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Is MSG safe?

RAMOSS said:
Question, do you have a tendency to migraines anyway? The other person I know that exhibits allergy symptoms tends to have a tendency to migraines, and the two substances I know that trigger it off both have sodium in it (msg and sodium nitrate). He does get it other times too .. but I don't know if there is a pattern.
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I have a lot of migraine triggers... but the worst is artificial fragrances, like axe deodorant and other crappy perfumes. Fragrances have more and more synthetic ingredients in them to meet demand and cut costs. As a result people like me get more migraines when we're exposed. As a teenager the fragrances had more natural ingredients in them, even the big names like Dior. They might've smelled bad but they weren't toxic.

The other thing is rapid changes in atmospheric pressure. If the pressure drops really fast I can get a migraine. Sometimes coffee helps.

And yes... nitrites are a trigger too.

When you talk to most MDs about it they say it's all in your head but all it takes is talking to other migraine sufferers online and it's obviously a real symptom. Thank god for the internet!
 
Northern Light said:
I have a lot of migraine triggers... but the worst is artificial fragrances, like axe deodorant and other crappy perfumes. Fragrances have more and more synthetic ingredients in them to meet demand and cut costs. As a result people like me get more migraines when we're exposed. As a teenager the fragrances had more natural ingredients in them, even the big names like Dior. They might've smelled bad but they weren't toxic.

The other thing is rapid changes in atmospheric pressure. If the pressure drops really fast I can get a migraine. Sometimes coffee helps.

And yes... nitrites are a trigger too.

When you talk to most MDs about it they say it's all in your head but all it takes is talking to other migraine sufferers online and it's obviously a real symptom. Thank god for the internet!
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ALthough I don't get migraines or anything, I prefer fragrence free, just to avoid the chemicals. I figure , it can't hurt to do so.
 
truthatallcost said:
I had read somewhere that MSG is an excitotoxin and that it could cause cell damage. It's been a few years since I read that article, but I wondered if you've seen similar info?
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No, I hadn't, but reading up on the definition of excitotoxin (which was created during research on MSG), it just means it overstimulates your nervous system and starts damaging nerves. As the current for the human body's nervous system runs off of sodium reactions, it's not surprising that you can overexcite it with excessive amounts of sodium (although they seem to hypothesize it has to do with the glutemate, not the sodium, but I don't see a clear research paper on it and I'm not an expert on biochemistry). Again, if you take enough water, it will kill you (for the opposite reason, as it pulls sodium out of your system), so the key here as I said before is moderation. The entirety of Asia uses a lot of MSG, but not an excessive amount of MSG. As the MSG article on wikipedia indicates, there's no known increased cases of any diseases or medical ailments supposedly associated to glutemate. It's also worth pointing out that mushrooms and cheese contain a fair amount of it naturally, and it doesn't seem to be doing anyone any problems.
 
truthatallcost said:
I had read somewhere that MSG is an excitotoxin and that it could cause cell damage. It's been a few years since I read that article, but I wondered if you've seen similar info?
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Glutamate is a neurotransmitter. Most of what is ingested as food is converted quickly, and most of the rest does not pass the blood brain barrier.

The amount you'd ingest via food, even at the most aggressive restaurant, is not a problem. It will barely increase the amount of plasma glutamate. You'd need to inject massive amounts of it directly into your bloodstream to cause any actual harm.
 
We are so full of pollutants from breathing and eating and drinking we may never die.
 
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