of a protein. And toxic free glutamate found in food will always have been manufactured.

You can make/produce free glutamate (glutamate outside of protein) using carefully selected genetically modified bacteria. Feed the bacteria on some starchy stuff like sugar, and they secrete glutamate through their cell walls. That’s pretty much how the glutamate in MSG is made in Ajinomoto’s plant in Eddyville Iowa.

You can also free glutamate from protein. Begin with something that contains protein — almost any meat, grain, diary product, fruit or vegetable will contain at least some small amount of glutamate. Then, choose your method: 1) extract glutamate from protein, 2) use hydrolysis, autolysis, enzymes, acids or fermentation to break protein into individual amino acids (which would include glutamate), or apply high heat to protein.

All glutamate made/produced by man plus that which has been fermented contains D-glutamate, pyroglutamate and other unwanted by-products of manufacture (impurities which industry has been unable to remove) as well as the desired L-glutamate. In contrast, the glutamate in unadulterated fruits, grains, vegetables, and in the human body, which wouldn’t be manufactured, is L-glutamate only.

To be toxic, free glutamate has to 1) be present in excess – more than the healthy body needs for normal body function, or 2) act as a neurotransmitter, overstimulating and damaging glutamate receptors for some weak area in an individual’s body, the heart, lungs, or stomach for example.

Yeast extract contains toxic free glutamate

Yeast extract contributes to accumulation of toxic free glutamate in two ways. First, yeast extract itself will contain toxic free glutamate. Moreover, yeast and yeast extract can also interact with other ingredients, causing the protein in those other ingredients to break down and release glutamate.

The way that the yeast extract is produced will vary from one manufacturer to another, but all break the protein found in yeast into free amino acids – one of which will be glutamate. Following are various descriptions of how that’s done:

1: Food Navigator-asia.com: https://www.foodnavigator-asia.com/Article/2019/09/25/Clean-label-less-sodium-and-vegan-Yeast-extract-specialist-company-Angel-Yeast-names-three-mega-trends-driving-the-industry#

“Angel Yeast’s yeast extract products are obtained from molasses-cultured yeast, which are autolyzed to obtain the extract and made into pastes or powders.”

2: European Association for Specialty Yeast Products:
http://www.yeastextract.info/yeast-extract/how-it-s-made

“Yeast extract is … made from natural bakers’ or brewers’ yeast. First sugar is added so that the yeast can multiply. Then enzymes in the yeast break down the proteins present in the yeast into smaller components and make the cell walls permeable. Finally the components present in the yeast cell – the yeast extract – are separated from the surrounding wall and dried.”

3: Biospringer: https://biospringer.com/en/explore-yeast-extract/yeast-extract/production-process/

“Yeast is a microscopic unicellular fungus that has been living on Earth for millions of years. Like any other cell, yeast is made of proteins, amino acids, vitamins and minerals gathered within the cell walls.”

“Yeast extract is simply the yeast content without the cell wall, making it a natural origin ingredient. Its production consists of 3 main steps:

Fermentation
Breaking of the yeast cell (also known as autolysis)
Separation”

4: By Elea Carey for Healthline: https://www.healthline.com/health/food-nutrition/is-yeast-extract-bad-for-me#1

“There are two kinds of yeast extract, autolyzed and hydrolyzed. In both, the cell walls are discarded and the contents of the cell are combined. In autolyzed yeast, the enzymes found in the yeast itself are used to break down the proteins. In hydrolyzed yeast, these enzymes are added to the yeast.”

Does yeast extract contain enough free glutamate to cause brain damage or adverse reactions?

If yeast extract was the only source of free glutamate ingested, toxicity would depend on the amount of free glutamate in the particular product ingested, and the sensitivity of the person ingesting it. There are glutamate-sensitive people who react to yeast extract.

But in real life one helping of yeast extract isn’t going to be ingested in isolation. Combined with other sources of glutamate in the diet, yeast extract increases the likelihood of brain damage and adverse reactions.

The two G’s, glyphosate and glutamate, even more toxic together

Dr. Stephanie Seneff’s new book Toxic Legacy: How the Weedkiller Glyphosate Is Destroying Our Health and the Environment, dissects the truth about glyphosate, a toxic chemical incorporated into hundreds of weed-killing formulations – the most widely known being Roundup.

Seneff, a senior research scientist at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, documents the case against glyphosate, that she describes as a chemical that can deliver the “slow kill” as it gradually accumulates in your tissues and over time becomes the catalyst for some “horrible diseases.”

