There is a buzz around right now caused by monosodium glutamate (MSG), or whatever you prefer to call it.
The savoury flavour otherwise known as umami was named 100 years ago after first being isolated from seaweed in Japan in 1907.
Even if you think you haven’t tasted umami or glutamate you probably have and it has probably compelled you to shove even more food in your willing cake hole.
Chinese food has a bad reputation for containing MSG – its synthasized form – and affecting people with the so-called Chinese Restaurant Sydrome which may or may not exist.
If you believe the syndrome exists then answer me this: have you ever had a headache from eating Vegemite?
Vegemite is made out of yeast extract just like the English Marmite. And Marmite is packed full of glutamate although you wouldn’t know it on the label. As Alex Renton said in The Guardian a few years ago in this excellent article:
Your mate, Marmite, with 1750mg per 100g, has more glutamate in it than any other manufactured product on the planet - except a jar of Gourmet Powder straight from the Ajinomoto MSG factory. On the label, Marmite calls it ‘yeast extract’. Nowhere in all their literature does the word ‘glutamate’ appear. I asked Unilever why they were so shy about their spread’s key ingredient, and their PR told me that it was because it was ‘naturally occurring … the glutamate occurs naturally in the yeast’.
Time Hayward on the Guardian’s Word of Mouth Blog notes:
“Jeffrey Steingarten’s marvellous ‘It must’ve been something I ate’. The third chapter is unique in food writing history in making and winning its argument entirely in an eight word title: ‘Why doesn’t everyone in China have a headache?’)”
Perhaps we should also ask: “Why doesn’t everyone in Australia have a headache?”
Or seeing as Parmesan cheese contains so much glutamate we might ask the same question of Italians. Or ask our friendly French Roquefort munchers.
So, are you a happy little glutamate or do you suffer from Vegemite syndrome?
Top ten 12 sources of Glutamate(mg/100g):
1. Marmite 1750
2. vegemite 1400
3. roquefort cheese 1280
4. parmesan cheese 1200
5. soy sauce 1090
6. walnuts 658
7. fresh tomato juice 260
8. grape juice 258
9. peas 200
10. mushrooms 180
11. broccoli 176
12. tomatoes 140/mushrooms 140
Source: The Guardian and others
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{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
I wrote a bit about this over at SBS – coincidentally, 2008 is the hundredth anniversary of MSG.
Vegemite alone is 1.4% glutamate.
My suspicion is that a subset of people have a psychophysiologic reaction to the umami taste in certain contexts – e.g. when they experience an umami-tasting liquid rather than a umami-tasting piece of vegemite toast. If there is a food scientist out there willing to test this, I’ll happily cowrite a paper.
Ed, I was contemplating a similar post after reading the Guardian article. I love the vegemite connection.
This idea of food allergies/preferences is always blown out of the water by fact. Far too often people worry about things like MSG without understanding their natural occurance. It has been identified that physical rections are sometimes linked to pschological assosiations, ie they expect to get a head ache from acheap Chinese meal… and then do, just like red wine with some people.
I love restaurant patrons that worry about MSG in their asian dipping sauce and then happily tuck into a mushroom risotto and a side of tomato salad!
I think truffle has been missed off that list, they are also incredibly high up the scale of MSG, another magic ingredient that with a little you get a lot… hence, the natural MSG.
As for Vegemite, I am not surprised in the least, again a little goes a long way. Not being a true Aussie, in that I hate the stuff, perhaps now I can say, no thanks I have a reaction to the MSG in it…
Jack
I guess promite also has a high level of glutamates – which sort of makes sense as I find this quite comforting in the same way that miso soup or noodle soup is comforting.
But I am assuming that part of the debate around MSG is that it is like salt – do we really need that much extra added in some of the processed food when we already have plenty thank you very much!!!
I wrote about MSG for BlogHer a while back and was surprised at the lack of scientific evidence for Chinese Restaurant Syndrome, and also at the large number of food scientists who had concluded that MSG was perfectly safe. Even though it had never bothered me, I just thought I was lucky. Just crossed it right off my list of things to worry about after that!
I am a happy little glutamate. The only effect I notice is thirst if I have too much of the foods you mention…but this might be the raw sodium content in the food…I dunno.
I had a quick look at some journal articles to try and understand MSG without much luck. It appears the whole MSG & Umami chemical composition/situation does appear to be a little more complex than outlined in this post (as anyone would expect). I hope a Food Scientist can comment with an interpretation for a layman.
If I had to have an objection to MSG, it would be overuse of the powdered stuff in a jar. It seems to be a cheap way for a restaurant to provide a “Umami” component to the meal, and often too much of the powder is added (perhaps to compensate for other shortcuts). I suspect a bad meal with too much of anything would give someone a headache…and I doubt a serve of vegemite or roquefort cheese would tip this balance.
It could be symptomatic of a quality chef using superior ingredients, but I do think I can taste the difference when “Umami” taste is built up from more expensive ingredients and/or techniques.
So perhaps another important question is if there are different ways of providing Umami characteristics that can be identified by taste…ie does Vegemite MSG taste different to the gourmet powder MSG?
Bring it on! I’d happily eat all of that list (well, not broccoli or stale walnuts) until the world stopped.
Hi Ed,
I live in Shanghai and have traveled much of Asia and seen it used widely in cooking.
I recently watched a TV add from the Philippines promoting how good monosodium glutamate is for you it was indorsed by a local doctor saying we should eat more!
cheers Dane
i personally believe that the difference does lie in whether it is synthesised or natural. In terms of the chemical structure you can say that they are the same, but chemicals act differently when in their more natural form or with other natural ingredients that they are also with in food.
