Nutritionally Speaking: Chinese Restaurants Solving the MSG Problem

Dear Dr. Meinig:

I always read your very interesting articles. Can you do an article on MSG? We now have two Chinese food restaurants in Ojai. The tradition dies hard, but why must they use this substance when so many people suffer from it? Thanks. – E.N.

 

Dear E.N.:

Sometime ago I did write an article about MSG (monosodium glutamate). Inasmuch as it was critical of Chinese cooking, with their past heavy use of MSG and because many people are now aware of the problem, I called our local Chinese restaurants to inquire about their views on its use.

The Golden Moon advised me that 80 percent of their customers did not want foods that contained MSG–either because of the reactions they have when it is in food they eat or because of its sodium content. In view of the fact that so many object, they limit its use to only a few items. They are happy to serve meals to their customers that are free of MSG and of sodium, when requested.

The Silver Garden Chinese restaurant said they, too, serve meals without MSG if asked when ordering. On my call, I asked if a lot of their menu wasn’t prepared ahead of time, making it difficult to fill such requests. They said the main food that had to be made earlier that contained MSG was egg rolls. There were others, but the extensive Chinese menus seem to make MSG elimination easy to handle.

While Chinese restaurants in the past used MSG in many of their foods, the stigma of the “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome” no doubt made them more cautious about its use. You should be aware that most other type restaurants also use MSG, some quite heavily. The only way this cooking practice will be curtailed is that you ask whether the food you select contains MSG. With all the competition in the restaurant business, we will soon see a decided change if people make their desires known. Incidentally, MSG is also present in many canned and frozen foods.

When Dr. Robert Ho Man Kwok, senior research investigator of the National Biomedical Research Foundation, found he always developed a headache after eating in his favorite Chinese restaurant, he began an investigation to determine why. He eventually traced the source, not to any of the large number of foods they serve, but to MSG. After a thorough study Dr. Kwok found that as little as 1 gram of MSG (Monosodium Glutamate) in soup or other foods would produce headaches. This led to its being labeled–”The Chinese Restaurant Syndrome.”

Victims develop a tingling and burning at the back of the neck which spreads to the arms, back and chest, a flushing of the face, and a throbbing pain at the temples and under the eyes, in as little as 10 to 20 minutes after using MSG.

MSG is a great enhancer of flavor. The food industry loves it because it makes their (often inferior) products taste better, preserves and holds food flavor in storage, and helps to overcome “steam-table fatigue.”

More than 40 million pounds are sold each year to be used in some 10,000 different processed foods, including meats, stews, meat tenderizers, sea foods, poultry, canned soups, baby foods, seasonings, mayonnaise, French dressing, imitation maple syrup, tobacco, crackers, and potato chips.

The manufacturers claim the proportion of people who react to MSG is too small to cause concern. However, laboratory tests on a large variety of experimental animals have disclosed brain and eye damage in newborn mice, stunted skeletal development, obesity, and female sterility. Doctors Olnez and Sharpe reported brain lesions in baby monkeys after large doses.

Even if we don’t experience headaches, it would be far better for all of us to avoid this concentrated source of sodium with all its potential harm. Flavor can be improved in many other ways.