MSG: The Deadly Menace Hidden in Your Food

Unfortunately, tens of thousands of food products now contain dangerous levels of MSG and other food additives. It's the glutamate in the compound that causes damage. In fact, any form of glutamate -containing additive, and even foods that are high in glutamate levels have the potential to be be detrimental to a person's health.

Most wheat today is genetically engineered to have much higher glutamate levels than occur naturally. Worse yet, additional glutamate is added to processed wheat-based foods, including breads and pasta.

Two ophthalmology researchers --- "D.R. Lucas and J.P. Newhouse described a study of infant mice given a high dose of MSG to see if it would improve the health of the animal's retinas. Instead of improvement, they saw extensive destruction of retinal neurons.

When Dr. Olney repeated the study using a single dose of MSG he found not only destruction of the retina, but also discrete areas of destruction within the animals' brains --- primarily the hypothalamus which controls weight and regulates glandular secretions in the endocrine system.

In another study, the animals exposed MSG early in life ended up being short in stature and grossly obese, and had difficulty reproducing (fertility problems).

They also had shrunken glands, including the thyroid, adrenal glands, ovaries, and testes.

Dr. Olney also discovered that when exposed to small concentrations of glutamate in a culture, they at first appeared normal, but several hours later suddenly shrank and died. Just before the neurons died, they became extremely excited. It appeared that the neurons died from exhaustion.

This exhaustion has a very destructive effect on the brain's cells. Immature brains are four times more sensitive to destruction by glutamate, and the babies' brains have not yet developed the protection offered by the adult blood-brain barrier. Of real importance for infant health was finding that the placenta concentrates glutamate from the mother's blood which greatly intensifies the baby's exposure to the damaging excitotoxins making them much higher than even the mother's.

Secret Names for Glutamate to watch out for.

The way FDA laws were written greatly favors the food industry. Unless a product contains close to 99% MSG, manufacturers do not have to put "contains MSG" on the label. As a result, food processors use a host of disguised names to hide the fact that they either contain MSG or other glutamate/aspartate additives.

Here is a list of the most common names used in the industry:

*Hydrolyzed vegetable protein

*Glutavene

*Glutacyl

*Autolyzed yeast extract

*Calcium caseinate

*Sodium caseinate

*E621 (E620-625 are all glutamates)

*Ajinomoto, Accent seasoning

*Gourmet powder

Foods Naturally High in Glutamate

*Mushrooms (especially portabella)