I just learned something new tonight when Chris was making Pad Thai from a packet we got at a local Asian market and thought I’d share…

I always read ingredients when we cook anything from a packet (which we do very rarely) because I am SUPER allergic to monosodium glutamate (MSG). My mom cooked with it when I was growing up, yet no one had any idea why I was getting terrible migraines as a 4th grader (that’s when I first remember having to go home sick from school, but it may have started before then). Sometimes it would seem I’d have tension headaches right before the school play or big events like that, but I still think they were mostly food related. Anyhoo, many doctors later….at about age 25, I finally made the connection (I never said I was a medical genius). Big Chinese dinner = 3 day migraine complete with vomiting. Good times!

Needless to say, clean eating serves me well.

Anyway, what I learned today while reading the flavor packet (if it comes with packet, it’s screaming “I contain MSG”) is that sometimes MSG is called E621, as in “Flavoring E621.” Sneaky! Fortunately, I put E621 into Google and voilá…there was the connection to MSG (and Chris didn’t use the packet even though he is not allergic at all. What a guy!).

Wikipedia states that MSG can be found in:

• Pre-prepared stocks often known as stock cubes or bouillon cubes.
• Condiments such as barbecue sauce and salad dressing.
• Canned, frozen, or dried prepared food
• Common snack foods such as flavoured jerky, flavoured potato chips and flavoured tortilla chips.
• Seasoning mixtures

A good rule of thumb is that anything that tastes awesome contains MSG. For example, I have never come across ANY Ranch dressing – bottle or packet – that did not contain MSG. Doritos? Full of it!

But when I cook clean, it all tastes awesome, and I can guarantee NO MSG. There’s a lot of controversy whether MSG is a toxin, but I can only share my experience: it is poison to me!

PS. I’ve also learned that what we know as cinnamon isn’t really cinnamon! What is this world coming to? Stay tuned for more details.

Tags: monosodium glutamate

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 at 8:01 pm and is filed under Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.