ARTIFICIAL FLAVOURINGS, HYDROLYSED PROTEIN & MSG
ARTIFICIAL FLAVOURINGS, HYDROLYSED PROTEIN & MSG
Jun 16
I read this article the other day and thought everybody needs to read this…..
SECRETS OF THE FOOD INDUSTRY
By Alicia Melrose and Pip Martin for
A Vital Journey, an internet course on health and nutrition, run by Belmont Park Retreat.
The VITAL JOURNEY is a program to gain and maintain health. The best way to achieve this is to become informed. So, this week we have another fascinating discussion, this time about the food processing industry.
As you can imagine the subject is vast.
ARTIFICIAL FLAVOURINGS, HYDROLYZED PROTEIN AND MSG
Hydrolysed Protein is protein broken down into its basic amino acids by boiling in acids, alkalis (bases), or enzymes (compared with traditional gelatine broths just gently simmered (until the protein releases). It contains glutamic acids and thus also Monosodium Glutamate (MSG). However,
since the FDA considers hydrolysed protein more a flavour enhancer (bouillon), MSG is not listed as an ingredient. Hydrolysed protein is used as it is cheaper because the protein is usually extracted from the (generally regarded) as less-than-desirable portions of animals such as cow hooves and skin (according to the "Good Eats" episode dedicated to protein bars). Paul Mann.
Research on gelatine and natural broths came to an end in the 1950s when food companies discovered how to produce meat-like flavours in the laboratory. In a General Foods Company report issued in 1947, chemists predicted that almost all natural flavours would soon be chemically synthesized. Following the Second World War food companies discovered monosodium glutamate (MSG), a food ingredient the Japanese had invented in 1908 to enhance food flavours, including meat-like flavours.
Humans have receptors on the tongue for glutamate - it is the protein in food that the human body recognizes as meat (but the glutamate in MSG has a different configuration which cannot be properly assimilated by the body). In fact any protein can be hydrolysed to produce a base containing MSG, so when the industry learned how to make the flavour of meat using inexpensive proteins from grains and legumes, the door was opened to a flood of new products including bouillon cubes, dehydrated soup mixes, sauce mixes, TV dinners, and condiments with a “meaty”
base.
The fast food industry could not exist without MSG and artificial meat flavours to make secret sauces and spice mixes that beguile the consumer into eating bland and tasteless food. The sauces in processed foods are basically MSG, water, thickener, emulsifier and caramel colouring. Your tongue is tricked into thinking that it is getting something nutritious. Dressings, sauce, rice mixes, flavoured tofu, bouillon cubes, dried and canned soups, imitation garlic and onions, dehydrated foods that you add water to, all of these and anything that has a meat-like taste has MSG in it. Probably anything that you buy that says "spices" or "natural flavours” contains MSG! If the MSG in spice mixes is less than 50% it does not have to be included on the label.
You may have noticed that that phrase "No MSG" has disappeared - because MSG is in all the spice mixes, and even Bragg's amino acids. It is all profit based. It is too costly to just use a little onion and garlic for flavouring. Unfortunately, most vegetarian foods are loaded with these flavourings. The list of ingredients in vegetarian hamburgers as well as hot dogs, bacon etc. may include hydrolysed protein and other "natural" flavourings, 95% of processed foods contain MSG.
HEALTH PROBLEMS WITH MSG
In 1957 scientists found that mice became blind and obese when MSG was administered by feeding tube. In 1969, MSG-induced lesions were found in the hypothalamus in the brain. Subsequent studies pointed in the same direction. MSG is a neurotoxic substance that causes a wide range of reactions from severe headaches to permanent brain damage. We have to question the huge increase in Alzheimer's, brain cancer, seizures, multiple sclerosis and diseases of the nervous system.
“Excitotoxins, the Taste that Kills” describes how the nerve cells either disintegrate or shrivel up in the presence of this free glutamic acid, MSG, if it gets past the blood brain barrier. The glutamates in MSG are absorbed directly from the mouth to the brain. Some investigators believe that the great increase in violence in this country is due, not to sugar, nor even the breakfast cereals, but to the huge increase in the use of MSG in the food which began in the late 1950's, and particularly because it was put in baby food in very large amounts. Baby food is said to no longer contain it, but it may still be a component as hydrolysed protein. Insulin responds to hydrolysed protein by spiking. It is addictive. You will crave it, and want products containing it the more you eat it.