Well prepared article – thank you. Amazing the lengths food and pharmaceutical companies will go to make $. At the expense of OUR LIVES! Requires vigilance, for certain and always.

I got Part i and II of the series, but part III wouldn’t open and part IV is probably only avavilable if you get through part III … anyone have the links (workable ones)?

I’ve been “witch-hunting” MSG for years, thanks for the list of aliases! It’s rare that I buy anything with a label on it, but I do go to friends’ and family’s houses as well as the occasional restaurant … and there’s no telling what THEY serve!

Ok, I love what you’re doing, and I appreciate that information is power. However, I have to say that I have listened to expert after expert on NPR and Wisconsin Public Radio through the University of Wisconsin Medical Center talk about, specifically, fermentation and the benefits to the body, the gut in particular.

I will look for the resources to back it up, and I agree that MSG is bad for people…it goes straight through me in seconds which is a good sign that it’s no good for me, BUT, fermentation such as what you find in yogurt is particularly helpful for the gut. Studies two hundred years ago comparing Western culture to Eastern European cultures at the time, for instance, showed that the main correlating evidence supporting why Eastern Europeans were living longer than Westerners at that time had to do with the presence of yogurt in the diet.

I wonder if use of the phrase, “anything fermented” is a little too broad. I would venture to guess that if I’m right about “fermented” there may be a couple of other things on your list that are overly broad or vague.

Can you tell I’m a lawyer?

In any event, the overall message is great. I avoid MSG in known offenders, but I think that some of the things you mention may have benefits that are outweighed by the potential risks. Each person should educate themselves and make nutritional choices that are best for them.

What is your take on the positive qualities of, say, fermented foods, soy foods (which I debate myself), gelatin (not jello), and yeast (such as that found in bread…even non-white bread)?

Dana – Your Inspired Coach’s last blog post..Acting As If

Thanks, Doc. In 1997, I found what for decades had caused most of my headaches: MSG. The proof: after I trashed everything so labeled in my home and started reading all the food labels before I buy, I have been virtually headache free. The few remaining bouts could easily be cured by lots of water, and if not, tracking back I found I had been eating out, carelessly. Searching through patents for MSG I found an early one by Ajinomoto in which they claim it can “mask bad taste”. Time to unmask the reasons the food industry uses it in the first place.

I’m not convinced that everyone has an adverse reaction to MSG; otherwise, there would be a lot of sick Asian people out there. However, I know that both myself and my daughter suffer from a sensitivity to it. I’m more sensitive than she. I have the headaches, fatigue, swelling of joints and if heavily exposed, skin lesions. It takes me a good three days, sometimes a week or more, to fully recover. I’m pretty good at avoiding it now, although if I become lax at reading labels I’ll get burned. Items that I thought were safe will suddenly have MSG added to them. Grrr. I’ll eat at restaurants, but need to be very careful of what I order. Many chains are out of the question. Pizza Hut is nuclear waste to me. I dread the day I end up in an assisted care home; their food will be the death of me.

Well stated, Tim.