Every time you eat this, you kill some of your brain cells. . . within hours.
It’s not obscure or uncommon. In fact, you probably eat it every day. It’s in your freezer, your fridge, your pantry, and even at your favorite restaurant.
And it’s highly addictive, which makes it dangerous. Yet it doesn’t get nearly as much attention as alcohol, nicotine, and drugs.
In fact, the people in Washington who ‘protect’ us from harmful foods wink and look the other way.
If you want to protect yourself from degenerative diseases, it’s essential to know about this. Keep reading. . .
Remember those "Bet you can’t eat just one" potato chip ads?
Well, it turns out that the brand’s secret is a hidden addictive ingredient -- monosodium glutamate (MSG). Only it’s not just in potato chips and Chinese food. It’s in practically every food the food manufacturing industry touches.
MSG transforms bland, ordinary foods into treats so delicious, the phrase "lip-smacking good" comes to mind. Add in the fact that it’s habit-forming, and MSG is a godsend for the food industry’s bottom line. But not so much for your health.
Many believe that this ‘safe’ food is worse than alcohol, nicotine, and drugs.1
MSG can lead to epilepsy and grand mal seizures, stomach disorders, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, depression, headaches and migraines, stroke, heart attack, autism, asthma… and it’s like fertilizer for cancer cells.
Mainstream medicine claims there’s no proven link between MSG and these diverse symptoms.2
But distinguished alternative neurologist Dr. Russell Blaylock explains that brain symptoms often don’t develop until you’ve already destroyed 80 percent of one part of your brain.
Then BAM!
Without warning you get Parkinson’s, ALS, or Alzheimer’s. Of course, by then the damage is irreversible and symptoms escalate fast. But the truth is, you’ve been eating poison for a long time before you get sick.
Excitotoxins kill your brain
Excitotoxins are substances that damage or kill nerve cells by excessive stimulation – a sort of hyperactivity. This can occur within moments. And MSG is at or near the top of the list of common excitotoxins.
Excitotoxins not only kill your brain cells, they damage other cells too. Animals given MSG show toxicity-related changes in liver, kidneys, nerves, and eyes within minutes.
Dr. Blaylock makes clear that this is no allergen – contrary to popular belief. It is a poison. The more you consume, the more damage you’ll inflict on yourself. It doesn’t matter if your ‘symptom’ is the same or different than the next person’s.
Poisoning you for profit
The food industry started adding MSG to our food in 1945. Turns out the U.S. Department of Agriculture regards it as ‘safe’ – even though they didn’t bother conducting studies to see if it actually is.
Think about the foods you can’t get enough of — Doritos, Lays potato chips, Top Ramen — that’s right, they’re laced with MSG. The list goes on: crackers, salad dressings, barbeque sauce, ice cream, and even infant formula.
Not only does MSG add irresistible flavor to out-and-out bland foods, it also makes great foods taste better. So don’t think your favorite high-end restaurant is above using it.
I’ve learned to identify MSG – or at least suspect it’s present – if a dish tastes so exceptionally good I can hardly resist it. The reaction has little to do with the actual flavors in the food – I would describe it as a sort of abstract “deliciousness” that’s unmoored from the other ingredients.
With these flavor-enhanced foods enticing you to come back for more and more… it’s easy to see why the food industry is so excited about their addicted consumers.
The average American consumes nearly two pounds of MSG every year.
Almost guaranteed to make you fat
In 1968, Dr. John Olney discovered that ALL his MSG-fed lab animals became obese. And the more MSG they ate, the fatter they got.
Recent studies confirm this link to obesity.3,4
MSG decimates your leptin receptors. These are the receptors that signal your brain to tell you to stop eating – you’ve had enough. With your leptin receptors knocked out, your brain literally can’t tell when you’re full, so you just keep eating.
Studies show that people experience more cravings after eating MSG-laced foods. No wonder you can’t eat just one! Now you know why certain foods are so addictive.
MSG also damages your kidneys and the proteins responsible for keeping your metabolism functioning properly.5
As if that weren’t enough, MSG destroys your hypothalamus – your brain’s weight control center. MSG keeps your cells’ calcium channels frozen in the open position. Your cells start pumping out excess calcium, but they can’t keep up and die in a few hours.6
It’s like bailing water out of a boat with a large hole in the bottom – a lost cause.
