Effects of MSG

[sillygoose1987]

I have recently been having a discussion about MSG in cooking. Someone said it makes them feel very sick. Others said that this should not be true. I would be very interested to hear your opinions. Is this something I should be avoiding??

It's probably something else that's causing it, MSG is found naturally in a lot of food stuffs.

The original reason this came about is because a scientist in the 60/70's said that eating Chinese food made him unwell and it was because of MSG. It was total and utter bollocks, but it caused so much hysteria and damage to Chinese restaurants that still persists today.

I'll see if I can find the article I read about it

It's found naturally in the following

www.google.com/amp/s/www.businessinsider.com/foods-with-natural-msg-2017-2%3famp

Naturally occurring I am ok with. It's the man made stuff, that has ingredients to make it, that you can buy as a product as in, it's been produced, rather than nature made it. Some chemical reaction must occur to produce it, therefore it's not natural, in that sense.

Sillygoose1987

I was allergic to strawberries as a kid, sweet pepper as an adult, become allergic to things, when pregnant and then after having each child, became allergic to other things. So now have the luxury of have bag full of pills, and epi pen, just incase. Non of my children have allergies.

1st MSG, then raw chicken meat juice, then chicken itself, then juice to post and fish, waiting for a reaction now to those.

@daisyjgrey I am very interested in cooking and this is an aspect I am enjoying speaking to people about. I may pursue it further and do some writing on it but this is mainly for my curiosity! Do you use MSG in your cooking?

@YouCantTourniquetTheTaint ahh I see thank you for that list - do you think there's a difference between the natural stuff and the manmade powder? I wonder why people will refuse to eat added MSG but then eat the food on the list

I’ve got an msg intolerance too. First time it happened I genuinely thought I had been spiked. Pressure in my temples that spread down my arms and face. I felt like I couldn’t move or talk properly.

I avoid Chinese restaurants and only use takeaways I know.

@Yellow85 v interesting. Do you mean you can only get Chinese takeaways? Or other takeaways? Do you find this happens with any other foods? This thread has brought up lots of differing views, its intriguing!

[quote sillygoose1987]@Yellow85 v interesting. Do you mean you can only get Chinese takeaways? Or other takeaways? Do you find this happens with any other foods? This thread has brought up lots of differing views, its intriguing![/quote]
Sorry I mean I only eat from tried and tested Chinese takeaways. So I could order something from a friends local takeaway. I’ve found the worst culprits for me are ramen/stock based dishes. Had a really bad episode after eating chicken ramen in wagamamas whilst in a work trip 🙈 I’m actually surprised I made it back to my hotel. People must’ve thought I was on drugs.

I haven’t had it with any other food rather than Chinese before. That being said I didn’t have any issue eating in Hong Kong, but i was told by my doctor that it’s more heavily used in the UK for seasoning.

I spent 40 mins in a Thai Restaurant loo with a racing heart & feeling very hot & ill once after a Thai green curry. Someone called one of the waiters in & he told me i have Msg poisoning.

Another time I was on a beach in Thailand when I keeled over at the table.
Came round on a table surrounded by loads of people with them asking my dh whether I was on drugs😂 Turns out the freshly barbequed seafood was sprinkled with Msg while being cooked.

Both times DH was furious with me. The first because he was worried why I was taking so long and the second because he was chased after by a man saying your wife, your wife is sick ...

The weird thing is I haven't had a reaction for years since so maybe I've grown out of it.

@Fferny1 oh no that sounds horrible! are you allergic to anything else?

DH used to always end up stuck in the bathroom for hours the day after we got a Chinese takeaway. We ask for his food without MSG now and he's been much better. I of course can't say it's definitely that as there could be a placebo effect and it maybe depends more on what he's drinking with it but there does seem to be a big difference in him since we started asking for his without. Every takeaway we've used has been happy to do it without for him, it was also a common request when I worked in a Chinese takeaway as a teenager after school.

@ShinyPikachu - does he eat parmesan, mushrooms etc? Does he feel like that with anything else?

[quote sillygoose1987]@ShinyPikachu - does he eat parmesan, mushrooms etc? Does he feel like that with anything else?[/quote]
He only very rarely has Parmesan (probably not even once a year) and he doesn't eat mushrooms at all. He doesn't feel like it with anything else that I can think of. He orders the same thing from the Chinese takeaway every time too (chicken chow mein with no onions) so we haven't seen if other things affect him like that but is fine when I make a homemade version of it. He's also fine with takeaways from the chippy or pizza place (he doesn't do anything spicy either).