Why MSG is generally safe to eat and fear rooted in xenophobia
‘‘No MSG’’ is a label we’ve all seen plastered on grocery items, or perhaps as a flashing neon sign in the window of a takeaway joint.
MSG – or monosodium glutamate – is a common flavour enhancer that’s been around for more than a century. It’s basically concentrated salt, or as Youtube persona Uncle Roger calls it: salt on crack.
Today, food safety authorities in New Zealand and overseas consider the additive safe to eat.
But since the 1960s, monosodium glutamate has been cloaked in a stigma so dense some businesses – including Asian eateries, still feel the need to broadcast the fact they avoid it.
Love it or hate it, we have MSG to thank for umami – now considered the fifth taste.
The story starts in 1908, when a Japanese professor ate a bowl of boiled tofu in a broth made from kelp, called kombu dashi, and wanted to know why it tasted so delicious. He took a closer look and saw crystals made of glutamates – or the G in MSG.
These glutamates are what bind to parts of our tongue, driving our tastebuds crazy. He named this phenomenon umami – which roughly translates to ‘‘deliciousness’’.
MSG has since become a staple in foods like potato chips, taco seasoning, noodle soup and takeaway fried chicken as well as a key ingredient in the Swiss seasoning Aromat.
MSG seasoning is sold in New Zealand supermarkets by the packet. It also occurs naturally in grapes, potatoes, peas, mushrooms and some cheeses.
Let’s be clear – there’s no conclusive evidence that MSG is bad for you, or that it causes headaches, heart palpitations, or lethargy. From what we know – some people do get those symptoms after eating foods with the MSG additive, but the data isn’t strong enough to say MSG is dangerous, or the sole cause of these symptoms.
Another example of this is coffee. There’s significant research to suggest coffee is good for you. There are also people who get heart palpitations when they drink coffee and don’t get them if they don’t drink coffee.
But that doesn’t mean everyone should stop drinking coffee.
There’s also the chance coffee is not the main cause of those symptoms.
But for some reason, we don’t see businesses with ‘‘No coffee’’ signs in their windows.
Some of the stigma around MSG is likely rooted in xenophobia, food science expert and psychologist Dr Mei Peng says.
In 1968, a Chinese-American paediatrician wrote to the New England Journal of Medicine claiming he experienced ‘‘a strange syndrome’’ whenever he ate at Chinese restaurants.
He listed symptoms like numbness at the back of the neck and general weakness which lasted about two hours. In the letter, the doctor said he didn’t have the means to research the substance but called on others in the medical field to look into it. Instead, what happened was published under the damning headline ‘‘Chinese-Restaurant Syndrome’’.
The title created a misinformed foreign stigma around MSG, Peng says. Everytime someone sees a sign boasting ‘‘No MSG’’ that stigma is reinforced.
Reporting disclosure statement: This post was written with expert advice from Dr Mei Peng, a senior lecturer and psychologist in the University of Otago’s food science department; Professor Jim Mann, a human nutrition expert at the University of Otago; and Emeritus Professor Elaine Rush, a nutrition expert at AUT. It was reviewed by The Whole Truth: Te Ma¯ ramatanga expert panel member Associate Professor Lisa Te Morenga.