Tag: msg

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Beware of using additive-filled processed foods as Thanksgiving dinner shortcuts

However you’ll be celebrating Thanksgiving this year, chances are good that it will involve cooking up a special meal. And that’s when things can easily go off the rails, even for those who carefully select what they eat and serve their families during the rest of the year.

Fresh fruits can give way to canned cranberry sauce, forgotten stuffing ingredients may be replaced with boxed seasoned bread, and additive-filled processed foods are often used in a pinch.

What was once a Thanksgiving joke – the Tofurky – has morphed into numerous, hot-selling plant-based “protein” substitutes, many dressed up for the Thanksgiving table. Just remember before you reach for one of those chemical concoctions in the grocery store that the tasty meat or turkey-like flavor comes from excitotoxic – brain damaging – amino acids. (See “reminders” below).

Now is not the time to let your guard down where your health is concerned. That’s why we’re making this list available again to help you avoid not only foods that contain MSG, but also those that contain MfG, which stands for manufactured free glutamate.

The glutamate industry would prefer that you just keep reading labels for MSG, and not realize that the same toxic chemical that causes brain damage, endocrine disorders and the same adverse reactions as MSG is also found in more than 40 other food ingredients containing MfG — things such as autolyzed yeast, soy protein and yeast extract. Processed vegan and vegetarian foods are especially prone to be contaminated with these toxic additives.

The list below is in three parts: ingredients that always contain MfG, ingredients that often contain or produce MfG during processing, and ingredients that contain enough MfG to cause a reaction in highly sensitive people.

Knowing the truth about what is in your food has never been more important.

Reminders: Ingredient Names Used to Hide Manufactured free Glutamate (MfG)

MSG has been used as an acronym for “monosodium glutamate” for years, with people who reacted to it referring to their “MSG reactions.” So, it isn’t surprising that over time, consumers started using the acronym “MSG” to stand for the ingredients that trigger what they identified as “MSG reactions.” Largely because those in the glutamate industry have built on the confusion caused by using “MSG” incorrectly, we thought it time that there be a proper acronym for consumers to use when talking about what’s contained in monosodium glutamate that causes their pain and suffering – distinguishing between the product called “monosodium glutamate” and the toxic ingredient contained in it.

We propose to use MSG just as the Glutes do, to stand for the flavor enhancer, “monosodium glutamate,” but will now refer to the amino acid in monosodium glutamate that causes brain damage, endocrine disorders and adverse reactions, by its more factual name – Manufactured free Glutamate or MfG.

Names of ingredients that always contain manufactured free glutamate: *1

Glutamic acid (E 620) *2 
Glutamate (E 620)
Monosodium glutamate (E 621)
Monopotassium glutamate (E 622)
Calcium glutamate (E 623)
Monoammonium glutamate (E 624)
Magnesium glutamate (E 625)
Natrium glutamate
anything “Hydrolyzed”
any “Hydrolyzed protein”
Calcium caseinate, Sodium caseinate
Yeast extract, Torula yeast
Yeast food, Yeast nutrient, Nutritional yeast 
Autolyzed yeast, Brewer’s yeast
Gelatin
Textured protein
Whey protein
Whey protein concentrate
Whey protein isolate
Soy protein 
Soy protein concentrate
Soy protein isolate
anything “Protein”
anything “Protein fortified”
anything “Protein concentrate”
anything “Protein isolate”
Zinc proteninate
anything “Proteninate”
Soy sauce
Soy sauce extract
Protease
anything “Enzyme modified”
anything containing “Enzymes”
anything “Fermented”
Vetsin
Ajinomoto

Names of ingredients that often contain or produce free glutamate during processing:

Carrageenan (E 407)
Bouillon and broth
Stock
any “Flavors” or “flavoring”
Natural flavor
Maltodextrin
Oligodextrin
Citric acid, Citrate (E 330)
anything “Ultra-pasteurized”
Barley malt
Malted barley
Pectin (E 440)
Malt extract
Seasonings
Soy milk

The following are ingredients suspected of containing or creating sufficient processed free glutamic acid to serve as reaction triggers in HIGHLY SENSITIVE people:

Corn starch  
Corn syrup  
Modified food starch 
Lipolyzed butter fat  
Dextrose
Rice syrup
Brown rice syrup  
Milk powder 
Reduced fat milk (skim; 1%; 2%) 
most things “Low fat” or “No fat”  
anything “Enriched”
anything “Vitamin enriched” 
anything “Pasteurized”
Annatto
Vinegar
Balsamic vinegar
certain Amino Acid Chelates (Citrate, Aspartate, and Glutamate are used as chelating agents with mineral supplements.)

