You probably know how bad excitotoxins (MSG-forming compounds) are for you, but are you consuming it and not aware of it?
Did you know that there are code-words that are used to cover-up usage of seriously dangerous ingredients no informed person would ever consume?
Excitotoxins
In his classic book Excitotoxins: The Taste that Kills, Dr. Russell L. Blaylock, a board certified neurosurgeon with excellent credentials, gives much valuable information about MSG and other harmful food additives meant to enhance taste and how they are hidden in our processed food supply.
Excitotoxins may be one of the main causes of your muscle aches, headaches, migraines, irritable bowels, and even fibromyalgia.
“These (excitotoxins) can perpetuate ADHD symptoms to such peaks as to deem an individual behaviorally abnormal. Children appear to be particularly susceptible as their little bodies may be overwhelmed by “normal” doses of these toxins that are packaged in such innocuous substances as breakfast cereal and juice boxes.” ~Dr. Ronald Hoffman
Asking all of you young mothers/fathers to please take 8-10 minute to watch something that may spare you and your family tremendous harm and increase your understanding.
Skip to 3:00 minutes to get to the “meat” of this issue.
Your best recourse is to be an informed label-reader. If you are not now, you may want to become one!
This video discusses from a different perspective and is fascinating, too, especially towards the end.
Hidden In Food
- Monosodium Glutamate is a neurotoxin that can be legally hidden from you and/or be labeled “natural flavors” in the ingredients list.
- MSG is not a natural flavor – in fact, it can cause brain lesions, neuro-endocrine disorders, and neurodegenerative disease in humans.
- There are more than 25 names for MSG.
- The FDA does not require that any source of MSG be identified.
This last point means that the FDA code does not require that “constituents” of an ingredient be disclosed to the consumer. Yet in hundreds of studies around the world, scientists are creating obese mice using MSG because it triples the amount of insulin the pancreas creates, causing rats (and perhaps humans) to become obese. This is what the FDA calls natural.
“Not only is MSG scientifically proven to cause obesity, it is an addictive substance. Since its introduction into the American food supply 50 years ago, MSG has been added in larger and larger doses to processed meals, soups, chips, and fast foods. The FDA has set no limits on how much of it can be added to food.”
These 2 links are filled with other studies to substantiate this post:
- Effects of monosodium glutamate (MSG) on human health: a systematic review
- Monosodium glutamate: Review on clinical reports
Excitotoxins are a class of chemicals (usually glutamates) that over-stimulate neuron receptors.
Neuron receptors allow communication between brain cells; when exposed to excitotoxins, they fire impulses at such a rapid rate that they become exhausted. Several hours later, depleted, the neurons die.
Scientists observe this effect particularly in the temporal lobes and hypothalamus – parts of the brain that control behavior, emotions, onset of puberty, sleep cycles, and immunity.
Remember Accent? I had a shaker of this in my kitchen back in the 70s as a young wife. I had no idea back then what MSG was! Thankfully, it got lost in the back of my spice cabinet. Labeled Pure MSG.
Crystalline monosodium glutamate. (source)
Are You Excited?
Our brain cells aren’t the only parts of our bodies that are being excited.
Excitotoxins also tickle our taste buds, and that quality makes them extremely attractive to the food industry. The chemicals in excitotoxins stimulate the taste cells in the tongue, causing the flavor of the foods we eat to be greatly enhanced and we want MORE. Soups, snacks, sauces, gravies, chips and crackers, many low-fat and vegetarian processed foods – manufacturers often pack them with “flavor enhancers” in an effort to make them irresistibly tasty.
When consumed over time, excitotoxins can cause neurodegenerative disorders resulting a myriad of diseases from Alzheimer’s to migraines to Parkinson’s.
And we have been hoodwinked with words…
Even All “Natural”, Vegan and Organic Products
Even vegetarian, organic, and “all natural” products that you might think are really better are just as likely to contain excitotoxins. Food manufacturers (given a pass by the FDA) do not have to list MSG and other “natural” flavor enhancers specifically because they come from natural sources. The truth is that the ‘natural’ part is so highly processed and altered by the time it gets to us that it is highly toxic. MSG, so deadly to delicate brain cells, for example, is made from a seaweed.
Packaged foods have “yeast extract”, “soy protein”, “hydrolyzed vegetable protein”, and others listed as ingredients. These are ALL legal (corruption in high places?) disguises for MSG.
For more information that might just surprise you, you can read the code names at TruthInLabeling.org. In my humble opinion, this list is a must-read for every informed mother!
MSG, under the guise of its code names, is so frighteningly ever-present in the food supply that our family has stopped eating pre-packaged foods entirely. At first, I had a hard time believing that it was possible to lie to people about what they eat on such a vast scale, but we’ve experienced headaches, migraines, irritability, and brain fog, etc. after eating foods with these things listed as ingredients, so I’m pretty convinced that the book is correct.
To me the most insidious is the word “spices” or “seasonings”.
Sounds like garlic, right?
“Marketing is everything”, I guess. But we seem to buy what will make us happy.
