The Surprising Ingredient Causing Weight Gain
By Margaret Furtado, M.S., R.D. - Posted Mon, Jul 27, 2009, 12:23 am PDT
Say it isn't so! A recent study out of the University of Carolina at Chapel
Hill cites what animal studies have hinted at for years: MSG (aka monosodium
glutamate) could be a factor in weight gain.
The study focused on 750 Chinese men and women, ages 40-59, living in 3
rural villages in north and south China. Most of the study subjects prepared
their meals at home without commercially processed foods and roughly 82
percent used MSG. Those participants who used the highest amounts of MSG had
nearly 3 times the incidence of overweight as those who did not use MSG,
even when physical activity, total caloric intake, and other possible
explanations for body mass differences were accounted for. The positive
correlation between MSG and higher weight confirmed what animal studies have
been suggesting for years.
Maybe you're wondering what monosodium glutamate is exactly, and what you
can do to avoid it in your diet. MSG is a flavor enhancer in foods-some
believe it may even provide a fifth basic taste sensation (in addition to
sweet, sour, salt, and bitter), what the Japanese call "umami" (roughly
translated as "tastiness")
action in the body is to excite neurotransmitters (important brain
chemicals), causing nerve cells to discharge and also exciting nerves
related to taste. Perhaps this ability to excite these nerves is a factor in
an association between increased MSG usage and weight gain.
How prevalent is MSG in the U.S. diet? Americans consumed about 1 million
pounds of MSG in 1950, and today that number has increased by a factor of
300!
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) describes MSG as "naturally
occurring," and has it on the GRAS ("generally regarded as safe") list.
However, not only could MSG be causing us to gain weight, but some studies
also reveal that as many as 25 to 30 percent of Americans have adverse
reactions to it (e.g., palpitations and migraine headaches), and as many as
30 percent are extra sensitive to it if they consume more than 5 grams at
one sitting.
OK, if you're an MSG user who could stand to lose a little weight (or know
someone who is), what should you do?
Unfortunately, eliminating MSG from the diet is much easier said than done,
since-given the fact that food processors often change recipes-there'
list of "safe" foods that never contain MSG. A good start is to avoid
anything with MSG anywhere in the ingredient list, but there will still be
many foods that have MSG hidden inside other ingredients. Likewise, even
products labeled "no MSG added" can still contain these hidden sources.
Best bets for avoiding MSG
Buy organic produce whenever possible.
Make things from scratch, avoiding processed ingredients as much as
possible.
Limit making stews or soups in a crock pot, since slow-cooking tends to
cause small amounts of glutamic acid to be released from the protein sources
(e.g., meat, chicken) in the recipe.
C 2007 Johns Hopkins University. All Rights Reserved. This article from
Johns Hopkins University is provided as a service by Yahoo. All materials
are produced independently by Johns Hopkins University, which is solely
responsible for its content.
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