The following work synergistically with the ingredient monosodium glutamate (MSG) to enhance flavor. If they are present for flavoring, so is MSG:

Disodium 5’-guanylate (E 627) / Disodium 5’-inosinate (E-631) / Disodium 5′-ribonucleotides (E 635)

*1 Glutamic acid found in unadulterated protein does not cause adverse reactions. To cause adverse reactions, the glutamic acid must have been processed/manufactured, released from protein during processing, or come from protein that has been fermented.

*2 E numbers are use in Europe in place of food additive names.

Warnings

Things called “plant-based” proteins (such as the Impossible Burger, Beyond Meat and Just EGG) are made with excitotoxic – brain damaging – free glutamic acid.  Free glutamate made from plants such as soy or mung beans causes brain damage and adverse reaction just like any other source of free glutamate.

Low fat and no fat milk products often contain milk solids that contain manufactured free glutamate (MfG) and many dairy products contain carrageenan, guar gum, and/or locust bean gum. Low fat and no fat ice cream and cheese may not be as obvious as yogurt, milk, cream, cream cheese, cottage cheese, etc., but they are not exceptions.

Protein powders contain glutamic acid, which, invariably, will be Manufactured free Glutamate (MfG). Individual amino acids are not always listed on labels of protein powders. If you see the word “protein” in an ingredient label, the product contains MfG.

At present there may be an FDA requirement to include the protein source when listing hydrolyzed protein products on labels of processed foods. Examples are hydrolyzed soy protein, hydrolyzed wheat protein, hydrolyzed pea protein, hydrolyzed whey protein, hydrolyzed, corn protein. If a tomato, for example, were whole, it would be identified as a tomato. Calling an ingredient tomato protein indicates that the tomato has been hydrolyzed, at least in part, and that Manufactured free Glutamate (MfG) is present.

Disodium guanylate and disodium inosinate are relatively expensive food additives that work synergistically with inexpensive MSG. Their use suggests that the product has MSG in it. They would probably not be used as food additives if there were no MSG present.

Reactions have been reported from soaps, shampoos, hair conditioners, and cosmetics, where MfG is hidden in ingredients with names that include the words “hydrolyzed,” “amino acids,” and/or “protein.” Most sunblock creams and insect repellents also contain MfG.

Drinks, candy, and chewing gum are potential sources of hidden MfG and/or aspartame, neotame. and AminoSweet (a relatively new name for aspartame). Aspartic acid, found in neotame, aspartame (NutraSweet), and AminoSweet, ordinarily causes reactions in MfG sensitive people. (It would appear that calling aspartame “AminoSweet” is industry’s method of choice for hiding aspartame.) We have not seen Neotame used widely in the United States. 

Aspartame will be found in some medications, including children’s medications. For questions about the ingredients in pharmaceuticals, check with your pharmacist and/or read the product inserts for the names of “other” or “inert” ingredients.

Binders and fillers for medications, nutrients, and supplements, both prescription and non-prescription, enteral feeding materials, and some fluids administered intravenously in hospitals, may contain MfG.

According to the manufacturer, Varivax–Merck chicken pox vaccine (Varicella Virus Live), contains (or contained) L-monosodium glutamate and hydrolyzed gelatin, both of which contain Manufactured free Glutamate (MfG) which causes brain lesions in young laboratory animals, and causes endocrine disturbances like OBESITY and REPRODUCTIVE disorders later in life. It would appear that most, if not all, live virus vaccines contain some ingredient(s) that contains MfG.

According to the CDC, as listed in its Vaccine Excipient & Media Summary (Appendix B of the “Pink Book”), there are more than 35 vaccines presently in use that obviously contain ingredients that contain MfG.  

When ingested, reactions to MfG are dose related, i.e., some people react to even very small amounts. MfG-induced reactions may occur immediately after ingestion or after as much as 48 hours. The time lapse between ingestion and reaction is typically the same each time for a particular individual who ingests an amount of MfG that exceeds his or her individual tolerance level.

