Part 2a – Is MSG Making You Fat and Unhealthy?

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: What we’re going to show you is shocking. And Kristy, I’m going to ask you if – I don’t know if you’ve got your glasses – I have Knorr’s Cream of Spinach Soup in an interesting mix. I don’t know quite what the recipe makes. You mix it in with various things and it sounds so delicious. Would you read to me what is in there?

Kristy: Some of the ingredients?

Pat Robertson: Yeah.

Kristy: Alright. Hydrogenated soybean oil, maltrodoxatrin, chicken fat, monosodium glutamate –

Pat Robertson: You stop right there. And what is that, monosodium glutamate?

Kristy: Monosodium Glutamate –

Pat Robertson: MSG.

Kristy: Oh –

Pat Robertson: That’s what that is. Now that’s one type of soup. Here’s another type of soup. Tomato and basil. It just sounds wonderful. You can mix chicken and stuff with it and if you look at the label it also has –

Kristy: Monosodium glutamate?

Pat Robertson: You guessed it.

Kristy: MSG. This one really gets me because I don’t have any of these in my cabinet but I do have that.

Pat Robertson: Well this is reduced sodium. You know the sodium in soup for one serving is 870mg and would you kindly read that one?

Kristy: I’m scared.

Pat Robertson: That is Campbell’s.

Kristy: Well alright. We have salt – that’s funny because it’s reduced salt – yeast extract, sodium chloride, monosodium glutamate.
Pat Robertson: Campbell’s – you give this to your kids. They advertise it for children. It’s got MSG in it.

Kristy: Well, you know what gets me, Pat, is when I think of MSG I instantly think of Chinese food so if I stay away from Chinese food then I’m safe from MSG.

Pat Robertson: Well, I’ll show you what it looks like in its purest form. This has been sold since about 1909. Ajo-no-mor – it’s Japanese.

Kristy: What is it?

Pat Robertson: It’s monosodium glutamate and it says what you’re supposed to do with it, where you’re supposed to use it. You see all those things –

Kristy: Well, it’s in Chinese. I can’t read it.

Pat Robertson: What’s the matter with you? I’m sorry I thought you were a – no, just kidding.

But it’s for soups, it’s for chicken, it’s for various sauces and many restaurants put this stuff in. Now, when you were pregnant with your child –

Kristy: Yes –

Pat Robertson: Did you eat a lot of this soup?

Kristy: Well I can’t say yes or no because I can’t remember but I think I did – I don’t remember, which maybe means I did have the soup. But I’m serious, this is really really scary and we do not understand the impact of MSG.

Pat Robertson: From birth, the child in the womb, if the mother – pregnant mother – has a lot of MSG food – eats Chinese, eats this other stuff – the child will have permanent impairment of the brain according to some of these studies and will grow up, like 10 years old, stupid. Not to mention fat.

Well the federal government is supposed to warn us of potentially dangerous food additives but monosodium glutamate doesn’t come with a warning label, even though it could lead to migraines, memory loss, Alzheimer’s, and, what I was talking about, birth defects. ADD, etc.

In part 2 of our series on MSG, Gailon Totheroh looks at how this flavor booster could be damaging your brain.

Gailon Totheroh: Your diet could be your brain’s biggest enemy. Why? Consider this. Could the yogurt Granny eats send her into premature Alzheimer’s? Could your baby’s diet be putting him on a path toward Attention Deficit Disorder? Or could your daily soup slam you with migraines?

Dr. Russell Blaylock says all those outcomes are possible because of the flavor enhancer known as MSG. All of those afflictions happen to lab animals that consume monosodium glutamate and humans are much more sensitive, especially when consuming it over a lifetime.

Dr. Russell Blaylock, MD: Instead of just giving a few doses early in life, we give it throughout the entire life of the animal. When we do that, we see dramatic damage to that animal’s brain. Not just to the obesity centers but to centers that control memory, learning, social interaction, social control.

Gailon Totheroh: And pain. Terry Strouss was about 10 when the headaches began.

Terry Strouss: I started having severe migraine headaches. The pain was just unbearable. There were many many days where I would come home from school nauseous, sick. I would go straight to bed and just stay there til the next morning.

Gailon Totheroh: That trauma continued through his teen years with doctors suggesting he’d grow out of it. He didn’t. Eventually they put him on a drug. He could work but it was far from a normal life. Things began to change when he saw a news program on MSG causing migraines. He began avoiding anything he knew might contain MSG.

Terry Strouss: I noticed within a month that the headaches had subsided, that they were not there, that they were not as severe when I would get them later. My wife was amazed. She said, “You were right. We need to continue this.”

Gailon Strouss: Headache specialist Dr. David Buckholtz is certain MSG causes migraines for literally millions of people.

Dr. David Buckholtz: That’s exactly right. It’s an excitotoxin that turns on this headache mechanism that makes you hurt like heck.

Gailon Totheroh: An excitotoxin is any substance that overexcites its cells to the point of damage, acting as a toxin. There may be more to this public poison. MSG can directly worsen autism, ADD, and hyperactivity. MSG can cause the brain to be miswired, especially in the womb and the first few years of life. That damage to brain connections can mess up nearly any aspect of brain function, from the control of hormones to behavior and intelligence.

The second half of this video will be posted tomorrow with its transcript.

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