Seneff connects use of the herbicide with a long list of illnesses and conditions including kidney and liver disease, diabetes, multiple types of cancers, urinary tract infections, antibiotic resistance, mineral deficiencies, and the destruction of our beneficial gut bacteria leading to immune-system malfunctions.

If you follow the Truth in Labeling Campaign blogs or have visited our website, you know that we have lots of information on glutamate: How protein (meat, chicken, fish, milk, etc.) contains bound glutamate along with other amino acids that, when normally digested, are vital for normal body function. How manufactured “free” glutamate (MfG) which is found in monosodium glutamate (MSG) and dozens of other food additives, differs from the glutamate found in nature. And how, when glutamate is present in the body in excess, it causes brain damage.

Seneff, however, describes a new dimension of danger.

She links glyphosate exposure to glutamate neurotoxicity, noting that the weedkiller interferes with the mechanisms that prevent excess – brain damaging — glutamate from accumulating. As told in Toxic Legacy, “Roundup increased the amount of glutamate released into the synapse (the point of communication) by neurons. It also interfered with the ability of brain cells to clear glutamate from the synapses by converting glutamate to glutamine.”

Seneff describes the normal cycle of glutamate production and clearance, an amazingly complex system that depends on the trace mineral manganese to prevent the accumulation of excess – brain damaging — glutamate. And manganese “can be chelated by glyphosate, making it unavailable.”

As Seneff says, “There is no question that glyphosate disrupts glutamate.”

Seneff also makes it clear that excess glutamate “is a known factor in several neurological disorders, including depression. Abnormally high levels of glutamate lead to excessive oxidative stress in the brain, causing neuronal damage, particularly in the hippocampus.”

But avoiding glyphosate, like avoiding MfG, is a challenge.

Glyphosate-based herbicides, which are totally unregulated and available just about anywhere, are sprayed in back yards, driveways and parks. They are also doused on hundreds of millions of acres of genetically modified crops, such as corn, cotton and soy, and are sprayed on non-organic wheat, barley and oats to speed up drying. Despite the fact that glyphosate is considered a “probable” human carcinogen by the World Health Organization and currently the subject of thousands of lawsuits over its role in causing non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and other cancers, it sells like water in the desert. 

MfG found in MSG, yeast extract, hydrolyzed proteins and dozens of other flavor enhancers as well as protein substitutes, shows up in processed foods from soup to nuts. In addition, the latest big sellers, plant-based protein foods, are typically loaded with MfG. The Impossible Burger, for example, contains six potentially brain-damaging ingredients that include soy-protein concentrate, natural flavors and yeast extract.

Despite the pervasive nature of both glyphosate and free glutamate, there are still some steps you can take to avoid these toxins as much as possible.

Glyphosate:

  • If you can’t implement a totally organic lifestyle, always shop organic for the Big Five GMO foods: Corn, canola, sugar beets, soy and cotton (cottonseed oil is used in conventional nuts and chips, while canola is used in just about everything, as is corn and soy);
  • Buy organic dairy as well, since genetically modified alfalfa is extensively fed to dairy cows;
  • Whenever possible, buy organic versions of any products containing oats, wheat and beans, which don’t have to be genetically modified to be sprayed with glyphosate as a drying agent shortly before harvest.
  • When outside, steer clear of areas that have had pesticides applied, sometimes indicated by a white flag.

Manufactured free glutamate (MfG):

  • Make it a habit to avoid processed foods, especially ones that say “No MSG added” on the label;
  • Download our brochure listing the names of ingredients containing MfG;
  • Avoid mock meat, fake fish or other faux foods.

Even without the helping hand of glyphosate, MfG is associated with Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, MS, stroke, ALS, autism, schizophrenia, depression and many other neurological conditions. Remember, the brain you save may be your own.

FDA turns a blind eye to policing ‘No MSG’ labeling

A group of California attorneys have filed a trio of lawsuits to try to stop food manufacturers from deceiving consumers with fraudulent “No MSG” claims on food products that contain free glutamates.

The first complaint was filed against Campbell’s in January in an action the lawyers hope will eventually represent millions of consumers across the U.S. who purchased Campbell’s brand Swanson broth products with “false and misleading ‘NO MSG ADDED’ claims.”

That was followed by two more class action complaints against Nissin Foods U.S.A. for its “No added MSG” noodle products, and Del Monte Foods for its “No MSG,” claim that prominently appears on College Inn broths.

The FDA rule regarding such “misbranding” is relatively simple – if you market a food product containing free glutamate in any form, you can’t say it contains “No MSG” or “No added MSG.”