Remember: By food industry definition, all MfG is “naturally occurring.” “Natural” doesn’t mean “safe.” “Natural” only means that the ingredient started out in nature like arsenic and hydrochloric acid.

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FDA/industry collusion: here’s how it works

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

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

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

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

It details:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Adrienne

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Do they really think they can keep the FDA from removing the GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status from MSG and the other products that contain excitotoxic free glutamic acid?

As I mentioned in last week’s blog, on March 18 of this year, I submitted a Citizen Petition to the FDA requesting that the FDA Commissioner remove misleading and incorrect information presently displayed on the FDA website in a post titled “Questions and Answers on Monosodium Glutamate” (Q&A), and replace it with accurate information about monosodium glutamate (MSG) toxicity, which I supplied. 

On August 16, 2021, The Glutamate Association (TGA) and the International Hydrolyzed Protein Council (IHPC) submitted comments to Citizen Petition Docket No FDA-2021-P-0301, challenging my Petition.  They maintain that the Q&A accurately reflects the data and information on MSG, and that my proposed changes should be rejected.

Completely unrelated to the filing of my Citizen Petition, Kumar et al. published results of a study that looked at the relationship of dietary glutamic acid to obesity and depressive symptoms in patients with schizophrenia, and on October 24, 2021, Kahn, Sievenpiper, and Fernstrom (a long-time resource proficient in creating and spreading glutamate-industry disinformation) published a response – a criticism — of  the Kumar study. 

In analyzing that response, I found it to be generally characteristic of glutamate-industry propaganda, even inventing and using words and phrases that were not used in the Kumar et al. article, and then criticizing their own untruthful creative writing for containing statements that were untrue.

For those of you interested in things like fake news and scientific fraud, I have reproduced my response below, sent to the journal that published the Kahn, Sievenpiper, and Fernstrom piece, and included a question about how the journal allowed a critique, with no presentation of evidence/data, written by persons with conflicts of interest, to be published.

Adrienne Samuels

Samuels analysis of: Commentary: Dietary Glutamic Acid, Obesity, and Depressive Symptoms in Patients With Schizophrenia

Introduction

Kahn et al. (1) have criticized the article written by Kumar et al.(2), (The Article), attributing to it content that it did not have, stating as fact information that is not true, and criticizing information that is not relevant to the message of The Article.

Fabrications of content that The Article did not contain

Fabrication: “Their interpretation of the findings in non-obese individuals seems to be that ingesting dietary protein, which contains glutamate, raises blood glutamate concentrations sufficiently to cause an increase in glutamate penetration into brain, where it acts on neuronal glutamate receptors to cause depression.” [Emphasis added]

Fact: The phrase “raises blood glutamate,” the word “blood,” and the word “penetration” appear nowhere in The Article.

Fabrication: “The authors infer in their introduction that ingesting glutamate can lead directly to increases in brain glutamate levels and adversely modify brain functions via its neurotransmitter role.” 

Fact: Kumar et al. state that “Data shows that over activation of the NDMA receptors by glutamate can be neurotoxic and result in cell death (5).”

Falsehoods

Falsehoods are woven into the text of the Khan et al. criticism as misleading statements, untenable suppositions, and distortions of fact.

Misleading statements

Statement: “The authors conclusions are based on a linear regression analysis…”

Fact: The authors conclusions are based only in part on a linear regression analysis.

Untenable suppositions

“In Table 1 of their paper, the BDI data appear to be non-normally distributed…”

“Furthermore, it is possible that…”

“A non-linear or threshold analysis may show interesting…”

“We believe that the conclusions based upon a linearity assumption in this paper are spurious. If the authors were to run the analysis with appropriate transformation or explore non-linear or threshold analysis using appropriate methods (6), then we surmise that…”

“A more likely path through which dietary glutamate could influence the brain is via its interaction in the alimentary canal with glutamate receptors that occur in the mouth, stomach and intestines.

Distortions of fact / misleading statements 

Distortion: “Such increases in plasma glutamate are insufficient to push glutamate into brain, owing to…”  

Fact: plasma glutamate has never been shown to be relevant to glutamate induced brain damage.

