MSG - Can you eat it?

[Big Cuddly Bear]

Can you eat it w/o side affects?

I'm making a dish today that just calls for a pinch of MSG. My wife says she can't eat MSG, but she eats Chinese food at many different places, and I would bet that most of them use MSG.

I can eat it with no ill effects, as can my kids.

 

[RadioNate]

nope. Not at all. Well I can but I'd like to avoid the 3 day migraine that comes with it. In HS, I was coming home and eating a can of soup, pretty much daily. I ALWAYS had a headache. Nothing helped. I was even given MRIs and CT scans to look for tumors. After months of a food journal...MSG in canned soup.

ETA - most Chinese restaurants I know of have stopped using MSG. I'm more concerned about the Ranch salad dressing and chicken based soups.

 

[Big Cuddly Bear]

nope. Not at all. Well I can but I'd like to avoid the 3 day migraine that comes with it. In HS, I was coming home and eating a can of soup, pretty much daily. I ALWAYS had a headache. Nothing helped. I was even given MRIs and CT scans to look for tumors. After months of a food journal...MSG in canned soup.

ETA - most Chinese restaurants I know of have stopped using MSG. I'm more concerned about the Ranch salad dressing and chicken based soups.

That could be true, but I know that many near me have signs saying "No MSG" if they don't use it, or they post it on the menu.

 

[Imzadi]

Just because a recipe says to put it in, doesn't mean you have to. Just leave it out.

I'm more concerned about the Ranch salad dressing and chicken based soups.

Me, too.


I did find a ranch dressing recipe on allrecipes.com that was really good. I'll have to see if I can dig it up.


ETA: Here is the ranch dressing recipe. 616 reviews! Make sure you read them and add the buttermilk and some of the adjustments from the reviews.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Ranch-Dressing-II/Detail.aspx

 

[libba]

Paul Newman's salad dressings do not have MSG!

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I assume I can, yes. I mean, I've never noticed anything specific.

 

[RadioNate]

Just because a recipe says to put it in, doesn't mean you have to. Just leave it out.




Me, too.


I did find a ranch dressing recipe on allrecipes.com that was really good. I'll have to see if I can dig it up.


ETA: Here is the ranch dressing recipe. 616 reviews! Make sure you read them and add the buttermilk and some of the adjustments from the reviews.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Ranch-Dressing-II/Detail.aspx

Thanks! I love Ranch but I hate the feeling that my brain is swelling and is going to explode out of my head I get when I eat it. (and I know that isn't really happening but it feels that way!)

 

[Big Cuddly Bear]

Well,, now I wonder even more about MSG with my wife... her favorite dressing is Ranch. And she does bring canned chicken soup to work once in awhile. I've never heard her complain about headaches after eating any of those.

 

[Imzadi]

Paul Newman's salad dressings do not have MSG!

Their ranch dressing actually does. I checked the label.

I also checked the label on some Annie's organic, and it also has MSG in the Ranch. Cape Cod does, too.

They are able to get away with adding it now, by adding the ingredients separately or something like that. So they can say they use all "natural spices." But when the ingredients mix together, they form into MSG. So it's still MSG. Also, the "natural" ingredients go by MANY other names. So they can remain hidden.

Also, MSG is naturally occuring in some foods. Like soy sauce, because of the way it's made, naturally makes MSG. There is no such thing, really as soy sauce without MSG. They don't ADD MSG, but it makes it as it ferments, or something like that.

Google for info on this.

Kind of like how high fructose corn syrup also goes under various names.

The only one I have found so far that doesn't seem list MSG and the various other pseudonyms, is Trader Joe's ranch dressing. But, it really doesn't taste at all like ranch. Too sour. And too runny.

 

[Agri]

Sometimes I can, most times it triggers a migraine.

As a PP said, our local chinese places don't use MSG anymore. Its become very rare to encounter it in most food products since a migraine is a pretty big deterrent from eating someplace again.

And as someone else said, darn the ranch dressing!

FWIW, when someone says they can't eat something and its something small like MSG, I'd rather make the concession than go to the internet to prove them wrong. (I have a friend who claims she's allergic to ground beef but can eat steak just fine. Sometimes you've just got to let things slide.)

 

[shortbun]

Leave it out. If she says her body reacts to it, why challenge her about it?! I get migraines and a very unhappy digestive system when I consume MSG. I know of no chinese restaurant I frequent that uses it. I have a Hidden Valley Original Ranch bottle in front of me right now and there is no mention of MSG in the ingredients.

 

[shortbun]

That could be true, but I know that many near me have signs saying "No MSG" if they don't use it, or they post it on the menu.

That was being done around here 20 years ago. I don't think any of our restaurants consider it necessary any more.

 

[DVC-Don]

This is what the Mayo Clinc has to say about MSG:

However, researchers have found no definitive evidence of a link between MSG and these symptoms. Researchers acknowledge, though, that a small percentage of people may have short-term reactions to MSG. Symptoms are usually mild and don't require treatment. The only way to prevent a reaction is to avoid foods containing MSG.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/monosodium-glutamate/AN01251

I watched a show about this. In a restaurant they gave out free food where half the restaurant had food with MSG in it and half did not. After the meal no one mentioned any side effects. After, the diners who ate MSG free food were told their food had MSG in it. About half of them then claimed side effects even though they ate no MSG.

Interesting.

 

[SaraJayne]

Just leave it out.

 

[JerseyJanice]

If you wife believes she can't eat it, I'm surprised it's even in your house.

 

[shortbun]

This is what the Mayo Clinc has to say about MSG:



http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/monosodium-glutamate/AN01251

I watched a show about this. In a restaurant they gave out free food where half the restaurant had food with MSG in it and half did not. After the meal no one mentioned any side effects. After, the diners who ate MSG free food were told their food had MSG in it. About half of them then claimed side effects even though they ate no MSG.
Interesting.

The Mayo clinic told my sister she had cancer. She didn't OR it miraculously disappeared. She bears no ill will toward them but they obviously make mistakes like everyone else. Using MSG in a dish when someone eating it says they are allergic would be an intentional affront and a huge, unforgivable mistake, imho.

 

[focusondisney]

I can't eat it. I get a severe & immediate GI reaction. Not something I can fake or imagine. It's not pretty, let's just leave it at that.

I saw that show on TV with the 2 groups, too. I thought those people were brave to take part in the study. They couldn't pay me to eat something with MSG in it.

The only canned soup I can eat is Swanson's Natural Goodness chicken broth, no MSG.

It's really only a salty seasoning, if you leave it out of the recipe, just checkif it needs a little salt.

 

[Leajess99]

I cannot eat it at all. I know which restaurants here use it and which do not. I ask before ordering if it is used and around here have no problems with them telling me.

 

[charming23]

I get very sick to my stomach if I eat too much MSG. A little here and there is okay.