Does MSG Make You Fat?

Monosodium Glutamate Linked to Obesity Research on rats has found MSG contributes to obesity in animals. New studies now suggest the food additive has the same effect on humans. When it occurs naturally in foods, Monosodium Glutamate, or MSG, is a carefully regulated neurotransmitter and breaks down slowly during the digestive process. Originally used in Asian cooking and made from a variety of seaweed, today it is made from fermenting sugar beet molasses. MSG has no specific flavour of its own but it fools the brain into thinking food tastes better than it actually does. The blood-brain barrier protects this free glutamate from entering the brain. However, artificially adding high concentrations of free glutamate to food upsets this balance. If blood levels remain high, glutamate gradually seeps into the brain. Behavioural... [read full story]