subject: Minimizing The Effects Of Glutamate [print this page] What is glutamate? What is glutamate?
The amino acid, glutamate, is found in foods rich with protein. In nature, glutamate is found in the human body as well as in a variety of food sources such as vegetables, fish, meat, and diary products. Glutamate is important for the human body because it is necessary for proper brain function and for regulating the body's metabolism. A salt of glutamate is monosodium glutamate, which is better known as MSG.
How Monosodium Glutamate Effects People
There are fair amount of people who have developed a sensitivity or allergic reaction to MSG. Large amounts of MSG can affect anybody; however, consuming small amounts of MSG does affect some people. The negative side effects will vary depending on how sensitive someone is to MSG as well as to that person's particular body chemistry. For example, inflammation and joint pain can be exasperated by MSG if a person already has arthritis. Someone with a heart condition or high blood pressure may have heart palpitations. In addition, it can also lead to depression, anxiety panic attacks, anger, insomnia, and migraines. For people suffering from neurological disorders, mental conditions or autoimmune diseases, MSG can aggravate the existing symptoms.
Ways to Minimize the Side Effects
Altering one's diet and being aware of what food products have monosodium glutamate added to them are ways to minimizing the negative effects. One way to reduce the amount of MSG in the diet is to use pressure canning. By pressure canning your own food, you will be able to reduce or eliminate MSG from your diet. There are a number of ways to accomplish this. You can grow your own garden, grow a community garden, or buy food at either a grocery store or the farmer's market. When pressure canning be sure that you use a canning mix that is MSG free or create your own canning mix. In addition, food retains more of its valuable nutrients when pressure canned.
Avoiding foods with MSG will assist you in reducing the side effects. When in a restaurant, be sure to request food that is MSG free. When deciding what to eat, choose fresh foods such as fruit and vegetables. Green tea is also a good drink alternative. Stay away from soy sauce, dipping sauces, and marinated foods. These almost always have some amount of MSG added to them. In addition, people who are sensitive to MSG should stay away from tangle, fish and seafood extract because these can make a person quite ill. Aspartame is no better for the body then MSG so it is best to avoid drinks containing it as well. Most diet colas have aspartame in them.
