Monosodium Glutamate

kemo_2002

i love how chinese take outs make omelettes - i have been imformed that they add MG into this, so i think i am going ot try it (would save me a fortune on takeouts at £4.50 a omlette!!)

wonder where to add it!

SailorSam

I would think as with most things, as long as you don't over do it you should be ok.

lumpy_bum

um thanks
il probably pass though
ive got the "if it aint broke, dont fix it" attitude i spose

Bronnie

Just an observation .....but i've recently come off a liquids-only weight-loss plan which I followed for a month and therefore no food in that time. I've also just had a sinus op and have noticed an improvement in my sense of smell and wonder if this has sharpened my sense of taste.

It ( the diet) has had the effect of cleansing or refreshing the palate. The tastes and flavours of fresh foods I've reintroduced seem brighter, sharper and more intense and delicious just as they are. . That goes for all foods, even stuff like lettuce, cottage cheese plain chicken , natural yogurt etc. Stuff that I usually feel the need to add something to. I suppose what I'm trying to say is the more seasoning and flavourings we add to food can have an effect of jading our palate to the true natural flavours and therefore encourage us to add more as we mask the natural flavours.

Why would you not just use the combinations of salt, sugar, lemon juice and vinegar to create the the flavours of your food. I'm curious to understand what other benefits you feel MSG would confer?

HappyIdiotTalk

Bronnie wrote: »

Just an observation .....but i've recently come off a liquids-only weight-loss plan which I followed for a month and therefore no food in that time. I've also just had a sinus op and have noticed an improvement in my sense of smell and wonder if this has sharpened my sense of taste.

It has had the effect of cleansing or refreshing the palate. The tastes and flavours of fresh foods I've reintroduced seem brighter, sharper and more intense and delicious just as they are. . That goes for all foods, even stuff like lettuce, cottage cheese plain chicken , natural yogurt etc. Stuff that I usually feel the need to add something to. I suppose what I'm trying to say is the more seasoning and flavourings we add to food can have an effect of jading our palate to the true natural flavours and therefore encourage us to add more as we mask the natural flavours.

Why would you not just use the combinations of salt, sugar, lemon juice and vinegar to create the the flavours of your food. I'm curious to understand what other benefits you feel MSG would confer?

I'm no expert on this but taste and flavour are two different things. The way I understand it, taste happens in your mouth and flavour is dependant on what you smell. So if your sense of smell is better, I guess it'll effect the flavours your detecting.

Speaking of sugar, salt and lemon. I had a little experiment from my Taste book yesterday. A pint glass filled with ice cubes and fizzy water from lidl, and added to that the juice of two limes, a pinch of salt, a load of sugar and some fresh ground black pepper.. It was actually very nice. No savory flavor in it tho so I'm not sure what MSG would have added... probably nothing as it does not effect sweet tastes.

davetrousers

Can we assume that you are (in essence) going to perform an MSG taste (and possible side effects) experiment?

Can you keep us informed of your findings please?

HappyIdiotTalk

I guess so. I'm only expecting differences in taste tho. I have worked at a Chinese company for the past 4 years and had proper Chinese food (cooked by imported Chinese chefs) at lunchtimes most days.

It definately had MSG in it as I got friendly with the canteen staff and watched them cook with it. And having eaten it on a daily basis I never experienced any ill effects of any kind. And good stuff it was too... except the bulls heart... that was a bit too metallic tasting for my liking!

I'll post up here on how it changes my own food though.

Pretani

I think this is one of those issues that we need and expert opinion on here?

is it good to use or not?

HappyIdiotTalk

This is not exactly the expert opinion, but this is what the FDA (American Food & Drug Administration has to say about it:

In 1959, the Food and Drug Administration classified MSG as a "generally recognized as safe" food ingredient under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. But the use of MSG in food has remained controversial. In the 1980s, research showed that glutamate plays an important role in the normal functioning of the nervous system, raising questions about whether glutamate in food could affect the nervous system.

...

But the report did identify short-term reactions known as MSG Symptom Complex in two groups of people. The first group includes people who may have a reaction after eating large doses of MSG, particularly on an empty stomach. A large dose would be three grams or more per meal. A typical serving of glutamate-treated food contains less than 0.5 grams of MSG. The second group includes people with severe and poorly controlled asthma.

And here is an article from Bristol Uni, which states that it can actually help people that need to cut back on salt:

http://www.natural-health-information-centre.com/monosodium-glutamate.html

Large amounts of scientific experiments have been aimed at finding out whether or not MSG is a dangerous chemical, but there has been no significant finding stating that it has harmful effects. However, there are several minor symptoms thought to be associated with MSG, the most common being headaches, nausea and drowsiness. These symptoms are always mild and rarely require medical attention.

In actual fact, MSG is more of a solution than a problem. Using MSG, it is possible to greatly reduce sodium levels in foods (40% less when table salt is replaced with MSG) while at the same time still enjoying the taste. The graph on the right shows that with a small addition of MSG, the pleasantness of a food can be greatly increased. The study evaluated people's responses to different versions of a clear soup, with and without MSG and with different levels of salt. The horizontal line shows the threshold level below which the participants found the soup to be unpalatable. Without the addition of MSG, the soup did not become palatable until the salt concentration reached 0.75%. With MSG, however, the soup was palatable with a salt concentration of only 0.4%.

As well as the above there are articles around like the one below supporting it. But also horror stories like this one. I guess the thing to do is try it and make up your own mind. If you do have a reaction, then maybe its not for you. I know it doesn't effect me so I'm excited about trying it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/05/dining/05glute.html?_r=2&oref=slogin

IN 1968 a Chinese-American physician wrote a rather lighthearted letter to The New England Journal of Medicine. He had experienced numbness, palpitations and weakness after eating in Chinese restaurants in the United States, and wondered whether the monosodium glutamate used by cooks here (and then rarely used by cooks in China) might be to blame.

The consequences for the restaurant business, the food industry and American consumers were immediate and enormous. MSG, a common flavor enhancer and preservative used since the 1950s, was tagged as a toxin, removed from commercial baby food and generally driven underground by a new movement toward natural, whole foods.

...

Even now, after “Chinese restaurant syndrome” has been thoroughly debunked (virtually all studies since then confirm that monosodium glutamate in normal concentrations has no effect on the overwhelming majority of people), the ingredient has a stigma that will not go away.

Horasio

MSG gives my OH hallucinations, so I we avoid it

I prefer my flavourings to be more natural.