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Unfortunately, that argument doesn’t hold much weight. Mice injected with MSG become rapidly obese, inactive, and have other hormonal issues.(5) Not only do they cause brain damage and lead to nervous disorders, but they also cause radical hormone fluctuations.
Spike seasoning migraines free#
While the naturally occurring glutamates in food aren’t dangerous, processed free glutamic acids like MSG are. He called this “excitotoxicity,” and that has led subsequent researchers to describe MSG as an “excitotoxin.” This brain damage was done as neurons became over excited, virtually exciting themselves to death. He found that MSG not only destroyed retinal vision cells, but also parts of the brain. John Olney used their method of destroying retinal cells so that he could study visual pathways to the brain. Rather than repairing the disease, the MSG destroyed the retinal cells that allow vision!Ī decade later, the neuroscientist Dr. The researchers fed rats MSG and were shocked by their results. Remember, glutamate is a common and necessary amino acid in our diet (arguably the most common neurotransmitter in the brain), so this presupposition isn’t so far fetched. Way back in 1957, a team researchers decided to see if glutamate could help repair a diseased retina. If the worst that can happen is a migraine headache or some hives, why worry about eating it now, when it causes no reaction in you? The more overly-sensitive nerve cells we have, the stronger our immediate response to MSG will be.(4) That said, you still may be scratching your head about MSG.
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With time, these repetitive inflammatory responses cause our nerves to start producing more and more nerve cells that are sensitive to this kind of stimulation. That’s because MSG overstimulates our nervous system - exciting our nerves and causing an inflammatory response. Russell Blaylock, who wrote a book on the subject called Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills, sensitivity to MSG builds up in our bodies until we reach what he calls our “threshold of sensitivity.” Just because you don’t react to MSG now, doesn’t mean you won’t later. That’s because the effects of MSG are cumulative. Everything’s randomized and controlled by researchers a step removed from the process.Īnd, guess what? Even these double blind studies also found that MSG exposure caused muscle tightness, fatigue, numbness or tingling, and flushing in sensitive people.(3)īut what if you’re not one of these people? What if MSG causes no noticeable or immediate reaction in you? Should you still consider MSG a dangerous food additive? These are studies where neither the participants nor the ones administering the study know who consumed MSG. They make associations between what they ate and how they think they ought to feel.īut double blind studies on the effects of MSG have been done. It’s true that when people self-report what they’re eating or how they’re feeling their own bias tends to get in the way. How do they know that what these people experienced was actually because of eating MSG? How were these experiments controlled? Were they double-blind? That’s the only real way to do epidemiological research like this. hives or other allergic-type reactions with the skin.(2).burning sensations of the mouth, head and neck, (1).
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Perhaps you’re one of those people? Or, maybe you know someone who is sensitive? There are a growing number of people who report immediate, adverse reactions within minutes eating MSG. After all, why would the food industry (which funds most of these sorts of research ventures) want to spend money proving the detrimental effects of one of its chief money makers? Some contend that funding for such projects is inevitably sparse. Research on the dangers of MSG continues to mount, albeit slowly. Sure, they’ll allow, there are a few sensitive people who get headaches or migraines when they eat it, but MSG doesn’t actually harm the rest of us.Īre you one of the many who don’t believe that MSG is dangerous? Or do you, like me, believe that because it is a newfangled substance invented in 1908, we should inherently distrust it as a food additive and seriously question its safety?Īnd, if you are like me, what scientific research do you use to convince the doubters among your circle of family and friends? The good news is the science proving MSG is dangerous is out there, and I’ve collected a lot of here for you. Some of the more scientifically-minded among us will scoff at the notion that MSG is dangerous or poses real health risks. Ask anyone if MSG is dangerous, and you’ll get a myriad of responses.
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