Is MSG Making You Fat and Unhealthy? Part 1
April 8, 2008
This is a transcript of the above video. The original video was produced by Christian Broadcast Network as was made available to the public via You Tube. All efforts have been made to accurately transcribe the videotape.
Pat Robertson: Well if you’ve been listening to this program for the last few years and you’ve been listening to very much about nutrition, you realize that you’ve been hearing about a silent killer. It’s a killer that’s worse than alcohol, worse than nicotine, worse than drugs. It’s called monosodium glutamate and most people don’t know that MSG is in thousands of processed food, often under hidden names, probably in your kitchen cabinets. And now some doctors say that this flavor booster could be boosting your weight.
This is going to be the first of a four part series today, tomorrow and then two next week by medical reporter Gailon Totheroh about the dangers of MSG.
Gailon Totheroh: MSG – you may think it’s only an ingredient in Asian food but you’re wrong. It’s everywhere. From restaurants to your grocery to your kids’ school cafeterias. Even your baby’s formula. Monosodium glutamate is a flavor enhancer that’s been big in the US since the 50s. It’s supposed to make your food taste better but research shows MSG is making us fat.
Dr. Russell Blaylock, MD: It’s very difficult to exercise it off, it’s very difficult to diet it off. Infant animals that become obese tend to become what we refer to as couch potatoes.
Gailon Totheroh: Dr. Russell Blaylock has studied these common flavor enhancers that many experts believe are hazardous to your health. He calls them excitotoxins the taste that kills. An excitotoxin is a big word for any substance like MSG that can overexcite cells to the point of damage, acting as a toxin, hence the term excitotoxin a form of poisin. The FDA considers MSG safe but numerous scientists have found that glutamate in the diet can cause a range of problems in animals, including obesity.
Dr. Russell Blaylock, MD: These foods, particularly in a child is certainly near a dose equal to those seen in animals. Now the thing that is peculiar about the child, they’re four times more sensitive than and adult.
Gailon Totheroh: Pound for pound?
Dr. Russell Blaylock, MD: Pound for pound.
Gailon Totheroh: So babies in the womb and young children up the age of about three are the most threatened. That means expenctant mothers may need to be mindful of their diets. And when the babies are born, moms may want to watch out for formula. Nearly all formulas contain processed milk or soy protein. Because of the processing, these proteins are broken down into MSG and related excitotoxins.
Dr. Russell Blaylock, MD: The other curious thing about exposing animals to MSG early in life is they prefer sweet foods, things with sugar in it, carbohydrate foods, and they stay away from the foods that are healthier.
Gailon Totheroh: And that can contribute to obesity throughout life and can make it almost impossible to lose weight. So is the public getting enough MSG in their food to trigger obesity? Estimates for MSG consumption vary widely but almost everyone acknowledges significant and steady increases in the diet since 1960 and that may relate directly to government figures on excess pounds.
Over the last 40 years the government says adult obesity has jumped from 14% to 34% and the number of overweight youth has quadrupled to almost 20% with a steady rise for 40 years. Of course, that doesn’t necessarily prove that the MSG has caused the increased obesity but Dr. John Ulney, a pioneer in brain research first found MSG caused obesity in lab animals in the 1960s. And Blaylock says the MSG theory makes much more sense than any other possible cause such as lack of exercise.
One of the frightening obesity effects of MSG is that it produces the harmful fat found deep in the abdomen.
Dr. Russell Blaylock, MD: And we know people that have a lot of visceral type fat have an extremely high incidence of heart attack and stroke and arteriosclerosis.
Gailon Totheroh: They are also more likely to suffer from insomnia, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and high cholesterol. Blaylock says to reduce MSG intake, consumers will have to pick foods more carefully.
Dr. Russell Blaylock, MD: Because there’s intense competition between the food companies for taste and for customers and customers choose foods based on taste mostly. So if you can add a lot of this taste-enhancing MSG you produce this effect.
Gailon Totheroh: With obesity continuing to rise ignoring the MSG component could mean there’s no end in sight for the ravages of excess pounds.
Reporting from Jackson MS, I’m Gailon Tothroh, CBN News.
Pat Robertson: Well that’s the first of a four part series. Ladies and gentlemen, there’s hardly a restaurant you can go to, especially Chinese, Chinese is noted for MSG in their food. That’s one of the reasons people have headaches when they get through eating Chinese. It’s the MSG. But it’s used to flavor almost everything: hamburgers, steaks, you name it, it’s there. Here’s some of the other name this silent killer is lurking as: aspartame, broth, casein or caseinate, glutamate, hydrolyzed or autolyzed yeast and hydrolyzed protein. You can learn more about what foods contain MSG if you log on to CBN.com
Tomorrow in part two we’ll look to see how it affects your brain and nervous system. It’s a hidden killer.
Anchorwoman: It’s hidden and when I was watching that story and reading about it I literally wanted to get a list and print out the list so I could check my cupboards and check my kitchen and not just for me but for my son. I want to make sure I’m not giving him something.
Pat Robertson: Baby food, soup, almost every kind of soup has this kind of stuff in it and you go down the line because it makes food taste good and it kills you while making it taste good.
Click here if you are interested in Vibrant Health:
Comments
4 Responses to “Is MSG Making You Fat and Unhealthy? Part 1”
Got something to say?
Categories
[...] MSG Making You Fat and Unhealthy? Part 1 hereicome | Diet, weight loss, fitness blog wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptAnd now some doctors say that this [...]
This is truly scary stuff. I’m off to clean out my food cabinets and find healthier alternatives to feed my family. Thanks for the info, Diana!
Yes, Christina — I learned about MSG 15 years ago, the hard way, with my Mom suffering from reactions to it. I’ll blog more about it later. I’m so happy this information has been of help to you - and that is great that you are going to clean out your food cabinets and find healthier alternatives.
You are welcome! and thanks for your comments.
Diana
[...] 1. Video and Transcript #1 on MSG and Health and Weight Problems [...]