Names of ingredients in addition to MSG that contain MfG (manufactured free glutamate) include hydrolyzed proteins, yeast extract, whey protein and dozens of others. And all those MfG-containing ingredients can trigger what consumers commonly call “MSG reactions.”

Years ago, a group of states sued companies that misbranded products this way — and won. At about that time, the FDA sent out a warning letter to a company not targeted by the state actions, but even that was surprising since the FDA has been denying the toxic effects of MSG since 1968 when then FDA commissioner Herbert L. Ley Jr. was speaking out on the safety of MSG.

Considering how many manufacturers do this (see our list at the end of the products we’ve found), it appears that Big Food has no fear the FDA will begin to enforce the law. 

Label laundering

Last year we investigated several of these brands, including College Inn, calling the company to ask about its “No MSG” claim when its products clearly contained MfG from numerous sources.

The College Inn customer service representative told us that the company had a “campaign” to remove MSG from its products over 15 years ago when they were reformulated. “MSG can’t be hidden or called something else,” we were told.

That’s true.  The ingredient called monosodium glutamate, a.k.a. MSG can’t be hidden.  But the law says that since consumers frequently use the term MSG to mean all free glutamate, saying your product has “No MSG” or “No added MSG” when it contains free glutamate is considered “false and misleading,” and in violation of the Federal Food Drug & Cosmetic Act. 

So, College Inn is breaking the law – one that the FDA refuses to enforce.

Attorney Jonas Jacobson, from the firm of Dovel & Luner in Santa Monica, California, who represents the plaintiffs in the three lawsuits hopes that they will soon be certified as class action complaints. Jacobson commented that “this labeling practice is misleading to consumers and is prohibited by consumer protection laws.  Yet a number of companies are still putting ‘No MSG’ claims on products that have added free glutamates.  We filed these cases to stop this practice…”

This practice, however, is so widespread that when you see “No MSG,” or “No added MSG” on a product it’s almost a given that it will contain sources of MfG. And that’s no simple labeling error.

Products we’ve noticed that state “No MSG,” “No MSG added,” or “No Added MSG” that contain free glutamates

Note: This list is by no means complete.

Campbell’s Chunky Classic Chicken Noodle

Despite pledging “No MSG added” Campbell’s filled up its Chunky Classic Noodle with wheat protein isolate, yeast extract, soy protein concentrate, vegetable broth (which can contain numerous unnamed sources of MfG), and two tell-tale ingredients: disodium guanylate and disodium inosinate, which work synergistically with MSG to enhance flavor. If those two expensive ingredients are added for flavoring, so is inexpensive MSG.

Progresso New England Clam Chowder

Progresso adds its “NO MSG ADDED” pledge right above the serving instructions to make sure it’s noticed. But if you turn the can a bit to the right, you’ll see that this soup contains at least two sources of MfG – soy protein concentrate, and yeast extract, along with natural flavors. Over a decade ago Campbell’s and Progresso duked it out over which soup brand used less MSG, spending a fortune on advertising bashing each other.

Minors Soup Bases (Owned by Nestle)

These “No added MSG” products are especially devious as they are used by restaurants as a base mix for “homemade” soups, sauces and gravies. Since they are falsely advertised as “No MSG” products, asking your server or the chef about MSG or free glutamates in a restaurant that uses Minors soup bases is useless.

All of the Minors products we looked at contained some form of MfG. For example, the low sodium vegetable base contains autolyzed yeast extract, hydrolyzed corn protein, natural flavors and disodium guanylate and inosinate. The mushroom base contains hydrolyzed corn and soy proteins and natural flavors along with disodium guanylate and inosinate.

Newman’s Own ranch dressing

So what’s up with Newman’s and its “No MSG” claims on ranch dressing? Years ago The Truth in Labeling Campaign contacted the company about its “No MSG” ranch dressing. We were told in an email that only a small amount of “free glutamate” was found after a laboratory analysis. Then, they removed the claim. But now we see it’s back.

The ingredient of concern is “natural flavor,” which is basically a free FDA pass to add MfG to a product. We just sent Newman’s Own another email asking if the product has been tested (again) for free glutamates, and if so, what the results were. If we hear back we’ll post it here.

Imagine potato leek soup

Don’t automatically assume that organic products are “pure” or “safe.” Imagine Foods organic potato leek soup makes a “commitment” of stating “no added MSG” on its label, but also is committed to adding those “natural flavors.” While monosodium glutamate is technically not allowed in organic food, there’s nothing prohibiting the addition of any number of additives containing the same free glutamic acid found in MSG — what causes identical “MSG reactions” in people.


