What is MSG?

It's been 836 days since the last LAC post but that doesn't mean we stopped grinding, the grind never stops. Read and enjoy :)

Alright, let's get to it.

We've all heard this 3-letter word at some point in our lives and no, it's not a deadly attacking football trio in Spain, that's MSN (not affiliated with msn), it's not a deadly automatic firearm either, that's SMG, it's become a cooking buzzword most people utter so they look like they know what they are talking about

Uncle Roger has a lot of names for it 'Salt on crack', 'Make-S**t-Good MSG)', aaaaand, he might be on to something, but what makes this condiment highly consumed and equally detested? Let's find out.

ORIGIN

I'm pretty sure we are all familiar with that 'reading the label after consuming something that absolutely bangs' feeling. Well this was what happened to Kikunae Ikeda when he had Kombu (edible seaweed) in 1908, the difference is, there was no label to read, but that wasn't stopping him. Kikunae Ikeda was a chemist and a professor at Tokyo Imperial University (yeah, the guy sabi), so he did what he did best, he went on a quest for knowledge and here's what he found.

Just like it is found in Kombu, MSG can be found naturally in a number of foods like tomatoes, walnuts, mushrooms and aged cheese. MSG which is monosodium glutamate contains sodium and glutamate (as the name implies). Let's talk about these two guys for a while.

Sodium: This is a pretty common name we've all heard time and time again and most times not for the good reasons. If you have high blood pressure you probably have beef with this guy, if you catch am for street, it's on sight. Now sodium being the friendly guys it is, is the first ingredient in our common salt (so it's safe). Sodium makes up about 40% of salt content, Chlorine makes up for the rest of it.

While it's safe to consume, it's dangerous to consume in large quantities, as stated earlier, people with high blood pressure have beef with this guy and that's because it's been heavily linked to be a leading cause HBP. Consuming sodium in large quantities can also be harmful to the body by retaining too much body fluid, the thing is sodium likes and is naturally attracted to water so this can cause too much fluid to be retained in the body which isn't a good thing.

Glutamate: This guy is found in all foods containing protein. It's one of the most important amino acids founds in protein. Glutamate is also produced in the body is important for brain function and metabolism Is MSG bad for you?

So if it's 'natural' it can't be too bad for you can it? Anything consumed in excessive amounts isn't good. This applies to MSG as well.

NAFDAC and the FDA have cleared MSG to be safe for consumption and intense research has gone into looking if MSG is truly linked to a number of symptoms (such as: headache, flushing, chest pain and many more) some people have reported to have had due to them consuming this substance. My boy came out clean. Cleared of all allegations

Foods containing MSG now have a requirement to have it listed on the label (so you know what you're getting yourself into). You may see it listed as a flavour enhancer E621.

So there you have it. A brief history of MSG. Bottom-Line MSG is a flavour enhancer and can be found in various protein rich foods. Research has shown that MSG is safe for consumption in small quantities. The average daily consumption of MSG is around 0.3gm - 1.0gm, it's recommended not to pass this limit (you're going to have to find out how to calculate it). Use it like you'll use salt.

Fun fact

MSG is relatively safer to consume than table salt, the reason for this is, salt contains a larger quantity of sodium than MSG. As mentioned earlier, Sodium makes up about 40% of salt properties, while in MSG it's around 21%.

There's no real reason why you should avoid MSG in your foods if you haven't experienced any adverse symptoms. Follow Uncle Roger's advice and Make S**t Good.

Till next time guys. Bye.