I LOVE my local asian grocery. It is great... I got a bunch of stuff this morning for about 1/2 what I would pay at the grocery store in town. But the ramen noodles that I am in love with, well I found out that they have MSG in them... just like the cheap crappy noodles that you get from Safeway. It is the only ingredient that I don't know about, and I avoid it because I have heard it was bad... but I never really knew why.

Someone enlighten me please.

TIA!

Love Val

http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/msg.html :)

blech. msg - my dh is asian, his parents had a shaker like a salt shaker with msg when they were growing up. If we go out & dont know they have MSG ahead of time the kids & I will hate the food & I get sick. Dh will say it is the best food EVER & want to go back! EVERY TIME!

monosodium glutamate. Glutamate is an amino acid. It "Bumpbs things up a notch." Aspartate is another amino acid. There is a third which is similar in structure.

The glutamate rushes into a cell, which overwhelms the cells gates. The gates stay open- water rushes in, too. It crowds out the third amino acid, which is a dampener. The cell drowns in the excess of water, spasming for a couple of days. This spasming can set off seizures.

The mysterious wasting neural diseases all seem to be related to poor glutamate regulation in the nervous system.

Aspartame does the same sort of damage.

The book that is in laymans' terms is Excitotoxins, the Taste that Kills. The book is complete- it lists out common names for these chemicals in food " autolyzed yeast extract," for instance.

It's fine in regular food- it's in balance with most of the other amino acids- mushrooms and spring peas have a relative lot of it, for instance- but isolated, it's really poisonous. It's one of the candidates for culprit in "Gulf War Syndrome."

The book is written by a doctor, btw.

Ari

I'm reading Excitotoxins: The Taste that Kills right now. MSG is something we avoid at all costs...but I am learning it is in things I didn't even know it was in!

Wow, thanks... Hey Lauren will you send me that book when you are done?

Love Val

It has been linked to cancer etc.. It is in alot of chinese cooking too. So I always ask first :-)