Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)
Causes Obesity

The link between Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) and obesity is clear to me. MSG causes damage to the hypothalamus region of the brain which determines how much you weigh. It also controls all hormone production in the human body. I decided to try eliminating it after a long weight loss plateau. I’m glad I did because the weight started pouring off. I attribute at least 20 pounds of my obesity to MSG.

When researchers need obese animals for studies, they feed them monosodium glutamate to make them fat. Monosodium glutamate directly causes obesity.

• What is MSG?

Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) is really just the amino acid L-Glutamic acid in its free form. Sounds harmless right? Amino acids are good for you. When attached to its protein chain, it is harmless, even good for you. In its free form, it is an excitotoxin that crosses the blood-brain barrier. Anything that crosses the blood-brain barrier can cause neurological problems.

• MSG Obesity

There are many adverse reactions to MSG. The main reaction to MSG that I will only focus on a few of them. Monosodium Glutamate is one of the least known obesity factors because it isn’t a calorie, carbohydrate, or fat gram. It doesn’t show up on blood work, and most doctors are ignorant of the dangers of MSG.

MSG causes hypothyroidism for many people. Thyroid hormone is produced by the thyroid gland. Thyroid hormone regulates the body’s metabolic rate. Hypothyroidism is when the thyroid gland doesn't produce enough thyroid hormone. People with hypothyroidism don't burn as many calories as they should due to a reduced metabolic rate. This causes weight gain.

Are you starting to understand why monosodium glutamate (MSG) is so bad? What’s truly sad is that most Doctors don’t understand this. What’s even sadder is that its side effects were clinically proven in the early 1970s.

People with MSG sensitivity will lose significant weight if they eliminate it from their diets.

• MSG Video Series by CBN

4 Part Video Series about Monosodium Glutamate

• MSG Headaches

MSG is also responsible for migraines in thousands of people. My wife was suffering from debilitating migraine headaches with severe photophobia (sensitivity to light). She went to our doctor who sent her to an ophthalmologist. He found nothing wrong and said maybe it was a food allergy, and he was right, but he didn’t know what.

I started doing research and found that migraines can be caused by MSG. I had eliminated it for my weight loss. She didn’t need to lose as much weight, so she still ate certain things that contained it. She ate lunch with coworkers in restaurants and ate snacks away from home. She tried eliminating it for a while, and it helped. One day she decided our diet was too restrictive and ate some pork skins as a snack. I scolded her for it, but she told me to leave her alone. The next day, she had the worst MSG headache ever. She then eliminated MSG, and doesn’t suffer from migraines any longer.

If you suffer from Migraines, it could be an MSG allergy.

• Food Containing MSG

The really bad news is that it is in EVERYTHING. Foods containing MSG include fast food, most restaurant food, processed food, pre-made meals, and flavored snacks such as potato chips. Fast food is absolutely loaded with MSG and sugar. Virtually all restaurant food is loaded with it too.

Even the food served by restaurants that claim not to add it has it because it is already in it from the restaurant food supply companies. Just because they don’t have a bag of MSG in the kitchen doesn’t mean anything. This is why everything in restaurants tastes better. Soups are loaded with it as it is the base of most soup stocks sold in America. There are a few 5 star soup bases that are made traditionally, but they are the exception. If it comes in a can, box, or bag, there’s a good chance it contains MSG.

Heat and eat pre-packaged meals usually food with MSG too. Snack food has tons of it. The bottom line is that you must cook your own food in your own home in order to avoid foods with MSG. Even then you have to be careful. Seasonings, corn starch, salad dressings, soup stocks, meat tenderizers, and more almost always contain MSG.

More foods containing MSG can include fruits and vegetables. You know that waxy coating on produce? Did you know it usually contains Monosodium Glutamate? That's why an apple will make you hungry shortly after eating one. We wash all fruits and vegetables that we don't peel with dish soap and the scrubby side of a sponge just like a dirty dish. Non organic fruits and vegetables are usually grown with fertilizers that contain MSG. That's right, they grow it right in to supposedly healthy fruits and vegetables. We eat as much organic produce as we can.

They even know how to put it in your food without adding it as an ingredient. This is why they use the argument that it isn’t bad for you. They make it with some protein (that’s where the L GLutamic acid comes from), some enzymes (readily available in vegetables), and heat (cooking). Soup companies are great at this.

• MSG Addiction

Is MSG addictive? You bet it is! This is the primary reason for its use. They want you to eat at their restaurant every day. They want you to eat several bags of their potato chips every week. Remember the commercials that boasted "no one can eat just one X Brand potato chip?" What they were really telling you was their potato chips are addictive. I remember driving past "the Arches" and craving their food so badly I couldn’t stand it. Sometimes I would give in and eat it on the way home. I would still eat a full dinner because I was hungry for it. I was hungry because MSG causes chemically induced hunger pangs. MSG addiction is hard to break if you don’t understand it. In order to break MSG addiction you must be able to recognize it on ingredient labels. Better yet, don't eat food that has as ingredient label.

• Other Names for MSG

Monosodium Glutamate hides under many different names. It pays to learn them or keep a list of them when you go shopping. When we went shopping with such a list, we quickly discovered that we needed to radically change our food purchasing. If it has an ingredient list, it is almost certain to contain MSG or an MSG containing ingredient. This stuff is nasty, and it's in everything. If it isn’t bad for us, why do they hide it under so many names?

Autolyzed Plant Protein	Autolyzed Yeast	Calcium Caseinate	Gelatin
Glutamate	Glutamic Acid	Hydrolyzed Plant Protein (HPP)	Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein (HVP)
Monosodium glutamate	Monopotassium glutamate	Senomyx	Sodium Caseinate
Textured Protein	Vegetable Protein Extract	Yeast Extract	Yeast food or nutrient
Flavor	Bouillon	Lecithin	Cornstarch fructose

Other Names for MSG (major)

• MSG Allergy Symptoms

If you are allergic to Monosodium Glutamate, it will likely make you lethargic, turning you into a couch potato. When my wife and I first got married, my Mother-In-Law cooked with a lot of MSG. I didn’t know anything about MSG at the time. After a meal, I would lie down and take a nap. When they would try to wake me up to go somewhere, I would tell them to go without me so I could sleep. I also remember getting a low grade headache as a reaction to MSG.

•The Bottom Line on MSG

I avoid MSG at all costs because I’ve seen the weight I lost after eliminating it, and I’ve seen what it was doing to my wife. I also believe that it is a contributing factor for Alzheimer’s disease. There is no easier form of weight loss than eliminating MSG. You don’t need to do any crunches to get rid of chemically induced fat. You will find it challenging at the grocery store however, and you might as well drive right past convenience stores unless you need a bottle of water or a tank of gas.

Avoiding Monosodium Glutamate isn’t easy. Restaurant supply companies and the processed food industry make as difficult as they can for you to recognize it in their products. They want it in your food because it’s addictive and induces hunger. It makes you lethargic, so you sit in front of the TV watching ads for more junk food. The longer you’re in front of the TV, the more junk food you eat, and the more money they make. Avoid MSG, and you will lose weight and improve your health.

The dangers of MSG poisoning are numerous and serious. Excitotoxins like MSG and Aspartame cause brain damage. I believe they lead to Alzheimer's Disease as well as obesity and migraines.

Eliminate MSG and your body will thank you for it.