MSG - A Slow Poison

               MSG hides behind 25 or more names, such as Natural Flavoring.' MSG is even in your favorite coffee from Tim Horton's and Starbucks coffee shops!

               I wondered if there could be an actual chemical causing the massive obesity epidemic, and so did a friend of mine, John Erb.

               He was a research assistant at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, and spent years working for the government.  He made an amazing discovery while going through scientific journals for a book he was writing called The Slow Poisoning of America.

               In hundreds of studies around the world, scientists were creating obese mice and rats to use in diet or diabetes test studies.  No strain of rat or mice is naturally obese, so scientists have to create them.  They make these creatures morbidly obese by injecting them with MSG when they are first born.

               The MSG triples the amount of insulin the pancreas creates, causing rats (and perhaps humans) to become obese.  They even have a name for the fat rodents they create:  'MSG-Treated Rats.'

               When I heard this, I was shocked.  I went into my kitchen and checked the upboards and the refrigerator.  MSG was in everything -- the Campbell ‘s soups, the Hostess Doritos, the Lays flavored potato chips, Top Ramen, Betty Crocker Hamburger Helper, Heinz canned gravy, Swanson frozen prepared meals, and Kraft salad dressings, especially the 'healthy low-fat' ones.

               The items that didn’t have MSG marked on the product label had something called  ‘Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein,' which is just another name for Monosodium Glutamate.

               It  was shocking to see just how many of the  foods we feed our children  everyday are filled with this  stuff.  MSG is hidden under many different names in order to fool those who read the ingredient list, so that they don’t catch on.  (Other names for MSG are 'Accent,  'Aginomoto,'  'Natural Meat Tenderizer,’ etc.)

               But it didn't stop there. When our family went out to eat, we started asking at the restaurants what menu items contained MSG.  Many employees, even the managers, swore they didn’t use MSG.

               But when we ask for the ingredient list, which they grudgingly provided, sure enough, MSG and Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein were everywhere.

               Burger King, McDonald’s, Wendy's, Taco Bell, every restaurant -- even the sit-down eateries like TGIF, Chili's, Applebee's, and Denny's -- use MSG in abundance. 

Kentucky Fried Chicken seemed to be the WORST offender:  MSG was in every chicken dish, salad dressing and gravy.  No wonder I loved to eat that coating on the skin -- their secret spice was MSG!

               So why is MSG in so many of the foods we eat? Is it a preservative, or a vitamin?

               Not according to my friend John Erb.  In his book The Slow Poisoning of America, he said that MSG is added to food for the addictive effect it has on the human body.

               Even the propaganda website sponsored by the food manufacturers lobby group supporting MSG explains that the reason they add it to food is to make people eat more.

               A study of the elderly showed that older people eat more of the foods that it is added to.  The Glutamate Association lobbying group says eating more is a benefit to the elderly, but what does it do to the rest of us?

               'Betcha can’t eat [just] one,’ takes on a whole new meaning where MSG is concerned!  And we wonder why the nation is overweight!

               MSG manufacturers themselves admit that it addicts people to their products.  It makes people choose their product over others, and makes people eat more of it than they would  if MSG wasn't added.

               Not only is MSG scientifically proven to cause obesity, it is an addictive substance.  Since its introduction into the American food supply fifty years ago, MSG has been added in  larger and larger doses to the  pre-packaged meals, soups,  snacks, and fast foods we are  tempted to eat everyday.

               The FDA has set no limits on how much of it can be added to food. They claim it’s safe to eat in any amount.  But how can they claim it’s safe when there are hundreds of scientific studies with titles like these:

               'The monosodium glutamate (MSG) obese rat as a model for the study of exercise in obesity.'  

Gobatto CA, Mello MA, Souza CT, Ribeiro IA. 

Res Commun Mol  Pathol Pharmacol.  2002.

               ‘Adrenalectomy abolishes the food-induced hypothalamic serotonin release in both normal and monosodium glutamate-obese  rats.' 

Guimaraes RB, Telles MM, Coelho VB, Mori C,  Nascimento CM, Ribeiro.

 Brain Res Bull. 2002 Aug.

               'Obesity induced by neonatal monosodium glutamate treatment in spontaneously hypertensive rats:  An animal model of multiple risk factors.'

               Iwase M, Yamamoto M, Iino K, Ichikawa K, Shinohara N, Yoshinari Fujishima.

               Hypertens  Res. 1998  Mar.

               'Hypothalamic lesion induced by injection of monosodium glutamate in suckling period and subsequent development of obesity.'  Tanaka K, Shimada M,  Nakao K Kusunoki.  Exp Neurol.  1978 Oct.

               No, the date of that last study was not a typo; it was published in 1978.  Both the ‘medical research community' and ‘food manufacturers’ have known about the side effects of MSG for decades.

               Many more of the  studies mentioned in John  Erb's book link MSG to diabetes,  migraines and  headaches, autism, ADHD, and even  Alzheimer's.

               So what can we do to  stop the food  manufactures from dumping this fattening and  addictive MSG  into our food supply and causing the obesity epidemic  we  now see?

               Several months  ago, John Erb took his book  and his concerns to one of the highest  government health  officials in Canada   While he was sitting in the  government office, the official told him, 'Sure, I know how  bad MSG  is.  I wouldn't touch the stuff.' But this  top-level  government official refuses to  tell the public what he  knows.

               The big media  doesn't want to tell the  public either, fearing issues with their  advertisers.  It  seems that the fallout on the fast food  industry may hurt  their profit margin.  The food producers  and restaurants  have been addicting us to their products for years,  and now  we are paying the price for it.  Our children  should not be  cursed with obesity caused by an addictive  food additive.

               But  what can I do about it?  I'm just  one voice!  What can I  do to stop the poisoning of our  children, while our governments are  insuring financial  protection for the industry that is poisoning  us?

               This message is going  out to everyone I know  in an attempt to tell you the truth  that the  corporate-owned politicians and media won't tell  you.

               The best way you can  help to save yourself  and your children from this drug-induced  epidemic is to  forward this article to everyone.   With any  luck, it will  circle the globe before politicians can pass the  legislation protecting those who are poisoning  us.

               The food industry  learned a lot from the  tobacco industry. Imagine if big tobacco had  a bill like  this in place before someone blew the whistle on  nicotine?

               If you are one of  the few who can still  believe that MSG is good for us and you don't  believe  what John Erb has to say, see for  yourself.  Go to  the  National Library of  Medicine at www.pubmed.com. Type in the  words 'MSG Obese' and read a  few of the 115 medical  studies that  appear.

               We the public do  not want to be rats in one  giant experiment, and we do not approve  of food that makes  us into a nation of obese, lethargic, addicted  sheep,  feeding the food industry's bottom line while waiting  for the  heart transplant, the diabetic-induced amputation,  blindness, or  other obesity-induced, life-threatening  disorders.

               With your help  we can put an end to this  poison.  Do your part  in sending this message out by word  of mouth, e-mail, or by  distribution of this printout to  your friends all over the world and stop this 'Slow  Poisoning of Mankind' by the packaged food  industry.

               Blowing the whistle on MSG is our  responsibility, so get the word  out.