No MSG Added - a Little White Lie? Part Deux

"MSG is one of the more common migraine food triggers. You might not find M, S and G on the label of whatever product you are buying at your local grocery store, but rest assured, it's most likely there. Even if it says - no MSG added." - starts the article No MSG Added - a Little White Lie? yours truly wrote a while ago about hidden dangers of MSG.

Here's some more MSG-in-hiding facts for my gentle reader's consideration from The dirty secret of MSG - it's everywhere, by Charlotte Law :

"A pesticide company called Emerald BioAgriculture uses an MSG type of "growth enhancer" which they have been spraying onto selected vegetables and nuts since 1999; the company is currently looking to get government permission to use the substance on organic produce.

Meats, seafood and poultry can be rinsed or injected with MSG before reaching your plate, and restaurant salad bars can get an MSG spritz, giving lettuce that perky look. This toxic additive can be found in vitamins, soaps, cosmetics, chewing gum and intravenous hospital fluids. It can be found in children's medications, and it might lurk inside your migraine prescription.

In short, MSG acts as cheap filler, a flavor enhancer and a cosmetic surgeon, fooling unsuspecting consumers into thinking aged, withered foods are fresh. It can hide unpleasant tastes. It has an addictive component much like nicotine, and recent studies in Spain have conclusively linked it with obesity. MSG means profits for the food industry and its powerful Washington lobbyists; and it is no surprise that proper labeling legislation remains elusive.

If any additive containing the essential active ingredient of MSG, glutamic acid or free glutamate, is an amount that is less than 78 percent, the government does not require it to be labeled MSG. This is deceptive because MSG itself contains over 78 percent of free glutamates.

There are epidemiological studies, such as those brought to light by Dr. Adrienne Samuels, suggesting that up to 40 percent of the U.S. population suffers from adverse reactions to MSG with drowsiness, numbness, chest pains, nausea, facial pressure, difficulty in breathing or headaches. The FDA claims only 2 percent of the population experience a bad reaction, but even if this is right, it amounts to whopping 6 million Americans - more than the 3 million who are allergic to peanuts."

The dirty secret of MSG - it's everywhere