Did you know MSG cause brain death and nerve injury when tested in mice? You may have been told since you are not a mouse, this test is not valid for humans. Think again. Most of us instinctively know that MSG or Monosodium Glutamate as a flavor enhancer is not beneficial for health but we do not really know why. Our soups and foods don’t taste as good without it, especially in restaurant cooked foods. In the good old days, food such as stir fried are flavored with fish or chicken broths. But in our profit-driven economy, doing so would reduced profit margins. Rarely do we get food vendors that sell foods without MSG.
There is currently no evidence suggesting that dietary MSG or glutamate causes brain lesions or damage to nerve cells in humans, though brain damage is shown in animals.
Still many suffer from the adverse reaction to MSG include the following symptoms as numbness, burning sensation, tingling, facial pressure or tightness, chest pain, headache, nausea, rapid heartbeat, drowsiness, and weakness.
My recommendation is when eating out, you can avoid taking too much of the gravy and soups. We categorized this under “Minimize” because this is basically a natural isolated product produced by a bacteria and insufficient data on human subjects. Adverse symptoms probably vary in different people and the amounts consumed.