Dr. Blaylock’s book , Excititoxins: The Taste That Kills, also gives details about the kinds of brain damage proven to be caused by eating much MSG in its various forms.
“MSG: It is linked to learning disabilities in children, Parkinson’s Disease, and other degenerative neurological diseases in older people, and yet is added to many baby foods!”
The reasons the food industry gets away with this is that they have much money for lobbying and that for a long time the harmful effects of excitotoxins were unknown. They are cheap flavor enhancers that make people want to eat more of whatever the food is and so make money for the companies, and the practice of using them is so entrenched that nothing is going to change right away.
Recognize MSG
Here is a list of what ingredients to avoid:
These additives ALWAYS contain MSG:
- Glutamate (E 620) or Glutamic acid (E 620)
- Monosodium glutamate (E 621) or Monopotassium glutamate (E 622)
- Calcium glutamate (E 623)
- Monoammonium glutamate (E 624)
- Magnesium glutamate (E 625)
- Natrium glutamate
- Anything “hydrolyzed” or any “hydrolyzed protein”
- Calcium caseinate, Sodium caseinate
- Yeast extract, Torula yeast
- Yeast food, Yeast nutrient
- Autolyzed yeast extract
- Gelatin or “_______” gelatin
- Textured vegetable protein (TVP)
- Whey protein
- Whey protein concentrate (or isolate)
- Soy protein (or soy protein isolate)
These additives FREQUENTLY contain MSG:
- Carrageenan (E 407)
- Bouillon and broth
- Stock
- Any “flavors” or “flavoring” including “natural flavors”
- Maltodextrin
- Citric acid, Citrate (E 330)
- Anything “ultra-pasteurized”
- Barley malt
- Pectin (E440)
- Malt extract
- Seasonings
Condiments and sauces are loaded with hidden MSG and its cousins, but juices, soups, cereals, as well as diet and health powders are also products to be aware of.
Help for You:
- Addictive Flavors & The Foods To Avoid That Contain Them
- Help in recognizing or diagnosing MSG adverse reactions
- How Much MSG does it take to cause an adverse reaction?
- Why is it so important to government and industry that MSG is not be identified on food and drug labels?
- Ingredient names used to hide MSG in food
“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” ~2 Timothy 1: 7
Christy C
I posted a link on my blog directing others to your post! WOW! I know my grocery shopping is going to take me 6 hours now instead of my usual 3! Thank you for the information! Your blog is always a blessing!
Stefanie Scott
Thank you so much for posting this. I am so upset…my little boy is 6 and I have no idea WHAT to feed him. He came to me a year and a half ago eating only a handful of meals, and non of them healthy. Since I have taught him to eat 8 different veggies and 5 fruits. He refuses to eat animals and I am fine with that because I refuse to eat them as well. But we get much of our protein from morning star and Becca products. I fear these processed meat alternatives are loaded with MSG’s.
It would be MUCH easier if you could tell me WHAT to eat,?instead of what not to eat. Do you have lists that vegetarian and vegans can eat from? Also, I am a bodybuilder and whey protein is a huge part of my diet! I am so concerned!! Please help me rearrange my meal planning if you can!
Thank you~Stefanie
Jacqueline
Hi, Stefanie!
I’m sorry to hear of your struggles with food. I wish I had a post on what TO eat, and to complicate it, we have raised grass-fed and grass-finished beef and pastured chickens for years (the bone broth from the healthy mineralized soils and healthy animals raised without barns in sunshine literally cured me from lupus with not meds back in my 50s). So I am not vegan or vegetarian. I don’t feel it is compatible with true good health for several reasons. https://deeprootsathome.com/8-age-defying-reasons-why-i-drink-bone-broth/ and
https://deeprootsathome.com/eggs-are-healthiest-full-range-food-on-planet/
In any processed, man-made “food” you will find loads of MSG bc it is a huge temptation to try and make it palatable with “flavors” and “spices” and umami high taste. Even many organic compainies cannot keep their hands off a good thing! Whey protein is almost always highly processed and thus msg-forming in the body.
There is TRS that can detox those positively charged toxins out while rebalancing the whole immune system. You can see (an image) a German study reported in an international symposium on how Clinoptilite zeolites (TRS) are anti-aging and rebalancing to the whole immune system here: https://deeprootsathome.com/does-trs-toxin-removal-system-detox-help-with-coronavirus/ That might be of interest to you as a weight lifter.
That is probably not much help. I wish I could be! ~J
Shannon @ Of The Hearth
This was very informative. I read most food labels very carefully, but I confess I’ve never paid much attention to those on tea boxes (like that shown in the first picture in the post). I have several tea boxes on hand and I checked them out. What a surprise! Thanks for pointing out the need to check the labels on these.
