MSG: A Harmless Seasoning Demonized by Racism

If you ever feel sick after knowing that the food you eat has MSG, especially if it's Chinese food, chances are MSG is not the culprit. You're just racist.

For years, many Westerners feared to eat Chinese food out of fear of suffering from "Chinese restaurant syndrome" (CRS) -- a condition in which a person experiences symptoms like dizziness and palpitations after eating food heavily seasoned with MSG.

But here's the catch: despite some anecdotal report about it, it does not have any scientific consensus at all. In short, if you visit a doctor and complained about getting sick after eating Chinese food despite having no allergies or a pre-existing medical condition, the doctor will probably ask you to go home.

What is MSG?

In the early 19th century, Japanese chemist Kikunae Ikeda discovered a way of replicating his wife's dashi broth: through extracting a certain amino acid called "glutamate" from dried konbu (kelp) and mixing it with ordinary salt or water. This has led to what we now know as monosodium glutamate or MSG.

But actually, glutamate is actually not uncommon. It is naturally found in many foods like tomatoes and cheese.

So what made people this it is "unhealthy"? 

It all started in 1969 when a Chinese-American doctor published a letter in a scientific journal claiming to suffer from "burning sensations, facial pressure, and chest pain" after eating at a Chinese restaurant. The same paper also coined the term CRS.

This sparked a lot of protests among readers who allegedly also suffered from the same symptoms.

It was not until the 1990s when the Food and Drug Administration concluded that MSG is safe. And it was too late. The fear has already instilled in the minds of many Americans. Even until now, you can still see a lot of Chinese restaurants that put a "No MSG" label in their menu so that they will not be shunned.

The World Health Organization and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization also reported on a joint study that there is no any scientific fact to prove that MSG is really the cause of CRS, assuming it is real. All evidence provided is merely anecdotal.

How about an allergy? Doctors also doubted that primarily because MSG is not an allergen. 

And if you really feel those symptoms after eating foods enhanced with it, then you probably have a food sensitivity. According to Mayo Clinic, this is just a short-term reaction that does not require your doctor's attention. And they also noted that researchers still cannot find evidence to prove that MSG causes these symptoms.

READ MORE: MSG is Perfectly Safe, the American Chemical Society Reminds Us

A Fight Against Racism

This about this: if MSG really makes a person sick, how come Asian countries, like China and Japan, never have this problem? And fun fact: MSG has been a key ingredient of many canned goods and packed snacks you can buy in the grocery store. 

The key manufacturer of MSG, Ajinomoto, which Ikeda also founded, has recently launched the "Redefine CRS" -- an online campaign that urges Merriam-Webster to change its "outdated" definition of the myth.

The company proposed to change it to "an outdated term that falsely blamed Chinese food containing MSG for a group of symptoms". The campaign website also this myth is nothing but a product of xenophobia.

In response, Merriam-Webster promised to review it and revise accordingly.