Distortion: ‘These cells are joined by tight junctions, and form the “blood-brain barrier” (BBB)… that prevent glutamate passage from blood into brain (16).”

Fact: I know of only one author (reference 16) who alleges to demonstrate that the blood brain barrier (BBB) prevents glutamate passage from blood into brain, while there are studies that report BBB permeability. The five studies identified here are examples. (3-7).

Distortion: “humans do not willingly consume such large amounts of pure MSG, because it tastes unpleasant (26),” 

Fact: It is the free glutamate in MSG that is excitotoxic, and while the amount of free glutamate in any one ingredient may not be sufficient to cause adverse reactions or brain damage, since the 1957 change in method of MSG production, there are so many products that contain excitotoxins that it is easy for a consumer to ingest an excess of excitotoxic material during the course of a day (8-12).

When glutamic acid accumulates in quantities greater than needed for normal body function, glutamic acid becomes excitotoxic with glutamate neurotransmitter firing repeatedly at glutamate receptors until the cells associated with those glutamate receptors die. 

Brain damage done by excitotoxic glutamate to the fetus and neonate, passed to the fetus across the placenta and to newborns though mothers’ milk, causes obesity and behavior disorders, and reproductive dysfunction during maturity.  MSG (which contains free glutamate) can cross the placenta during pregnancy (13-15), cross the blood brain barrier (BBB) in an unregulated manner during development(16), and pass through the five circumventricular organs which are leaky at best at any stage of life (17-18). At one time it would have been meaningful to note that the excitotoxic material in a particular ingredient would not be sufficient to cause brain damage or adverse reactions.  But since the 1957 change in method of MSG production, there are so many products that contain excitotoxins that it is easy to ingest an excess of excitotoxic material during the course of a day (8-12). 

Information irrelevant to the subject of The Article

1) “Each antipsychotic (and antidepressant) should have been identified.… smoking should have been included as a factor in this study.”

2) The topics cited by Kahn et al. in their criticism of The Article (glutamate metabolism, the contribution of free glutamate to metabolism of glutamate, and plasma glutamate levels) as being misunderstood by Kumar et al. are topics without evidence/data relating them to glutamate-induced brain damage. None are relevant to the subject of The Article.

(Studies alleging these subjects are relevant to glutamate safety have always been sponsored by the glutamate industry.)

3) Information about taste, glutamate binding, and a distinction between protein ingestion and MSG ingestion are irrelevant to The Article.

Conflicts of interest of the critics

Sievenpiper admits working for a large segment of the processed food industry as well as the International Life Science Institute (ILSI), the International Food Information Council (IFIC), and the International Glutamate Technical Committee (IGTC), three representatives of the U.S. manufacturer of MSG.

In the face of a 1991 60 Minutes program on monosodium glutamate, the IFIC ran damage control for MSG manufacturer Ajinomoto.  Prior to being exposed for inappropriate conduct, the IGTC‘s chairman designed and implemented double-blind studies claiming there was no evidence that MSG is toxic.  Their “fail-safe” tactic was to use excitotoxic aspartic acid in placebos.  Aspartic acid is an amino acid known to cause adverse reactions identical to those caused by the glutamate in MSG.

Fernstrom has represented the interests of the glutamate industry for more than four decades. And given the extremes to which he has gone to reinvent the article being criticized, this work gives every appearance of suffering from conflicts of interest.

Summary and conclusions

The article, Commentary: Dietary Glutamic Acid, Obesity, and Depressive Symptoms in Patients With Schizophrenia by Khan, Sievenpiper and Fernstrom is nothing but an exercise in disinformation.

References

1. Kahn TA, Sievenpiper JL, Fernstrom JD.  Commentary: Dietary Glutamic Acid, Obesity, and Depressive Symptoms in Patients With Schizophrenia. Front Psychiatry. (2021) 14 October 2021 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.725786

2. Kumar P, Kraal AZ, Prawdzik AM, Ringold AE, Ellingrod V. Dietary Glutamic Acid, Obesity, and Depressive Symptoms in Patients With Schizophrenia. Front Psychiatry. (2021) Jan 21;11:620097. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.620097. PMID: 33551881; PMCID: PMC7859478.

