MSG Allergy and Its Symptoms
MSG Allergy and Its Symptoms
By Jeffrey Frasco
Monosodium glutamate is a food additive and seasoning which is used to enhance the flavor of food. It is typically, Asian cooking, which uses considerable quantities of this ingredient. There have been reports of physical reactions suggesting MSG allergy. The usual signs of this reaction are numbness in the back of the neck, the arms and shoulders; this may be accompanied by heart palpitations and a feeling of weakness and drowsiness, chest pains, headaches and dizziness.
Controlled experiments were conducted on MSG allergy to determine the effects of certain quantities of MSG given at first without food and later with food. It was observed that the mere presence of MSG in food does not normally provoke allergic symptoms. Production of symptoms typically happens only when MSG is administered in pure form. These results strongly indicate that the adverse effects of MSG on the body are not produced through an allergic reaction. Real food allergies are provoked by the mere presence of the allergen in the body, regardless of whether it was ingested in the pure state or mixed with other food ingredients and whether it was taken in large or small quantities. No statistical proof taken from results of experiments have ever shown a regularly occurring correspondence between MSG intake and the said symptoms.
Theories have been proposed suggesting that the adverse effects of taking in MSG are not allergic reactions but irritant effects on the nervous system and other organs of the body triggered by the presence of MSG in the blood. The side-effects of ingesting MSG have been interpreted as an intolerance for it rather than MSG allergy. Allergies are caused by the action of histamines on selected organs in the human body. Intolerance reactions do not involve the creation of Ige antibodies to the substance and the action of histamine is not involved.
Another point brought up in support of the stand that MSG allergy is really MSG intolerance is that those symptoms have not manifested to a degree that can be called severe or life-threatening and no anaphylactic effects have been noted with MSG reactions. In the light of those facts it makes more sense to classify MSG reactions as intolerance rather than allergy.
Whether MSG itself is an allergen or whether it contains chemical ingredients that produce such symptoms as have been observed in people after eating food laced with MSG, the fact remains that this substance, taken in large amounts is suspected of eliciting unhealthy reactions. Medical tests can ascertain whether MSG may be causing symptoms detrimental to health and whether these manifestations are really caused by intolerance or MSG allergy. The possibility of an actual allergy to MSG occurring, typified by histamine release, should not be discarded.
The fact that MSG reactions are generally held to be non-allergic but due to one or some of its ingredients should not encouraged complacency when such attacks do occur. The patient should avail of a medical check-up as early as possible so that the nature of the bad reaction.
For more information about Allergic Reactions, Chemical Reactions, and Alcohol Reactions visit reactions.com.
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