MSG and why I hate looking things up online.
- Thread starter taeric
- Start date
Well, I wasn't trying to be touchy. Just that I would rather know more about this instead of knowing more of a bunch of loosely true facts. So, for my part, sorry I was touchy over this. Also, I don't know who Keeley Hazell is.
Also, MSG is not Umami. Umami is basically a way of saying "savory." While it is true that the two share some history together, they are not the same thing. (Unless, of course, one considers salty to be salt, as that is roughly what it would mean.)
And all of the above is something I would have absolutely no faith in being fully accurate, as it came from the first couple of searches I did online.
Most soups contain MSG, especially Campbells. If you are looking at a chicken based soup it probably contains MSG. If you go to a restaurant and order soup it probably contains MSG. Vegetable, beef, and chicken bouillon has the stuff most of the time. It's tough to find a manufacturer who makes it without MSG. I get migraines from the stuff. Other foods that have it include many chips (like Doritos), chinese food, some fast food (chicken or sausage usually) and lots of processed foods most americans love to eat. Soy sauce and seaweed both have naturally occurring MSG so they don't even have to list it on the labels and many manufactureres of other foods are trying to find ways around putting it on the label by listing it as a "natural flavor".
People getting sick from MSG is not a new thing. It's not just you and it's not just in one area. The good news is that you should feel better in a couple of days once the stuff gets out of you system. I know within minutes if I've accidentally eaten the stuff and I'm usually miserable for a couple of days with a terrible migraine. It sucks cause the stuff tastes soooo good.
I hope you feel better.
Thanks, I do feel much better. And the MSG had very little to do with my feeling like I was going to die.
But, with regards to MSG. It looks like you are falling for what I would consider a fallacy. Seaweed does not contain naturally occuring MSG. MSG is pretty much not naturally occuring, period. What it does contain are free glutomates. (The G from MSG) Now, I don't know if it is a meaningful fallacy, as it looks like everyone pretty much makes it. However, all of the studies have shown that MSG (specifically MSG) cause problems, whereas I have seen nothing that show other forms of glutomates cause any problem. (Glutomates exist in pretty much everything you could think of to eat. Including pork, mushrooms, cheeses, etc.) Further reading has shown that evidently the difference between MSG and natural glutomates is nil. But I'm not sure how trustworthy that site was.
Edit: To clarify, I know I can down a TON of soysauce and other "glutomate rich" foods and not get sick. However, eating this much MSG rich food gave me a pounding headache. I am curious if this is just coincidence or if it is meaningfull.
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eileenbunny
Druish Princess
You are right, I was confused about the seaweed, but much soysauce does in fact contain MSG. There isn't a lot of conclusive research to show that glutomates cause any problems. I know that for migraine patients avoiding certain foods containing certain glutomates helps a lot. Aged meats, cheeses, processed food, beets, avocados, etc. all are pretty bad for me. There's a lot more, but it's not important.
It sounds to me like you don't have a sensitivity to MSG though. I've been dealing with this problem for 26 years, I'm pretty well versed in it. I think you would have noticed before now. Could just be a coincidence. I do wonder if people can develop a sensitivity to it over time. I don't know a lot about that. What kind of Campbells and Progresso soups were you eating?
Yeah, I shouldn't have said soysauce doesn't have any. I think it would be fair to say that good soysauce doesn't.
(Since I'm guessing soysauce predates the "discovery" of MSG.)At any rate, this all just drives home how little I know about this stuff. I don't think I'm hypersensitive to the stuff. But I downed (or tried to, at least) 4 cans of campbells with no problems. Downing that many cans of progresso left me with a massive headache. The only difference I could see was that progresso lists MSG as an ingredient. I've read that campbells has it, as well, but I suspect that it has "MSG". That is, it has free glutomates, but not actual MSG. (If that makes any sense.) My problem is that I don't know how to tell if that is right or not.
While that is true, I was referring to the MSG in New York.Ameriquest Field in Arlington?
eileenbunny
Druish Princess
Yeah, I shouldn't have said soysauce doesn't have any. I think it would be fair to say that good soysauce doesn't.
At any rate, this all just drives home how little I know about this stuff. I don't think I'm hypersensitive to the stuff. But I downed (or tried to, at least) 4 cans of campbells with no problems. Downing that many cans of progresso left me with a massive headache. The only difference I could see was that progresso lists MSG as an ingredient. I've read that campbells has it, as well, but I suspect that it has "MSG". That is, it has free glutomates, but not actual MSG. (If that makes any sense.) My problem is that I don't know how to tell if that is right or not.
I'm currently looking at three different cans of Campbell's soup and they all have monosodium glutamate listed in the ingredients. It really depends on the soup though. The cream of brocolli doesn't have it and neither does the clam chowder. I believe the healthy choice cream of chicken does not contain it either.
Oh, I wasn't trying to say that no campbells have it. That was more from a conversation with a coworker.* I think I grabbed the flavorless chicken noodle. Whichever it was, it didn't have msg listed.
*He was one of the people that thinks even though it isn't listed, they still use it. His logic was basically that if it contains something with a lot of glutimates, then it has msg.
