Monosodium Glutamate (MSG): How to Replace it (2024)

FAQs

Monosodium Glutamate (MSG): How to Replace it? ›

One alternative to MSG is salt. However, salt has been proven to cause conditions like high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke when consumed in excess. Other healthier alternatives are natural taste enhancers, including garlic powder, onion powder, ginger, basil, oregano, thyme, dill, and more.

One alternative to MSG is salt. However, salt has been proven to cause conditions like high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke when consumed in excess. Other healthier alternatives are natural taste enhancers, including garlic powder, onion powder, ginger, basil, oregano, thyme, dill, and more.

When doing salt substitutions at home, use about half a teaspoon of MSG to season a pound of meat or a dish that serves four to six people. Or, start by substituting MSG for one-third of the salt you would normally use and then adjust the seasonings from there based on your preferences.

Drinking several glasses of water may help flush the MSG out of your system and shorten the duration of your symptoms.

Eat a fresh, natural diet.

This means when you buy prepackaged food, you more than likely will end up with some MSG in your food. Buy fresh vegetables and fruits, use only basic seasonings, such as salt and pepper. Instead of flavoring salts and prepackaged seasonings, try fresh spices and herbs to flavor your food.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has classified MSG as a food ingredient that's generally recognized as safe.

Foods such as soy sauce, kimchi (fermented vegetables), miso (soybean paste), and natto (fermented whole soybeans) are fermented. The fermentation process, like the curing process, also breaks down glutamate into free glutamate and gives a stronger umami taste.

Here's the good news: MSG contains two-thirds less the amount of sodium compared to table salt, so if you're looking to lower your sodium intake, reaching for MSG to flavor your food can help you eat less sodium.

Conclusion: MSG intake may have independent BP-increasing effects, especially among women and those taking hypertension medications at baseline and follow-up.

First the sugarcane is extracted as glucose and sent to a fermentation tank, to which fermentative microbes are then added. These microbes consume the glucose, releasing glutamic acid, which though neutralization is turned into a solution that contains MSG.

Does Chick-fil-A use MSG? ›

While MSG is present in some of our menu offerings as a flavor enhancer, we also offer a variety of options that do not contain added MSG. To help our customers make informed decisions, we provide ingredient statements on the Chick-fil-A app or on your local restaurant's menu page.

The more water you drink, the more active your kidneys will be. Your kidneys can help flush the MSG out, as they can with many other toxins that get into your body.

In many countries MSG goes by the name “China salt”. Beside its flavour enhancing effects, MSG has been associated with various forms of toxicity (Figure 1(Fig. 1)). MSG has been linked with obesity, metabolic disorders, Chinese Restaurant Syndrome, neurotoxic effects and detrimental effects on the reproductive organs.

McDonald's does not add MSG (monosodium glutamate) to its food, but they do use ingredients like hydrolyzed vegetable protein in several products.

There is no specific treatment for MSG symptom complex, although over-the-counter medications can be used to treat individual symptoms during an episode. For example, Tylenol (acetaminophen) or Excedrin (aspirin, acetaminophen, and caffeine) may ease a headache.

MSG is currently approved in most countries, however, in 2018, Pakistan banned the use of MSG due to health concerns for its citizens and Turkey also banned it 17 years ago for inclusion in food for the same reason.

However, MSG occurs naturally in ingredients such as hydrolyzed vegetable protein, autolyzed yeast, hydrolyzed yeast, yeast extract, soy extracts, and protein isolate, as well as in tomatoes and cheeses.

A variety of different types of sodium are found naturally in foods, added to foods to enhance flavor, and added as preservatives. MSG is just one type of sodium. Others include sodium chloride (table salt), sodium nitrite, sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), sodium saccharin and sodium benzoate, notes MedlinePlus.

MSG is short for monosodium glutamate. It's a flavor enhancer derived from L-glutamic acid, which is naturally present in many foods. L-glutamic acid is a nonessential amino acid, meaning that your body can produce it by itself and doesn't need to get it from food ( 1 ).