The FDA banned the use of cyclamate, an artificial sweetener, in when an animal study showed that a cyclamate-saccharin mixture increased the incidence of bladder cancer in rats. Americans became leery of any strange-sounding ingredients and health repercussions of consuming the chemical-sounding MSG was called into question. GRAS status is a designation given to a chemical or food additive if the product is considered safe by a panel of experts based on published studies and a substantial history of consumption by a significant number of consumers.
For several year since I have been in this country, I have experience a strange syndrome whenever I have eaten out in a Chinese restaurant, especially one that served Northern Chinese food.
The syndrome, which usually begins 15 to 20 minute after I have eaten the first dish, last for about two hours, without any hangover effect. The most prominent symptoms are numbness at the back of the neck, gradually radiating to both arms and the back, general weakness and palpitation. The symptoms simulate those that I have had from hypersensitivity to acetylsalicylic acid, but are milder.
I had not heard of the syndrome until I received complaints of the same symptoms from Chinese friends of mine, both medical and nonmedical people, but all well educated. Kwok goes on to write that the cause is obscure. He hypothesizes that the reason for his symptoms could be the soy sauce since some people are allergic to that, it could be the cooking wine since the symptoms resemble the effects of alcohol, it could be the monosodium glutamate used to great extent in Chinese restaurants, or it could be the high sodium content of the food.
Kwok, who was a senior research investigator at the National Biomedical Research Foundation in Maryland, admitted that he lacked personnel for doing research in this area, but wondered if his friends in the medical field might be interested in seeking more information about this peculiar syndrome. Russell S. The evidence that this infant had the Chinese Restaurant syndrome may be only circumstantial.
Incidentally, she remains a devotee of Chinese cuisine. Interestingly, the condition remains closely linked to eating Chinese food despite the fact that Chinese restaurant owners advertised and sometimes yelled from the back kitchen their rebuttal of MSG.
Meanwhile, packaged food makers continued to use it widely. The company pledges to remove all artificial flavors and artificial colors from its North American products by Subscribe to Delicious Living's e-newsletter for weekly news and recipes.
Check out our collection of free cookbooks and eGuides. Save Save. Delicious Living Blog Nutrition. Related Posts. Public interest spurred a number of scientific inquiries into the potential danger of MSG. Double-blind studies often showed little correlation between MSG and adverse symptoms.
Parties on both sides of the debate slung accusations at the other, with the anti-MSG researchers claiming that studies were being funded by MSG producers, and pro-MSG researchers accusing the other side of fear-mongering.
The FDA states on their website :. Although many people identify themselves as sensitive to MSG, in studies with such individuals given MSG or a placebo, scientists have not been able to consistently trigger reactions. Scientific interest in its deleterious effects seems to be waning: one of the last studies to gain public attention was published in The authors of that study claimed to have found a link between MSG and obesity, though those results have been questioned. Altogether, an original Umami Burger contains 2, mg of glutamate.
We wanted to do it ourselves. By doing it ourselves, we could create a flavor that was umami without the stigma of MSG. MSG, whether you like it or not, has been marketed so poorly, it sounds like this horrible thing. By harnessing natural glutamates for their burgers, Umami Burger avoids negative connotations associated with MSG. Glutamtes that occur naturally in food come intertwined with different chemicals or fiber, which the body is naturally inclined to regulate, explains Amy Cheng Vollmer, professor of biology at Swarthmore College.
MSG, however, comes without the natural components of food that help the body regulate glutamic levels. So does MSG deserve its bad rap? For the small section of the population that shows sensitivity to it, probably. The researchers found that MSG produced short-lasting and minor reactions in a subset of people—but these could not be reproduced consistently upon retesting. So what about Chinese food? Chau Tu is an associate editor at Slate Plus. The multiverse—the idea that infinite universes stretch beyond our own—has gained traction among physicists.
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