Part 3 - Is MSG Making You Fat and Unhealthy?
April 11, 2008
You have probably noticed that we skipped Part 2 of this 4-part series. Unfortunately, the videos on You Tube were mismarked and we are still searching for Part 2! However, each of the videos can stand by themselves and the information is important to know.
This is a transcript of the above video. The original video was produced as a 4-part series 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 this is a series about something that appears in food all over our society. It’s in grocery stores, it’s in restaurants; almost everywhere you eat. It’s called monosodium glutamate or MSG. One of the most common food additives in America. In fact, it’s so common that most people in America don’t know they’re eating it. But this flavor booster is now being linked to cancer and heart disease. Here’s medical reporter Gailon Totheroh with Part 3 of our series on MSG.
Gailon Totheroh: Monosodium glutamate is adding flavor to your food but many researchers believe it’s also subtracting many years from your life. Jack Samuels wonders how he’s dodged the MSG bullet for nearly 30 years.
Jack Samuels: I began to collapse towards the end of certain meals in restaurants and frankly I thought I was dying.
Gailon Totheroh: And he could have. A physician diagnosed him with atrial fibrillation.
Jack Samuels: That is my heart becomes like Jell-O and just beats all over the place. And it sometimes takes me up to five or six days to get over the attack.
Gailon Totheroh: But how could MSG be responsible? Dr. Russell Blaylock says it’s because glutamate gets into the blood quickly and stays there. So a person eating MSG throughout the day can raise glutamate blood levels dangerously high.
Dr. Russell Blaylock, MD: With each meal, it rises, it stays elevated until you eat another meal, then it rises even further and you eat another meal and it rises even further and then it stays elevated through a good portion of the night.
Gailon Totheroh: Blaylock says even moderate blood levels of MSG can cause harm partly because specific organs have actual biological triggers called glutamate receptors. A group of these receptors in the heart controls heart rhythm.
Dr. Russell Blaylock, MD: You can induce a fatal arrhythmia, that is the heart beats abnormally, and people could die from it. Well, arrhythmia is the number one cause of death with heart attack. It’s been noted in the medical literature for decades that people who die of sudden cardiac death frequently do so after a meal.
Gailon Totheroh: And Samuels, a retired hospital administrator, says ER doctors…
Jack Samuels: …immediately recognize that it may have been an MSG reaction. Sadly, that knowledge has not gone up beyond the first floor.
Gailon Totheroh: In other words, most cardiologists don’t know about the connection to MSG. 2006 animal research shows that MSG damages blood vessels with substances known as free radicals that can lead to clogged, weak arteries and blood clots.
Dr. Russell Blaylock, MD: With humans consuming it everyday, not just a single injection but everyday, they’re constantly increasing the free radical generation inside the walls of their blood vessels.
Gailon Totheroh: That’s how most heart attacks and strokes come about. Research shows MSG attacks over 40% of the population in some obvious way: migraines, throat swelling, diarrhea, vomiting, irregular heartbeats. But what about the less obvious, even silent, damage?
Glutamate receptors on the lungs could explain the rising affliction of juvenile asthma.
Dr. Russell Blaylock, MD: This is one of the things agreed by everybody is that it will produce worsening of asthma, even fatal asthma.
Gailon Totheroh: And don’t forget the nasty plague of diabetes affecting tens of millions of Americans. There are glutamate receptors on the pancreas, which can lead to diabetes or loss of diabetic control once the disease is present.
Blaylock has also studied cancer extensively and written a book for cancer patients (Natural Strategies for Cancer Patients). In the last five years, researchers have found many cancers have glutamate receptors.
Dr. Russell Blaylock, MD: The total picture is that if you’re consuming a diet with glutamate in it, particularly high levels, you’re making your cancer grow very rapidly. I refer to it as cancer fertilizer.
Gailon Totheroh: The cancers of this type include several brain cancers, colon cancer, breast cancer, and others as well. For Samuels and others who are concerned about avoiding MSG’s impact on health, there is hope. As hard as navigating the grocery to avoid MSG is, safe shopping is doable if you read food labels carefully.
Gailon Totheroh, CBN News
Pat Robertson: Well if that doesn’t scare you I don’t know what will. Isn’t that horrible?
Anchorwoman: It’s exhausting, Pat, because as I’m watching this story, my brain is just spinning thinking what’s in my cabinet.
Pat Robertson: Well, what’s healthy? You want to have a nice healthy salad, right? Salads are good. So you want to get Hidden Valley Ranch Light Buttermilk…
Anchorwoman: I just bought that.
Pat Robertson: Would you mind reading the label, madam?
Anchorwoman: Alright.
Pat Robertson: Just read a few of those things.
Anchorwoman: Alright. Artificial flavors, something gum, then it says monosodium glutamate.
Pat Robertson: That’s MSG. It’s in your salad. And here’s something…
Anchorwoman: I just bought that.
Pat Robertson: Well you better throw it away. Here’s something. Ken’s Steakhouse Light Asian Sesame with Ginger and Soy. Doesn’t that sound delicious? 60% less fat, 40% fewer calories, and what does Ken put in his Asian Sesame sauce?
Anchorwoman: Monosodium glutamate.
Pat Robertson: The same.
Anchorwoman: And I’ve got that one in my fridge, too. Because I’m thinking I’m eating very healthy when I eat my salads so I have an array of salad dressings.
Pat Robertson: Well, here’s one. It sounds nice. Gerard’s Light Caesar Dressing. 50% less fat. Doesn’t that sound good?
Anchorwoman: It sounds luscious.
Pat Robertson: Alright. Tell me what it’s got in that.
Anchorwoman: I’m assuming…yeah…monosodium glutamate. MSG, MSG, and more MSG.
Pat Robertson: And here’s another one. Marzetti. Here’s one I never heard of. It’s Ranch Creamy with Buttermilk but it has…
Anchorwoman: Say it with me.
Pat Robertson: Monosodium Glutamate. I understand that there are a few but if you would like the Lone Ranger to come to the rescue tad a…
Anchorwoman: Olive oil. I can’t stand the taste of olive oil on my food, though.
Pat Robertson: You better start developing a taste. Put this in with it.
Anchorwoman: What is that?
Pat Robertson: It’s…
Anchorwoman: Vinegar? Vinegar and olive oil?
Pat Robertson: That’s it. It’s good for you.
Anchorwoman: It’s good for you but I…
Pat Robertson: It’s in my salad in my diet program.
Anchorwoman: You know what’s even better?
Pat Robertson: What’s that?
Anchorwoman: A little squeeze of lemon. Put some lemon on a salad and call it a day.
Pat Robertson: But the olive oil is so good for you. This is a very…
Anchorwoman: It’s very pure.
Pat Robertson: Extra virgin. Doesn’t it sound good? OK. That’s the good stuff. All this and practically everyone that you see…Now I understand that Paul Newman…Paul Newman has done so much. He gives away – he’s got about a 60 million dollar business and he gives all the profit away to charity.
Anchorwoman: Does he really? Wow.
Pat Robertson: Yeah, Newman’s Own and I’m told that they don’t put MSG in that. So we tip our hat to this outstanding actor. And he’s helping, not only charity, but he’s helping the American people. So if you can find Newman’s Own, use it on your salads but if you really want to make yourselves healthy, take about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and a little balsamic vinegar and it would be better.
Click here if you are interested in Vibrant Health:
Comments
Got something to say?
