MSG in food shown to threaten liver health

(NaturalHealth365) MSG, short for monosodium glutamate, is a food additive known for its ability to ‘enhance’ flavor. But, at what cost to our health?

Recent research is clearly telling us that MSG can be quite dangerous to liver health, contributing to both obesity and liver dysfunction.

While many people only associate MSG with Asian restaurant food, the truth is that monosodium glutamate is used in a variety of processed foods. Snack chips, soups, spices and even some main courses can contain monosodium glutamate.

Check the labels of any processed foods you buy, and you might be surprised at how many of them contain this toxic additive. Click here to get a full list of names that describe MSG.

MSG promotes binge-eating plus many other unwanted outcomes

To state the obvious: MSG gives food a flavor boost that is quite stimulating to the taste buds. Because of this, foods with MSG in them are the ones that are easiest to binge on, and even get addicted to. This reaction is by design and enriches the corporations that sell this garbage to the uninformed public.

Think about it: The snack chip section – in most grocery stores – is one of the largest, most well-trafficked areas.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) – often described by conscious consumers as the “Food and DEATH” Administration for its callous disregard for public safety – has called MSG “generally safe” as a food additive for years, despite countless reports of MSG side effects. (no surprise here.)

Symptoms of a reaction to MSG include headaches, flushed skin, sweating, numbness, facial pressure, nausea, chest pain, heart palpitations and weakness. While often fairly mild and self-resolving, these symptoms can be more severe in food-sensitive individuals.

Monosodium glutamate is comprised of a sodium salt of glutamic acid. This is an extremely abundant amino acid occurring naturally in the diet from foods containing protein like meat, dairy and some vegetables. But, don’t let the commercial food industry fool you into believing this stuff is ‘natural.’

The Glutamate Association has called MSG “safe” to use as a food enhancer for the past 100 years – but, when you dig a little deeper, the scientific evidence tells a very different story about the harm this substance can inflict onto uninformed food consumers.

MSG is being linked to chronic inflammation, obesity and fatty liver disease

Japanese researchers published a study in 2008 – in the Journal of Autoimmunity – that illustrated a connection between MSG and liver inflammation. In the study, MSG was found to induce obesity as well as diabetes due to fat accumulation and liver inflammation in mice.

More recently, some of these Japanese researchers partnered with U.S. and Italian scientists to publish an article in the Journal of Medicinal Food in 2014. MSG was named a critical factor in obesity even in subjects eating a calorie-restricted diet.

Animals given MSG showed signs of NASH (non-alcoholic steatohepatitis), or fat accumulation in the liver, plus inflammation. NASH is considered to be a component of metabolic syndrome.

The list of warnings go on and on: If you want to learn more about the topic of ‘excitotoxins,’ check out the work of Dr. Russell Blaylock or Betty Martini.

Our message is clear: The FDA should reconsider its current assessment of MSG as “safe.” (it’s not) In addition, we ought to avoid foods that contain monosodium glutamate in favor of natural choices that are free of toxic additives.

Always remember: eating heavily processed foods – on a regular basis – will always increase our risk of disease.

Sources for this article include:

TruthInLabeling.org
FDA.gov
NIH.gov
NIH.gov
Eurekalert.org
NaturalHealth365.com