7. Does MSG cause brain damage?
Barinaga, Marcia. “MSG: a 20-year debate continues.” Science
247.4938(1990): 21. Science in Context. Web. 11 Mar. 2014
excitotoxicity: ability to excite nerve cells to death
8. Hirosaki University (Japan): rats given
20% MSG diets showed eye damage
Graham-Rowe, Duncan. “Keep an eye on the MSG. (This
Week.”” New Scientist 176.2366 (2002): 11. Science in Context.
Web. 10. Mar. 2014.
In foods, only 0.5% of MSG is added.
9. In 2000, researchers from UCLA,
Harvard, and Northwestern studied 130
subjects who all claimed that they were
sensitive to MSG. The study was
double-blind. Only 2 subjects showed
consistent MSG sensitivity.
Freeman, Matthew. “Reconsidering
the effects of monosodium glutamate:
a literature review.” Journal of the
American Academy of Nurse
Practitioners 18(2006): 482-486
It’s mostly in Asian foods.
Acid + base = salt + water
Explain the plus and minus.
MSG exists in “seasonings.” Monosodium glutamate
At room temperature, MSG is a solid.
Five elements make up MSG: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sodium
* Soluble in water
MSG is made of a positive sodium ion (Na+) and a negative glutamate ion, which has the molecular formula (C5H8NO4−). Polar water interacts with these oppositely charged ions to dissolve the MSG.
http://www.middleschoolchemistry.com/lessonplans/chapter5/lesson5
It’s a salt. How are salts made? It’s made from neutralization: when an acid reacts with a base to form a salt and water.
Lone pairs
He studied seaweed and isolated the chemical that produced savory taste.
Get another drawing of glutamate showing carbon and hydrogen.
In the body, MSG is broken down to glutamate.
MSG is made of a positive sodium ion (Na+) and a negative glutamate ion, which has the molecular formula (C5H8NO4−). Polar water interacts with these oppositely charged ions to dissolve the MSG.
http://www.middleschoolchemistry.com/lessonplans/chapter5/lesson5
Glutamate shows carbon and hydrogen attachments*
MSG has identical chemical properties to that of glutamic acid, one of the 20 amino acids, which is made in the human body.
Other foods glutamate include meats, tomatoes, cheese, mushrooms
After cooking, MSG and glutamic acid becomes glutamate.
Glutamate:
MSG is in our favorite foods. It is a flavor enhancer. By itself, it has no flavor.
Fear of MSG probably started in the 1960s when a doctor wrote to a medical journal saying that he got a headache after eating Chinese food.
In 1969 Washington University neurophysiologist John Olney showed that a single dose of monosodium glutamate (MSG) given orally to rats or monkeys raised blood-glutamate levels and causes damage to the hypothalamus
--the ability of amino acids such as glutamate to literally excite nerve cells to death
The researchers concluded that MSG interferes with the receptors on the retina and damages them.
*20% . 2000 grams.
The ones with the most damage were fed food 20% of the diet included MSG.
Keep in mind, we only put 0.5% of MSG in our foods.
Giant bags of MSG
Double blind and placebo:
A double blind means
Placebo means…
