From: annick@cortex.physiol.su.oz.au (Annick Ansselin)
Subject: Re: Is MSG sensitivity superstition?
Nntp-Posting-Host: cortex.physiol.su.oz.au
Organization: Department of Physiology, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia
Lines: 29

In <C5nFDG.8En@sdf.lonestar.org> marco@sdf.lonestar.org (Steve Giammarco) writes:

>>
>>And to add further fuel to the flame war, I read about 20 years ago that
>>the "natural" MSG - extracted from the sources you mention above - does not
>>cause the reported aftereffects; it's only that nasty "artificial" MSG -
>>extracted from coal tar or whatever - that causes Chinese Restaurant
>>Syndrome.  I find this pretty hard to believe; has anyone else heard it?

MSG is mono sodium glutamate, a fairly straight forward compound. If it is
pure, the source should not be a problem. Your comment suggests that 
impurities may be the cause.
My experience of MSG effects (as part of a double blind study) was that the
pure stuff caused me some rather severe effects.

>I was under the (possibly incorrect) assumption that most of the MSG on
>our foods was made from processing sugar beets. Is this not true? Are 
>there other sources of MSG?

Soya bean, fermented cheeses, mushrooms all contain MSG. 

>I am one of those folx who react, sometimes strongly, to MSG. However,
>I also react strongly to sodium chloride (table salt) in excess. Each
>causes different symptoms except for the common one of rapid heartbeat
>and an uncomfortable feeling of pressure in my chest, upper left quadrant.

The symptoms I had were numbness of jaw muscles in the first instance
followed by the arms then the legs, headache, lethargy and unable to keep
awake. I think it may well affect people differently.
