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.