3. Pollak TA, Drndarski S, Stone JM, David AS, McGuire P, Abbott NJ. The blood-brain barrier in psychosis. Lancet Psychiatry. (2018) Jan;5(1):79-92. doi: 10.1016/S2215-0366(17)30293-6. Epub 2017 Aug 3. PMID: 28781208.

4. 8. Vazana U, Veksler R, Pell GS, Prager O, Fassler M, Chassidim Y, Roth Y, Shahar H, Zangen A, Raccah R, Onesti E, Ceccanti M, Colonnese C, Santoro A, Salvati M, D’Elia A, Nucciarelli V, Inghilleri M, Friedman A. Glutamate-Mediated Blood-Brain Barrier Opening: Implications for Neuroprotection and Drug Delivery. J Neurosci. (2016) Jul 20;36(29):7727-39. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0587-16.2016. PMID: 27445149; PMCID: PMC4951577.

5. Michinaga S, Koyama Y. Dual Roles of Astrocyte-Derived Factors in Regulation of Blood-Brain Barrier Function after Brain Damage. Int J Mol Sci. (2019) Jan 29;20(3):571. doi: 10.3390/ijms20030571. PMID: 30699952; PMCID: PMC6387062.

6. Gynther M, Petsalo A, Hansen SH, Bunch L, Pickering DS. Blood-brain barrier permeability and brain uptake mechanism of kainic acid and dihydrokainic acid. Neurochem Res. (2015) Mar;40(3):542-9. doi: 10.1007/s11064-014-1499-4. Epub 2014 Dec 9. PMID: 25488153.

7. Zhang C, Jiang M, Wang WQ, Zhao SJ, Yin YX, Mi QJ, Yang MF, Song YQ, Sun BL, Zhang ZY. Selective mGluR1 Negative Allosteric Modulator Reduces Blood-Brain Barrier Permeability and Cerebral Edema After Experimental Subarachnoid Hemorrhage. Transl Stroke Res. (2020) Aug;11(4):799-811. doi: 10.1007/s12975-019-00758-z. Epub 2019 Dec 12. PMID: 31833035.

8. Hashimoto S. Discovery and History of Amino Acid Fermentation.  Adv Biochem Eng Biotechnol. (2017)159:15-34. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27909736/

9. Sano C. History of glutamate production. Am J Clin Nutr. (2009) 90(3):728S-732S.  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19640955/

10. Market Research Store. Global Monosodium Glutamate Market Poised to Surge from USD 4,500.0 Million in 2014 to USD 5,850.0 Million by 2020.https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2016/03/17/820804/0/en/Global-Monosodium-Glutamate-Market-Poised-to-Surge-from-USD-4-500-0-Million-in-2014-to-USD-5-850-0-Million-by-2020-MarketResearchStore-Com.html  (Accessed 5/29/2020.)

11. Open PR Worldwide Public Relations for Verified Market. Global Flavor Enhancers Market. https://www.bccresearch.com/partners/verified-market-research/global-flavor-enhancers-market.html (Accessed 5/29/2020.)

12. Dataintelo. Global Food Flavor Enhancer Market Report, History and Forecast 2014-2025, Breakdown Data by Manufacturers, Key Regions, Types and Application.  https://dataintelo.com/report/food-flavor-enhancer-market   (Accessed 5/29/2020)

13. Frieder B, Grimm VE. Prenatal Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) Treatment Given through the Mother’s Diet Causes Behavioral Deficits in Rat Offspring. Int. J. Neurosci. (1984) 23(2), 117–126. DOI: 10.3109/00207458408985353. 

14. Gao J, Wu J, Zhao XN, Zhang WN, Zhang YY, Zhang ZX. [Transplacental Neurotoxic Effects of Monosodium Glutamate on Structures and Functions of Specific Brain Areas of Filial Mice.] Sheng Li Hsueh Pao. Acta Physiologica Sinica. (1994) 46(1), 44–51. 

15. Yu, T.; Zhao, Y.; Shi, W.; Ma, R.; Yu, L. Effects of Maternal Oral Administration of Monosodium Glutamate at a Late Stage of Pregnancy on Developing Mouse Fetal Brain. Brain Res. (1997) 747(2), 195–206. DOI: 10.1016/S0006-8993(96)01181-X. 

