Why is there a bad rep for MSG?
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Back in the 80s, the media did a whole thing on how some people are allergic to it. As usual, they got most of the details wrong and left everyone with the idea that MSG is unhealthy.
Truth is, unless you’re allergic to it, it’s no less healthy than any other food salt.
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Mainly it’s about racism. It was a way to smear Asian restaurants. It was effective. Even today lots of Asian style restaurants will boldly display a sign at the door, ‘No added MSG’. ‘Added’ because it’s already in many foods naturally.
Yet if you go ask any high end chef, they’re using it ’cause it really boosts the flavours.
It’s actually a great example of cultural gap in knowledge. We’re all taught in grade school that there’s 4 tastes: Sweet, Sour, Salty and Bitter. Well, MSG is number 5, it’s Savory. It has long been understood in other cultures as a 5th taste, but we’ve largely ignored it out of hubris. So along comes a food critic with an axe to grind and a general public who has no cultural knowledge of this particular taste group and a public panic occurs. (Side note, there’s probably several more tastes than even 5)
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Starting around the 70s and 80s people would binge eat Asian food at all-you-can-eat buffets and feel sluggish and bloated afterwards. Someone labeled it “Chinese restaurant syndrome” and figured the MSG in it must be to blame. Even thought it had zero scientific backing, people found it convenient to point the finger at an “exotic” ingredient instead of their own body and habits, so the term caught on, and MSG became associated with health risks.
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In the 60s “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome” was investigated, poorly, and MSG was considered a culprit.
There’s some reasonably good evidence people who get headaches, migraines, tension headaches, etc. are more sensitive to it, but it may be more the combination of high sodium and high MSG meals that cause the problem.
There’s not really any good reason to investigate it since MSG is a staple of many cuisines, doesn’t cause any life-threatening effects to people who may be susceptible to it, and is essentially less of a problem for less people than common IBS/IBD/Crohn’s disease flare-up foods.
A couple billion people eat it regularly without major issues.
Those that have other underlying health issues (headaches/migraines) usually have multiple triggers, of which MSG is only one.
The “cure” for most MSG issues is generally the same as ingesting too much sodium — hydrate, and consume less.
I get migraines, MSG can sometimes be a trigger. I cook and eat traditional asian foods every week. I suspect my migraine trigger is when I have low quality food high in Sodium and MSG, not the MSG on its’ own.
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It all started with Dr Robert Ho Man Kwok publishing a short letter in the New England Journal of Medicine where he speculated that when he ate vast amounts of chinese food he would feel bloated, numbness in the limbs, heart palpitations etc, instead of maybe eating less he blamed the frequent use of MSG in Chinese cuisine and called it “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome”
With no science backing it up (because its total horseshit) it still became “common knowledge” and really took hold as a “fact” largely because of racism towards asian people and it was one of those things people WANTED to believe.
There have now been lots of studies and MSG in itself is no more harmful than table salt and occurs naturally in things like tomatoes, seaweed and parmesan cheese and more so it is one of the most common flavour enhancers in processed food, KFC, canned soups, ready meals, doritos all use MSG
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