Nissin noodle products

Nissin, which is one of the companies named in the current lawsuits, is such a big fan of saying “NO ADDED MSG” that it plasters that statement not only in a big, bold circle on its packaging, but also on the shipping cartons. The product we purchased, Firewok, contains seven sources of free glutamates plus disodium guanylate and inosinate.

Knorr products

Knorr, which sells a variety of gravy and sauce packets along with “pasta sides” is perhaps the number one Big Food fan of fraudulently stating “No added MSG,” yet filling their products full of hydrolyzed proteins, yeast extract and natural flavors. Some of the Knorr packaging states that the no MSG claim is “Our Promise.” Last year we asked a Knorr customer service representative about this deceptive labeling and was told that MSG is the subject of “additional studies… by health officials” and that MSG isn’t used in any Knorr products.

McCormick flavor packets

McCormick is another company that loves to state “No MSG added” on products that contain numerous sources of MfG. We selected chicken gravy, beef stew and au jus gravy, which contained hydrolyzed corn gluten, soy protein and yeast extract. The chicken gravy also had natural flavor and disodium guanylate and inosinate, said on the product label to be included as “flavor enhancers.”

It’s obvious that consuming processed foods is a crap shoot when it comes to avoiding MfG. And relying on advertising claims of “No MSG” or “No added MSG” to make purchasing decisions will decidedly turn the odds against you.

We’ll try to keep you updated on the status of the ongoing litigation. If any are certified as class actions, depending on the state you live in, you may want to join in as a plaintiff. And if you feel you’ve been deceived by purchasing a product based on “No added MSG” claims, you may be able to find an attorney to start your own lawsuit. Since the FDA won’t enforce this rule, it looks like it’s up to consumers to take action.

The evolution of Type 2 Obesity

Type 2 Obesity is the intractable, unyielding obesity that follows when excessive amounts of a toxic chemical:

1. Are ingested by pregnant women,

2. Are “fed” through the placenta to their fetuses,

3. Destroy brain cells in the fetus that would have played a role in weight control.

Check it out.  The data are published.

The obesity epidemic was set in motion when virtually unlimited amounts of brain damaging flavor enhancers were added to practically every processed food and snack. 

History paints a clear picture of the obesity epidemic timeline.

  • Prior to 1957, there had been no reports of food-induced adverse reactions to flavor-enhancers, no studies demonstrating food-induced brain damage, no obesity epidemic, no infertility crisis, and the incidence of glutamate-induced abnormalities had not yet begun to skyrocket.

  • 1957 was the year that a new and improved method for producing virtually unlimited amounts of the excitotoxic – brain damaging – (manufactured) free glutamate (MfG) was put into production.

  • 1960 was the year that increased obesity began to be noticed. 1960-62 saw the first statistics kept on numbers of overweight people. 

  • In 1969, the first studies documented the fact that brain cells were destroyed following intake of substantial amounts of MfG. In that year, the first of many animal studies were published demonstrating that MfG causes brain lesions in the area of the brain responsible for appetite and satiety (i.e. weight control).  Those studies documented the fact that brain cells were destroyed following intake of substantial amounts of MfG, that ablated brain cells were not replaced with neurons, and that the obesity manifested by those animals became evident as they reached maturity. 

  • By the mid-1970s, obesity had reached epidemic proportions.

And that’s the evolution of the obesity epidemic: Excessive amounts of free glutamate ingested by pregnant women are passed to their fetuses where it causes brain lesions in the arcuate nucleus followed by gross obesity.

Adrienne

RESOURCES:

Glutamic acid: initiator of the obesity epidemic  (data)
https://www.truthinlabeling.org/assets/obesity_review_shortened_final_with_reference.pdf

Getting to the root of obesity (an overview)
https://www.truthinlabeling.org/assets/MASTERS_Perspective.pdf

How I know what I know about the obesity epidemic
https://www.truthinlabeling.org/assets/obesity_how_i_know.pdf

Seven lines of evidence leading to the conclusion that manufactured free glutamate, no matter where it is found, is toxic:

  • Review of animal studies done in the 1970s that have demonstrated the toxicity of MSG and MfG: evidence that the glutamate in MSG and other flavor enhancers and protein substitutes becomes excitotoxic – brain damaging – when present in amounts that exceed what a healthy subject needs for normal body function.
    https://www.truthinlabeling.org/assets/seven_lines/Seven_Lines_Lines2.pdf