Valerie Wilson
Two suggestions that can really help in fighting the above mentioned issues with our food supply is to not buy boxed/precooked anything….make from scratch as much as you possibly can….to help counter some of the problems this causes, eat/use coconut oil…I drank diet root beer after being told I was pre-diabetic…Honestly I found after I drank especially an entire bottle, I would get what might be called ‘brain fog’. I really had a hard time processing thoughts/ideas/actions. It was very scary….at my age you think of all sorts of medical issues….Since I stopped drinking specifically the diet drinks and taking the coconut oil, I am much improved. I do appreciate your posting the info regarding coconut oil and its benefits…
Jacqueline
Valerie, we have a very close friend who drank several diet sodas a day (this was a new found habit since he had them at work). After a year, he was so sick and had several significant ulcers on his legs. His family convinced him to stop for a while and see if he felt better. He stopped cold turkey (and had the crash(, but the ulcers and the medical issues (vision problems, dizziness, HA, and ringing in his ears) ALL went away. I know others with similar stories. Even though anecdotal, we know these people and know the stories are true.
So glad you stopped 🙂 Blessings!
Tasha
Is it just me or does it seem nearly impossible to avoid MSG then? I mean, if citric acid OFTEN contains it… that is used as a preservative in so many many products. Feeling overwhelmed…
Jacqueline
Yes, Tasha, I feel it, too, but we must not fear. I have decided to pick our battles and not get too stressed. There is some information on the web about keeping under your ‘tolerance’ for the stuff. Some people are less reactive and some highly sensitive. Likely most are somewhere in the middle. This may be helpful: So what is an MSG-sensitive person to do? http://www.truthinlabeling.org/NAET.html
Let us trust in the Lord and know that WE CAN’T DO IT ALL. Just do your best, pray and commit it to Jesus, build your immune system and enjoy your family! I hope that helps!
Jacqueline
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Tasha, we are very health conscious, but we simply can not afford to eat like we wish, so we do the best we can with what God has provided for us and we pray. He is sovereign and no matter how much MSG, pesticides, or GMO’s we consume He is the giver and taker of life. Although that doesn’t give us permission to be reckless with our bodies/health, but don’t make it an idol either. Finding balance is the key….pray, pray, pray.
Jacqueline
Katie,
Thank you for your encouragement! Prayer and balance and asking for wisdom ~ James 1: 5: “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” Blessings 🙂
Toni
Isn’t this dilemma exasperating! A good friend of ours, who lived to a very ripe old age, used to always remind us that if something tasted really good, we probably shouldn’t eat it. He was right more now than ever, I think. I have confidence eating from my own yard more than from anywhere else these days.
Jacqueline
Thank God for the ability to have a garden ~ best way, and it keeps us out of trouble 😉
Annie Kate
So funny, and probably true!
Amy
I’m telling you, I think they are trying to poison to us in our foods! My hubby and oldest son are allergic to MSG so we don’t have anything with that in it in our cabinets. It’s amazing though how they are trying to disguise the names of these dangerous chemicals on our labels. I have saved the links and will be watching them in a bit. I have been checking into a lot of different dangers in our foods and will be posting one this week. So scary! Thanks so much for sharing this vital information.
Have a great week!
Amy
Nabila Grace
Oh my! We are big label readers and cook mostly everything from scratch, but I’m seeing things on this list that we are used to! Alarming! Will def have to rethink and relook everything even more then we already do! Thanks for this information!
[email protected]
And this is why I love you blog so much!! Thank you again for alerting us!!!!
dylan maryann vandenassem
Thank you so much for bringing this to everyone’s attention!! I have a son with so many food sensitivities(or should I say chemical sensitivities!). We are constantly reading labels and more and more moving to making everything from scratch. Food and beauty products. It is all very time consuming with a large family and homeschool too. But I feel so worthwhile. We have learned so much about food in this journey of ours and are finally getting some relief along with a naturopath and allergy reversals. Keep up the good work of keeping us all informed. So many people think we are just over-reacting but we have so many sensitivities in our family and I can see the effects immediately on our kids. I get more and more disgusted by what the stores sell that is called food but is really toxic for our bodies. I am spending more money in the produce section now then in the chip aisle!!
Mary-Ann Van Den Assem
I always enjoy your posts.
Thank you!!
JES
Great information as usual Jacqueline! This very thing has come up for us this week as we did some reading on “natural flavors” SCARY STUFF!… The verse you quoted at the end is encouraging (and my top 10 of favorite Scripture by the way) and I agree with Katie’s response as well. We must do our best with what we know and pray the rest of the way… Blessings to you!
Annie Kate
Thanks for all the wonderful research! You’re a blessing to us.
Sara
You have a photo of one of my favorite tea bags. Are you saying it has MSG in it because it lists Citric Acid?
Lisa
Hi Jackie! I really appreciate this article, though it scares me! I am homeschooling my 3 kids and my daughter is entering the high school years. I would LOVE to do a health class with her that would help teach her these kinds of things. I think it would be good for her to see that it’s not just Mom saying those grocery store snacks are bad! Is there anything you could recommend as a curriculum?
Jacqueline
Lisa, that is a great idea! I don’t know of one right off the top of my head, but I will keep my eyes open and look around later tonight.
I love your heart to do that as it will benefit her and her family one day!
This is what I put into the search bar.. “health class curriculum about harmful food additives” … you might check out some of what came up to see if it is applicable.
I will still keep my eyes open. Blessings,
Jacque