As a chemist i take all scientific reports witha grain of salt – for example they still havent proved that vitamins actually do bugger all – it may be something else in the fruit/ veg that is leading to the benefits we all know abnout (the excpetion is folate and the link to pregnancy) and so i also take the MSG article with a grain of salt.
I never used to have a reaction to Chinese food but I do find that after a yumcha session these days i get a headache. it is very likely due to high salt intake (though I invariably drink enough tea to keep my liquid requirements ok for the next week) as well as MSG. But who knows? Food science is a relatively new science (compared to the stalwarts of physics and chemistry) so there is still a lot to learn
Oh, definitely a happy little Glutamate here. I was raised on it and a jar hides itself in many cupboards in this house and at my parents. Although, the only side effect I get from eating heavy MSG meals is a ridiculous thirst.
Gulp, gulp, gulp…
Phil, thanks I couldn’t find any Vegemite info and I’ve added it to the list. Maybe it’s my fault for believing Wikipedia but it says it was discovered in 1907 and names in 1908. What was your source for it being discovered in 1908? Sorry I missed your original post – I think I was travelling. Nice idea on the experiment – maybe we could run it on bloggers.
Kalyn, Jackie et al. It is interesting the controversy over MSG and the lack of scientific evidence of it doing any harm but I would imagine that depends on the quantities of the pure product consumed. I used to work for a high profile PR firm that handled issues management for MSG. One night somebody broke in and the only files touched were from the locked filing cabinet for MSG client.
Andrew and Ran, I think you are right that pure MSG will never be the same as a dish layered with many flavours. But none the less it is a flavour enhancer bringing out the flavour of dishes and this is why Marco Pierre White sprinkles Knorr chicken stock cubes on dishes instead of salt, and Gilbert Lau pours chicken stock over steamed fish. I checked out Harold McGee and it seems that glutamate is an amino acid and it is the breakdown of these proteins that create the layers of flavour.
I have been suffering from headaches for years and years, I cut out all sorts of foods to find out what it could be. Dairy- then caffeine- After nothing working I REALLY took note of what I was consuming. Now I have cut out tomatoes and my headaches subsided. I thought i was okay until today- I have consumed vegemite. Then i found this forum. I really hope this is the answere. Whats so ironic, is that I was a HAPPY LITTLE vegemite kid on the advert 31 years ago (go figure)… and I have had headaches all my life….Fingers crossed this will be the answere. It would be really wonderful to feel good and no headaches.
Cheers.
HLV
I have only recently started to get really nasty headaches. The only connection I could make was either a) being at work or b) NEW Vegemite “Name me”. I was wondering – have there been any tests for this as yet? and am wondering, could this be worse than Vegemite?
I can’t belive what I’m reading. MSG HAS been proven over and over and over again to induce brain changes in many different species. The reactions are always the same, when exposed at a young age intelligence is affected, hyperactivity disorders, agression, the babies are smaller with smaller organs, their hormonal glands don’t develop normally. And humans are the most sensitive to glutamate than any other species, babies are even more sensitive. This has been shown over and over again by experts in neurological science, it’s the most studied area of brain science around. You don’t get a headache so you must be fine?? Are you joking? It has nothing to do with restaurant syndrome or headaches or any other immediate reactions, it has to do the fact that experiments on loads of different species have proven that msg damages the brain over time. Do you suddenly ignore that because tomatoes have a naturally occuring glutamate in them? What species in the wild eats tomato or parmesan cheese? These are human inventions adapted over time for taste. Do Italians not get Alzheimers or Dementia? The whole world is experiencing a drop in test scores for children, we are getting dumber by the generation. Hyperactivity disorders are growing at alarming rates. But because MSG is in cheese we should ignore all the research that damns it.
Instead of realizing there is a reason why an entire section of a PR firm is employed to counter any msg critisism should tell you why its so important this doesnt get mainstream. Yet instead of asking why you joke about it. Can’t anyone think for themselves?
Celeste, it’s not MSG present in most foods it’s glutamates – a family of substances. It’s in meat, fish, mushrooms, vegetables and seaweeds to a varying degree.
Undoubtably it may affect people. But it’s all about consuming these things in moderation.
I must say despite research saying there is no such thing as Chinese restaurant syndrome (why don’t people get it in Italian restaurants?) I remain unconvinced as many people do suffer from it.
Hi Celeste…It is interesting you mention people thinking for themselves and that there is so much research on the topic. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I had a quick look for such research in peer reviewed science journals (yes…Neurological & Psycho-biological Journals) but could not find much to support either position.
Could you provide the references so that I can have a look at the research you discuss?
hey guys..can you send me a thesis about msg..plz cnd it to my E-mail address..need it badly…plz..im begging you..T.T
chakz717@yahoo.com..thats my email
A quick google search pulled this peer reviewed free journal article up:
“We investigated whether neonatal monosodium glutamate (MSG) treatment, known to cause arcuate nucleus damage and adult-age obesity, alters energy balance in the first two postnatal weeks.”
http://ajpendo.physiology.org/cgi/content/full/283/3/E604
Quite an interesting read. I’ll agree with Ran RE: synthesised vs. naturally occurring compounds. With a background in Medical Science, I have learned to look at real life examples and correlations in conjunction with sparse literature regarding contentious issues such as the negative effects of MSG.
Personally, I would limit the intake of MSG, high salt/sugar/preservatives/additives type food for the young, and encourage the consumption of fresh and as organic as possible foods to optimise the developmental stages of life.
Never underestimate the power of corporations and the obfuscation of truth – one time, doctors promoted smoking as “good for health”. Similarly, a lack of scientific literature does not equate to safety; foetal alcohol syndrome was once unknown.