16. Skultetyova, I.; Tokarev, D.; Jezova, D. Stress-induced Increase in Blood-brain Barrier Permeability in Control and Monosodium Glutamate-treated Rats. Brain Res. Bull. (1998) 45(2), 175–178. DOI: 10.1016/S0361-9230(97)00335-3. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®], [Google Scholar]

17. Price, M. T.; Olney, J. W.; Lowry, O. H.; Buchsbaum, S. Uptake of Exogenous Glutamate and Aspartate by Circumventricular Organs but Not Other Regions of Brain. J. Neurochem. (1981) 36(5), 1774–1780. DOI: 10.1111/jnc.1981.36.issue-5. 

18. Broadwell, R. D.; Sofroniew, M. V. Serum Proteins Bypass the Blood-brain Fluid Barriers for Extracellular Entry to the Central Nervous System. Exp. Neurol. (1993) 120(2), 245–263. DOI: 10.1006/exnr.1993.1059. 


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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The ruse of the whistleblowers

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

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

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

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

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

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


If you have questions or comments, we’d love to hear from you. If you have hints for others on how to avoid exposure to MfG, send them along, too, and we’ll put them up on Facebook. Or you can reach us at questionsaboutmsg@gmail.com and follow us on Twitter @truthlabeling.

Resources

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Adrienne Samuels

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


If you have questions or comments, we’d love to hear from you. If you have hints for others on how to avoid exposure to MfG, send them along, too, and we’ll put them up on Facebook. Or you can reach us at questionsaboutmsg@gmail.com and follow us on Twitter @truthlabeling.

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Trouble avoiding MSG?

Trouble avoiding MSG?  That’s because it’s not MSG per se  that’s causing your reactions. it’s the Manufactured free Glutamate in it.  And MfG is found in snacks, processed foods, protein drinks, protein powders, dietary supplements, infant formula and pharmaceuticals.

Download our list of ingredient names here.

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Toxic glutamate in your food?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In Health,

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

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Do your ‘eggs’ come from a chicken or a laboratory? The FDA could care less.

Just Egg is the creation of food technologists who make their livings by replacing nutritious whole foods with laboratory-created compounds topped off with chemical flavor enhancers like monosodium glutamate (MSG).

This plant-based yellow liquid contains no real food, and positively not a trace of real eggs.

What it does contain, it’s second ingredient, is mung bean protein isolate, which, along with the natural flavors can pack enough excitotoxic amino acids to give migraine headaches to many, and possibly send some MSG-sensitive people to the ER.

But brain-damaging ingredients aside, you may wonder how this product can get away with being called not just “egg” but JUST EGG?

The FDA maintains what’s called a “standard of identity,” a legally binding description of what a particular food name represents and what it may consist of or even look like. Want to manufacture peanut butter? It better be made by the grinding of shelled and roasted peanuts. If you make noodles, they need to be “ribbon-shaped” with vermicelli mandated to be “cord-shaped.”

But as far as eggs go, not only have regulators refused to define them, but have prohibited such a definition from being made. It’s bizarre even by FDA standards.

What this means to the egg-expecting public is that if you don’t see it cracked from a shell, an “egg” can be made from just about anything, even the chemical concoction listed below.

Just Egg ingredients:

Ingredients: Water, Mung Bean Protein Isolate, Expeller-Pressed Canola Oil, Contains less than 2% of Dehydrated Onion, Gellan Gum, Natural Carrot Extractives (color), Natural Flavors, Natural Turmeric Extractives (color), Potassium Citrate, Salt, Soy Lecithin, Sugar, Tapioca Syrup, Tetrasodium Pyrophosphate, Transglutaminase, Nisin (preservative). (Contains soy.)

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.

Reference:
https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFRSearch.cfm?fr=160.100

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The ultimate in rigged research approved by the FDA. Aspartame: the FDA-approved poison used in placebos in double-blind MSG-is-safe studies.

To make sure the conclusion that MSG is harmless would be beyond reproach, glutamate-industry researchers guaranteed that subjects would react to placebos with the same reactions that are caused by MSG. They did that by using aspartame as the toxic ingredient in their placebos, which worked well for them because the aspartic acid in aspartame and the glutamic acid in MSG cause virtually identical reactions (as well as identical brain damage). Having set that up, glutamate-industry researchers (and the propaganda artists who quote them) will say “These people aren’t sensitive to MSG, they reacted to the ‘placebo’ too.”

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.