MSG, You and Me

I ran into my friend Kelly at the supermarket yesterday. She was examining a box of crackers and explained she was trying to buy foods without MSG (monosodium glutamate) and high-fructose corn syrup in it.

“Wait,” I said, “crackers have MSG in them?”

“These do,” she said, pointing the reduced fat, white cheddar Cheez-Its. “And I think some of the others do, too.”

“You’re kidding,” I said. I picked up the box. There it was – monosodium glutamate sandwiched in between other ingredients. (Oddly enough, it was not present in the normal box of Cheez-Its.)

I knew some soups – such as Progresso and Campbell’s – had MSG in them and because of that I always bought organic soups, such as Wolfgang Puck's organic soups. But I didn't realize how many foods had MSG in them.

Many of you may be wondering: What’s so bad about MSG, anyway?

A lot, frankly. On a Web site devoted to the explanation of and potential harm caused by MSG, I discovered “MSG is not a true allergen but may directly affect immune response by stimulating or damaging the nervous system.” MSG can affect blood pressure, blood vessels, the digestive system, hearing, heart rate, the endocrine system, lungs, nervous system, thyroid and other aspects of normal body function. (Click here to read more, in detail, about the harmful effects of MSG).

What I didn’t know much about was high-fructose corn syrup. Kelly said it was a man-made sugar our bodies could not break down. Being a former journalist, I had to find out for myself just how bad this sweetener really is.

So what is high-fructose corn syrup? According to MayoClinic.com, it “is a common sweetener and preservative. High-fructose corn syrup is made by changing the sugar (glucose) in cornstarch to fructose — another form of sugar. The end product is a combination of fructose and glucose. Because it extends the shelf life of processed foods and is cheaper than sugar, high-fructose corn syrup has become a popular ingredient in many sodas, fruit-flavored drinks and other processed foods.”

Yet in all the sites I visited, I could not find anything about the body’s ability to breakdown that ingredient. What I did discover, however, is that many studies link this ingredient to obesity. Some researchers say as soon as it was introduced, obesity began to skyrocket in the United States. But the MayoClinic.com states: “But recent research — some of which is supported by the beverage industry — suggests that high-fructose corn syrup isn't intrinsically less healthy than other sweeteners, nor is it the root cause of obesity.”

As with everything, the site suggests using such foods in moderation and limiting the amount of processed foods you consume. (Click here, and click here, and click here to read more about high-fructose corn syrup.)

I was thankful for my chance meeting with Kelly because even though I buy mainly healthful foods for my family (and lots of organic foods, even cookies), I also am a sucker for the foods that I loved as a child. I will definitely be more thoughtful about what I buy and what I eat, and I will try to educate my kids when I make those choices.

Photo by Anne-Mette Pedersen, courtesy of stock.xchng