Camouflaging MSG and its Effect on America’s Weight Gain

There’s a reason people say everything that’s bad for you tastes so good while health food is so boring. Chemical additives and flavorings sit on the ingredient list that make junk food taste good and fire up your brain to crave that one thing that makes your mouth water. Without these additives, processed food would taste awful! The “hidden addiction” MSG (monosodium glutamate) is one of them and is a popular buzzword among health-foodies as the truth about its effect on wellness and weight gain are becoming more public. While people are taking note of the “No MSG” packaging, food distributors are hiding this harmful additive under the guise of different names, camouflaging an ingredient that is affecting America’s weight gain.

MSG is an extremely common additive and flavor enhancer, used in almost every processed food available. It is also used in labs to fatten up rats for testing. This is a common practice as rats are not naturally fat. That being said, neither are we as humans. Think about the effect this simple “salt-like” ingredient is having on our health, our children, and our future. The food industries we naively trust put MSG in the food we consume and unknowingly we partake. Furthermore, as we awaken to its dangerous potential, they simply change the name to keep us in the dark and coming back for more.

So how is MSG making all of us and those lab rats fat? The short science of it is this: MSG stimulates the pancreas and increases the output of insulin by three times the normal output. The extra amount of insulin crashes your blood sugar, converting the sugar in your blood to fat. This is very dangerous to the general public, and more so to those who are already insulin sensitive. Dr. Robert Lustig states that chronic overproduction of insulin is what causes obesity. He states, “Insulin shunts (fructose) sugar to fat. Insulin makes fat. More insulin, more fat. Period.” While insulin is not necessarily a bad hormone—in fact, it is quite necessary—this information sends a chilling message about excess levels of insulin as a result of MSG consumption.

Don’t eat in the dark. Knowingly consume food products that promote your longevity and lifestyle. Buy organic, fresh produce and food items that do not have ingredient lists. When you do buy other foods, avoid big brands and do your research to understand what the ingredients are—especially when they can so easily be camouflaged.

To help you stay away from foods that contain MSG, I’ve composed a small list of some of the names that can be used to disguise MSG from consumers. I’ve compiled this list with the help of the Gabriel Method, the Baylock Wellness Report, and the book The Slow Poisoning of America by T. Michelle Erb and John E. Erb. Look for these on an ingredient list before you buy. Do your research for others that I’ve missed! Even natural products have a way of making their food easily and cheaply produced, yet better than the competition.

*The ingredients on this list will not always have MSG, but MSG may occasionally be found in all of them. (After all, not all calcium is MSG.)