Whether you're a food connoisseur, or just an occasional Chinese food enthusiast -- you’ve probably heard about MSG, or monosodium glutamate.
It's a popular additive that's well known for its use in Asian cuisine, and can boost an overall flavor profile.
There’s a long standing theory that the substance can cause headaches, nausea and body fatigue. So we wanted to know -- is MSG actually bad for you?
For this one we’re turning to a couple of different sources. First up -- publications from the Mayo Clinic, we’re also getting some info the FDA.
The whole phenomenon can be traced back to a single letter written to the New England Journal of Medicine back in 1968. A man named Robert Ho Man Kwok created the term "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome" after supposedly experiencing numbness, weakness and heart palpitations after eating at Chinese Restaurants.
That letter would kick start 50 years of consumers actively avoiding the additive, even today it ranks among the top ten ingredients Americans try to stay away from according to the International Food Information Council and the Washington Post.
The Food and Drug Administration estimates we eat about half a gram of MSG a day on average. And despite decades of stigma, there’s actually no real documented evidence that suggest MSG can cause any type of adverse symptoms.
So based on the available evidence, we can verify that any claim that MSG is definitively bad for you is false.
The FDA says that although they have received some reports of symptoms over the years, they have never been able to confirm they were the result of MSG.
So next time you feel a stomach ache coming on after some Chinese food -- maybe you just had too much to eat.