The Nugent Report is hosted by Dr. Steve Nugent, a renowned psychologist, author, public speaker and expert on science, health, wellness and nutrition. Dr. Nugent’s mission with this podcast is to provide objective information about a variety of topics in wellness and nutrition, as well as to increase public awareness of health and nutrition in relation to the realities of the modern diet and dietary needs vs. 21st Century stresses and the environment. He got his start in radio during his days as a Marine and has trained in electronic journalism, television, technical direction and more.
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The Nugent Report is hosted by Dr. Steve Nugent, a renowned psychologist, author, public speaker and expert on science, health, wellness and nutrition. Dr. Nugent’s mission with this podcast is to provide objective information about a variety of topics in wellness and nutrition, as well as to increase public awareness of health and nutrition in relation to the realities of the modern diet and dietary needs vs. 21st Century stresses and the environment. He got his start in radio during his days as a Marine and has trained in electronic journalism, television, technical direction and more.
Episode 4: MSG The Nugent Report
The Nugent Report the science behind health and nutrition. Welcome to this episode of The Nugent Report, a definitive source for objective information on health and nutrition. Featuring Dr. Steve Nugent, the renowned psychologist, author, public speaker and expert on science, health, wellness and nutrition. Be sure to visit our website at ‘drnugen.com’ and follow us on Facebook, twitter and Instagram @TheNugentReport.
Steve Nugent: Hello and welcome to another episode of The Nugent Report. On this Nugent Report, we're going to be talking about MSG (Monosodium Glutamate). A poll was taken on The Nugent Report Facebook page and the majority of the respondents said, they wanted to hear a podcast or see a blog on MSG. Well, I wasn't really planning on this, but this is what my subscribers wanted so, so be it. If you're sensitive to MSG or at least you believe you are, then you already have a good idea of what it is but not everyone does. So, let's start by explaining what MSG is.
MSG is an abbreviation for Monosodium Glutamate and it's commonly used as a flavor enhancer in many foods. From Bouillon cubes to canned vegetables. Believe it or not, MSG was first isolated by a Japanese scientist back in 1908. He was researching a particular flavor which is found in a seaweed an edible seaweed, which is called Kombu. And he was successful in his effort. So, it's been around for a long time. Chemically, it's a sodium salt of glutamic acid. Glutamic acid is a non-essential amino acid and that means it occurs naturally in the body. It's required for building proteins in your body. It's found in many different types of animal and plant proteins.
It also is a neurotransmitter, so that makes it pretty important and it's required for ammonia metabolism. So, please understand that glutamic acid is not MSG. I get that question a lot. So, they're not the same thing. So, MSG is a sodium salt of glutamic acid. The US FDA says that, MSG is safe but some disagree. Some have even implied that MSG could lead to brain damage. I must point out that there is no peer-reviewed science literature to support that. Remember that The Nugent Report is dedicated to bringing you objective science. That means you're going to get both sides of this story.
The people who report various symptoms associated with MSG are often said to have Chinese Restaurant Syndrome or CRS. Because it's most commonly used in Chinese food. The first paper on Chinese Restaurant Syndrome was actually published in the new England Journal of Medicine back in 1968 and the author was RH Quok. In his paper, he reported that after consumption of Chinese food, there was some reports of what he called Transient Subjective Symptoms. Which included some of the classic symptoms discussed in this episode.
To report this episode to you, I looked at quite a number of individual studies and they all unfortunately were reporting inconsistent results. So, that took me to the next step and that was to look at systematic review papers of the individual papers. So, the question that comes up is. Is MSG actually bad for you? According to the FDA and numerous scientific studies, it isn't. however, there are people who consume food or liquids with MSG and report a number of different unpleasant symptoms. Including headache, flushing, nausea, chest pain, sweating, general weakness, pressure or tightness in facial muscles. As well as numbness, tingling and even burning sensations in the neck or the face.
Some people also report heart palpitations. Could all these people be wrong and the government be right? Is this a simple yes or no answer? Well, the Food & Drug Administration classifies MSG as gras. So, that's an abbreviation. So, GRAS in capital letters and it means generally regarded as safe. MSG is not only used in Chinese food; it's also used to e...
The Nugent Report
The Nugent Report is hosted by Dr. Steve Nugent, a renowned psychologist, author, public speaker and expert on science, health, wellness and nutrition. Dr. Nugent’s mission with this podcast is to provide objective information about a variety of topics in wellness and nutrition, as well as to increase public awareness of health and nutrition in relation to the realities of the modern diet and dietary needs vs. 21st Century stresses and the environment. He got his start in radio during his days as a Marine and has trained in electronic journalism, television, technical direction and more.
