Who's Afraid of Little Old MSG?

I have no dog in this fight, just found this interesting, given recent discussion here.

2 Likes

Seems pretty silly to me to be afraid of MSG.

4 Likes

I bought a big ol’ jar of MSG at Price Club (tells you how long ago I bought it!). Turns out a little goes a long way: I didn’t know it at the time, but it looks like it’s a lifetime supply!

6 Likes

Didn’t know about the fake scientist side, but yeah, once the idea is out there, there’s always people who swear by it. I’d like to think that most cooks and population in general aren’t averse to eating foods with MSG - especially given the amount we spent on snacks and pre-prepared foods, but there is always going to be a resistant group that has their own ideas.

There are all sorts of obscure or uncommon allergies that are real, so might there be a few people who could have something so rare? Maybe. I know at least 2 people who have the allergy to most vegetables, and really have to avoid it, but strange how no one goes on an anti-vegetable push.

4 Likes

Same with the bag I got at our local Japanese products store, several cupsful, will last forever.

2 Likes

I, too, procured a lifetime supply.

2 Likes

Use it to dry age steaks.

MSG is salt on crack.

4 Likes

That would certainly make a big dent in my lifetime supply!

3 Likes

I have a small bag, I use it in various recipes.

1 Like

I bought a bag of that!

Put it in a spice shaker. Is this going to last a lifetime? I don’t use it often, but it seemed like a good buy. I think they call that ā€œspavingā€ now.

5 Likes

Same. I add a sprinkle here or there, most often to vegetables or something needing perking up.

1 Like

I so agree.

Long ago I bought a small bag of aji-no-moto. I put it in a fancy jar with that name on the label. I still have some of it, as I don’t add it to most things, but as my food guru Fred Landeen said, it allows the flavors to marry. Sometimes it needs it. DH doesn’t know what it is in English but I don’t use it in front of him, which isn’t hard. I’m going to send him the article from above. He needs to know.

3 Likes

Just tell him that every meal he eats that includes tomatoes, mushrooms, parmesan, scallops, chicken, shrimp, cheddar, walnuts, soy sauce, fish sauce or even potatoes (to name a few ingredients) also contains the same MSG without adding anything from your jar

3 Likes

I have. More than once.

Them tell him from now on you will exclude all ingredients with natural occurring MSG from your cooking. After two days he will beg you to add a few spoons from your jar :wink:

2 Likes

Don’t ever let facts, actual facts, get in the way of a good marriage.

5 Likes


I had a friend years ago who was certain of ā€œMSG intoleranceā€. I looked at a few controlled trials that recruited like-minded folk, and tested the notion.

For example, give a first group (call it 200 people) meals w added MSG for a week, and a second similar group had no added MSG meals for a week.

Then they did crossover, switching the diets for the groups for a second week. Everyone recorded symptoms throughout, and once all the info was collected, it was just random noise.

So maybe some are sensitive to MSG, but back when I was looking, I failed to find a well-controlled trial to support it. The stuff I found in support was observational and anecdotal in nature (by definition, not well-controlled).


ETA - I didn’t realize fear of MSG was so prevalent in the ā€œhealth and wellness worldsā€, as the author puts it. I’ve only know 3 or 4 people who thought it was a problem.

4 Likes

I saw a similar ā€˜study’ where a large group of people was served a meal with no added MSG but were told it was in there. Something like 70% of them claimed symptoms. This was in the '80s, and I hope there’s been some enlightenment since then.

2 Likes

That’s a variation of a placebo effect a common occurrence also in clinical studies for drugs

1 Like