I feel it only fair to clarify my statement - "and if you study the chemistry of HOW it works - well - IMHO..YOU nor I should consume it.....
The following is an excerpt from a firm that has a great deal of research into glutamates:
Is manufactured MSG a problem?
According to some MSG opponents the glutamate added to foods is "bad" and the natural glutamate in our bodies is "good". MSG sellers argue that MSG is exactly like the glutamate in the human body, therefore it must always be "good". It is not so simple. There are contaminants in processed MSG. An anology that can be used is that there are right-handed amino acids and left handed ones. They are like mirror images of each other. Processed MSG contains not only the kind of amino acids the body is used to handling, but mirror image ones too. This may cause problems because it is like putting the wrong glove on your hand. It's not quite the same. We don't exactly know what problems this may cause. On the other hand (so to speak) the fact that glutamate the body is used to handling is also in MSG may present a problem because an excess of naturally occurring glutamate is well known by neuroscientists to be a problem in many disease states. Natural glutamate can cause problems we already know about. The reason food processors "free" glutamate from its bound form, is that it acts as a neurotransmitter in its free form. The food industry's claim that free glutamate is as harmless as bound glutamate is disingenuous at best. If it was exactly the same, they wouldn't need to hydrolyse vegetable protein (split the amino acids apart).
How do they make MSG or Free Glutamic Acid?
The following links explain exactly how the food industry can make free glutamic acid by hydrolyzing vegetable protein or by fermentation of glucose from starchy foods. In essence, MSG manufacturers can not only free bound glutamic acid from foods, but create it chemically.
Why do food companies add MSG to foods?
There are several reasons:
MSG tricks your tongue into making you think a certain food is high in protein and thus nutritious. It is not a "meat tenderizer". It is not a "preservative". The food industry is trying to confuse the issue by focusing on the "fifth" taste sense they call umami. Free glutamic acid is detected by the taste buds as a simple way to signal the presence of protein in a food, just as there are fat receptors to detect fats and receptors that sense carbohydrate or sweet flavors. The purpose is to help us discern real food from inedible matter. It changes your perception of not simply taste but the nutritious qualities of what you put into your mouth.
However, and here is the main problem with free glutamic acid - It is the very same neurotransmitter that your brain and many organs including your ears, eyes, nervous system and pancreas in your body use to initiate certain processes in your body.
MSG stimulates the pancreas to produce insulin. So many diets these days are concerned about the Glycemic Index of foods and yet none of them address the fact that MSG and free glutamic acid stimulate the pancreas to release insulin when there doesn't even have to be carbohydrates in the food for that insulin to act on. The food industry has found their own "anti-appetite suppressant". It's a convenient way to keep consumers coming back for more. The blood sugar drops because of the insulin flood. And you are hungry an hour later. Sound familiar?
The body changes excess glutamate to GABA. GABA may be addictive. It is calming and affects the same receptors in the brain as valium.
Cost.
The illusion created by adding MSG to a food product enables the food processor to add LESS real food. The illusion of more protein in a food allows the food producer to put LESS protein in it. The consumer perceives the product - say chicken soup - to have more chicken in it than is actually there. Example: A well-known brand of dehydrated chicken noodle soup. Is that chicken in there, or a piece of confetti?
I only want to post this - because I think a lot of us are on the fence about MSG. And - frankly, if you have a sensitivity to it, you know. If you don't you might fairly doubt the validity of someone's complaint about it. That is fair. It's kind of like color blindness. If you are not color blind, it is hard to understand. If you are - you have no idea what green should look like, only what it looks like to you.
And - for me - I like the taste of gunpowder....just can't use it on my food - so I am envious
