What's the deal with MSG?

Plus: how the "dopamine detox" trend misunderstands the science

Author

The 10almonds Team
April 07, 2023

Torn between two tasks? Do whichever will be quicker. Spending too long in a state of analysis paralysis will result in doing neither, so best to just take one of them by surprise!

⏰ IN A RUSH?

Today’s Key Learnings:

Flying by? Here are some key take-away ideas from today’s newsletter:

  • On dopamine:

    • Dopamine, often called “the reward chemical” is associated with addiction, but a misunderstanding of science has led people to errantly believe it is the addiction.

    • You cannot fast or otherwise abstain from a substance that occurs naturally in your brain

    • Unless you have a severe mental illness that has to do with dopamine-regulation, your brain will naturally keep your dopamine levels within acceptable parameters

  • On MSG:

    • It does contain sodium, but much less than table salt

    • It doesn’t trigger gluten sensitivity

    • “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome” has no basis in science (this is a bold statement, but we unpack this more below)

  • Sleep apnea may hasten cognitive decline, but there are things you can do for it (see below)

  • "Normal” (when it comes to life and mental health, specifically) just isn’t a real thing, according to the celebrated author of today’s book of the day.

Read on to learn about these things and more…

👀 WATCH AND LEARN

The Dopamine Detox Misunderstanding

Dopamine detoxing continues to be a popular thing to try, with many people claiming that it can completely "reset" your brain. There are many misconceptions—some of which can be quite dangerous:

Want to read about it? Here’s the science referenced:

👆The first one there is a pop-science article (by a medical doctor, though); the other four are actual scientific papers; all five make for fascinating reading, so if you don’t have time right now, we really recommend saving them for later / at least opening them so you can find them in your history!

💬 MAIN FEATURE

Monosodium Glutamate: sinless flavor-enhancer or terrible health risk?

There are a lot of popular beliefs about MSG. Is there a grain of truth, or should we take them with a grain of salt? We’ll leap straight into myth-busting:

MSG is high in salt

True (technically) False (practically)

  • MSG is a salt (a monosodium salt of L-glutamic acid), but to call it “full of salt” in practical terms is like calling coffee “full of fruit”. (Coffee beans are botanically fruit)

  • It does contain sodium, though which is what the S stands for!

  • We talked previously about how MSG's sodium content is much lower than that of (table) salt. Specifically, it's about one third of that of sodium chloride (e.g. table salt).

MSG triggers gluten sensitivity

False!

Or at least, because this kind of absolute negative is hard to prove in science, what we can say categorically is: it does not contain gluten. We understand that the similar name can cause that confusion. However:

  • Gluten is a protein, found in wheat (and thus wheat-based foods).

  • Glutamate is an amino acid, found in protein-rich foods.

  • If you're thinking "but proteins are made from amino acids", yes, they are, but the foundational amino acid of gluten is glutamine, not glutamate. Different bricks → different house!

The body can't process MSG correctly

False!

The body has glutamate receptors throughout the gut and nervous system.

The body metabolizes glutamate from MSG just the same as from any other food that contains it naturally.

Read: Update on food safety of monosodium l-glutamate (MSG) ← evidence-based safety review

MSG causes "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome"

False!

Racism causes that. It finds its origins in what was originally intended as a satirical joke, that the papers picked up and ran with, giving it that name in the 1960s. As to why it grew and persisted, that has more to do with US politics (the US has been often at odds with China for a long time) and xenophobia (people distrust immigrants, such as those who opened restaurants), including nationalistic rhetoric associating immigrants with diseases.

Read: Xenophobia in America in the Age of Coronavirus and Beyond ← academic paper that gives quite a compact yet comprehensive overview

Research science, meanwhile, has not found any such correlation, in more than 40 years of looking.

PS: we realize this item in the list is very US-centric. Apologies to our non-US subscribers. We know that this belief isn’t so much of a thing outside the US—though it certainly can crop up elsewhere sometimes, too.

Are there any health risks associated with MSG, then?

Well, as noted, it does contain sodium, albeit much less than table salt. So… do go easy on it, all the same.

Aside from that, the LD50 (a way of measuring toxicity) of MSG is 15.8g/kg, so if for example you weigh 150lb (68 kg), don't eat 2.2lb (a kilogram) of MSG.

There have been some studies on rats (or in one case, fruit flies) that found high doses of MSG could cause heart problems and/or promote obesity. However:

  • this has not been observed to be the case in humans

  • those doses were really high, ranging from 1g/kg to 8g/kg. So that'd be the equivalent of our 150lb person eating it by the cupful

  • it was injected (as a solution) into the rats, not ingested by them

  • so don't let someone inject you with a cup of MSG!

Bottom line on MSG and health:

Enjoy in moderation, but enjoy if you wish! MSG is just the salt form of the amino acid glutamate, which is found naturally in many foods, including shrimp, seaweed, and tomatoes.

Scientists have spent more than 40 years trying to find health risks for MSG, and will probably keep trying (which is as science should be), but for now... Everything has either come up negative, or has been the result of injecting laboratory animals with megadoses.

If you'd like to try it in your cooking as a low-sodium way to bring out the flavor of your dishes, you can order it online. Cheapest in bulk, but try it and see if you like it first!

(I'll be real with you... I have 5 kg in the pantry myself and use about half a teaspoon a day, cooking for two)

🌏 AROUND THE WEB

What’s happening in the health world…

More to come tomorrow!

📖 ONE-MINUTE BOOK REVIEW

The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness & Healing in a Toxic Culture by Dr. Gabor Maté and Daniel Maté

A lot of popular beliefs (and books!) start with the assumption that everyone is, broadly speaking, "normal". That major diversions from "normal" happen only to other people... And that minor diversions from "normal" are just something to suck up and get over—magically effecting a return to "normalcy".

Dr. Maté, however, will have none of these unhelpful brush-offs, and observes that in fact most if not all of us have been battered by the fates one way or another. We just:

  • note that we have more similarities than differences, and

  • tend to hide our own differences (to be accepted) or overlook other people's (to make them more acceptable).

How is this more helpful? Well, the above approach isn't always, but Mate has an improvement to offer:

We must see flawed humans (including ourselves) as the product of our environments... and/but see this a reason to look at improving those environments!

Beyond that…

The final nine chapters of the books he devotes to "pathways to wholeness" and, in a nutshell, recovery. Recovery from whatever it was for you. And if you've had a life free from anything that needs recovering from, then congratulations! You doubtlessly have at least one loved one who wasn't so lucky, though, so this book still makes for excellent reading.

Dr. Maté was awarded the Order of Canada for his medical work and writing. His work has mostly been about addiction, trauma, stress, and childhood development. He co-wrote this book with his son, Daniel.

What did you think of today's newsletter?

Sorry to bother you. But the feedback really helps us.

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

Wishing you the best of life,

The 10almonds Team