Are there risks in using MSG?

Are there risks in using MSG?

By Tri Hafiningsih and Bruce Emond

JAKARTA (JP): It takes only a matter of minutes for "Shelly"
to know that something she has eaten contains monosodium
glutamate (MSG).

The 40-something Australian expatriate will suddenly develop a
splitting headache, which often lasts for hours, and feel her
heart racing.

She displays the classic symptoms of Chinese restaurant
syndrome, so named because of the habit of Chinese restaurants in
the United States and Europe to dose their food with MSG.

When she buys fried rice or noodles, she is careful to inform
street vendors to not use MSG, but she believes they sometimes
put it in anyway because they believe it is an essential flavor
enhancer.

While controversy over whether monosodium glutamate is halal
(in compliance with Islamic dietary laws) may be over with the
ban on Ajinomoto for using pork products, the debate on MSG's
effects on health will remain.

Like the vendors, many Indonesians believe that using MSG
improves the taste of food. They have been won over by major
advertising campaigns using celebrity spokespeople.

The ads invariably end showing the satisfied smiles of diners
after adding a "pinch" of Ajinomoto or other brands to their
food.

But how much is safe?

An authority on food technology, FG Winarno, said that MSG was
safe for human consumption, but pathologist Iwan T Budiarso
disagreed.

Iwan said MSG would damage human health because there was no
strict control over its use, and people of all ages, including
infants, in the country consumed food containing the additive.

Glutamate acid, the main substance of MSG, is akin to the
natural proteins in beans, meat, milk and fish. The isolated
glutamate acid in the seasoning powder is believed to be the key
to what many cooks and diners contend is the enhanced taste of
food containing MSG.

Research indicates the consumption of more than 12 grams of
glutamate acid per day could cause stomach disturbances, insomnia
and nausea. MSG can also cause allergies such as skin itching,
nausea and fever for those who are sensitive to MSG extracts from
wheat or molasses. The symptoms appear as quickly as five minutes
after eating the food or up to 35 minutes later.

The most severely affected, like Shelly, suffer from Chinese
restaurant syndrome.

Iwan believed consumption of MSG could also lead to
hypertension, asthma, diabetes and even paralysis.

But the proponents claim that MSG is a safe food additive.
They argue the damage to the liver, kidneys, pancreas and brain
found in the research only occurred in laboratory animals, which
were given very high doses of MSG.

Ye there is no denying that the MSG and food industries grew
bigger and stronger in the last decade as they sold consumers on
the need to use their products.

So who would have believed then that the biggest MSG company
in the world, which invested US$6.5 million in its 10 factories
in the country and produced over 220,000 tons of MSG powder for
worldwide consumption, might be doing something wrong?

Safe

At the moment it's a case of make your own standard on what is
safe -- and everybody's doing it.

"We use MSG in our dishes because it makes the food tastier,"
said "Ahmad", a supervisor at a Chinese restaurant in a major
hotel in Central Jakarta. "Nearly all Chinese and Japanese
restaurants do.

"Sometimes we have customers who asks us not to use it, and
then we don't."

Most street vendors also consider packets of the flavor
enhancers as an essential part of their cooking.

"Without micin (MSG), I won't have a tasty broth for my bakso
(meatballs) and noodles," said Ahmad, a bakso hawker in Cipinang,
East Jakarta.

He uses at least half a teaspoon in each bowl of his meatball
soup.

Chicken porridge vendor Masdi and housewife Ibu Jayadi also
like to use the food additive. Masdi, who has been selling
porridge for 10 years, adds one teaspoonful of MSG into the
porridge he cooks, plus another half a teaspoon each into every
30 to 40 bowls of porridge he sells each day.

Jayadi said she used the tip of a teaspoon of the powder in
every dish she cooks for her family of eight.

And the controversy about Ajinomoto has not been a wakeup call
to them to think about other possible health effects from MSG.

All three said they would simply switch to other brands now
that Ajinomoto is off the market.

"Now that I know it's not halal, I won't use Ajinomoto," said
Masdi.

Ahmad, Masdi and Jayadi have their own arguments to keep using
MSG. But Andanti, a general practitioner, has decided to clear
MSG from her kitchen.

"You don't know the long-term results of such a habit of
consuming food with the taste enhancer within the next 10 or 20
years," she said.

She believed consumption of the food seasoning would be
hazardous to health over time.

"No matter how little you consume every day, its negative
effects may appear in years to come," she said.

Andanti uses as many natural taste enhancers as possible in
her daily cooking. She makes things easy by preparing the beef or
chicken broth on a weekly basis and storing it in the
refrigerator.

She has made her kitchen a MSG-free zone, although she
acknowledged many processed foods available in stores and
sidewalk kiosks contain the additive.

"There are the frozen foods, children's crackers and many
other kinds of food using MSG. I cannot control what my children
have as their snacks outside my home, but I have to start
somewhere," she said.