MSG is Fine For Your Health
Why you can basically eat as much MSG as you want to without any ill effects.
Monosodium Glutamate, or MSG, is a fascinating chemical. Glutamic acid, the key component of MSG, was first isolated in the early 1900s by a Japanese chemist called Ikeda Kikunae who extracted it from seaweed stock. Kikunae used the term umami — a colloquialism that means delicious — to describe the flavor of the chemical, which has a unique savory taste. After a range of experiments, Kikunae found that MSG was the most stable and commercializable form of glutamic acid, and it soon became an incredibly popular addition to Japanese and other Asian dishes.
MSG is, however, also very controversial. There is a common belief that the chemical is bad for you, with people online arguing that everything from headaches and nausea to cardiovascular disease can be caused by eating even quite small amounts of the stuff. When I posted recently on Threads about MSG, I was surprised to see hundreds of responses arguing that it is a very dangerous chemical that can make people sick.
What’s odd about this is that it’s completely untrue. MSG is one of the safest things you can eat. There’s no evidence whatsoever that eating MSG is bad for your health, even if you believe that you have a sensitivity to the substance.