Obesity isn’t the only side effect. A damaged hypothalamus also causes short stature and reproductive problems.7 And scientists are just starting to learn it plays a role in memory as well.
Children are especially sensitive — four times more sensitive than adults. Feeding MSG to an infant or toddler almost guarantees that child will be obese by adolescence or adulthood.
It goes without saying that obesity is linked to diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.8
Gives cancer ‘super powers’
Speaking of cancer, MSG makes melanoma, brain, breast, thyroid, and colon cancers practically incurable. It endows cancer with super powers.
Dr. Blaylock describes how MSG fuels cancer growth…
Cancer cells have glutamate receptors. When exposed to glutamate, tumors grow much faster and invade more aggressively. A patient’s prognosis for melanoma and squamous cell carcinoma of the throat is directly related to the number of glutamate receptors.
If you have ANY of these kinds of cancer and you eat foods with MSG, you’re pouring gasoline on the fire.
Cancer isn’t the only disease MSG fuels, either. It’s also linked to Parkinson’s disease, ALS, MS, ADHD, and Alzheimer’s. And it can trigger asthma attacks. And heart attacks in athletes.
Unborn babies are at risk, too. Studies show that MSG damages DNA while babies are still in utero.9
Where you’re most likely to find MSG
While the food industry claims there’s no negative effect from MSG, they go to some lengths to mislead you about whether it’s in a food or not. This suggests a lack of innocence. Why hide something that’s not dangerous?
To try to sneak MSG past you, they use 40 different names for ‘monosodium glutamate’ on food labels. It’s not easy to identify it in processed or restaurant foods, because it goes by so many names that mean nothing to you if you’re not a food chemist.
Worse, it’s in nearly everything. So don’t just single out Chinese restaurants, even though they have a well-deserved reputation for using lots of MSG.
Beware of ‘free glutamate.’ Watch for other innocent sounding names like hydrolyzed protein, autolyzed yeast, soy protein extract or isolate, vegetable protein isolate, natural flavors, unidentified spice, and carrageenan. Also stay away from anything ‘enriched,’ ultra-pasteurized, or protein-fortified.
Carrageenan is especially dangerous. It’s added to ice cream (even expensive brands!), other dairy products (including yogurt), packaged baked goods, and some brands of margarine.
If you MUST buy prepared, frozen or packaged foods, use this rule of thumb: If there are more than four or five items in a list of ingredients, don’t buy the item.
The best option is to avoid processed and "convenience" foods altogether. Make your own meals from fresh fruits, vegetables and meats, and patronize restaurants that do the same (this leaves out most chain and fast food restaurants).
McDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell, and many sit-down chain restaurants (including TGIF, Chili's, Denny's and Applebee's) use MSG liberally.
Most chain and franchised restaurants depend on pre-packaged and ready-to-heat menu selections. They don’t prepare your food on the premises. They just pop it in a microwave before serving you. I’d love to tell you that fancier restaurants are innocent, but it’s a good idea to ask them whether they add any MSG to their food.
Even some "unprocessed" food can pose a risk if it’s not organic. Conventional hens and turkeys are injected with 10 percent hydrolyzed protein (glutamate!) to ‘tenderize’ them. Large fertilizer and pesticide companies use MSG-tainted growth enhancers for crops still in the fields.
Here’s something food makers won’t tell you: Researchers use MSG when they want to grow cancer cells. Yikes!
Detox with supplements
Selenium protects your cells from dying.10 Glutamate (MSG) fragments your cells’ mitochondria (the ‘powerhouse’ of your cells), but selenium prevents this damage11 and protects your glutamate receptors.
Lycopene counteracts MSG’s brain toxicity by keeping your brain tissue from self-destructing.12
Also useful:
- Magnesium
- Ginkgo biloba — may protect from excitotoxicity (nerve damage caused by MSG)
- Omega-3 fish oil — blocks excitotoxins and repairs cellular damage
- Red clover — may reduce brain cell neuron damage
- Zinc — protects receptors from excessive excitotoxin absorption
- Milk thistle (silymarin)
- Curcumin
- Taurine
- Vitamins B1, B6, C, and E
These supplements can be helpful but they’re not a substitute for simply eating good food. Frequent your local farmer’s market and buy local, organic produce and meat. Read labels, ask questions of local farmers, and stay vigilant.
And realize that government ‘oversight’ is the equivalent of the fox guarding the hen house.
Best regards,
Lee Euler,
Publisher
