I remember this one UK show about food science. In one episode they gathered some people and served them a meal. After the meal, people were interviewed and then told that the meal had MSG in it. Some of the interviewed claimed to feel headaches or some other mild symptoms and one woman in particular went as far as saying that she "had noticed the taste of MSG" and "had been having headaches since then". However, they lied. There wasn't any MSG in the food. I still remember the face of that middle age woman who said she felt the taste of MSG in the food...
@@larryp.60 i mean that is the placebo effect. I mean its so strong that most pain medication does nothing more than simply convincing someone that they will feel better. The human mind is pretty fucked.
@@larryp.60 how, how would that even be biased? From the comment it was literally filmed and all they did was give people a meal which they claimed had MSG in it, watch their reactions, document the nocebo effect, and then tell them the truth. That, really can't be biased. Its not like this was a massive data driven survey or anything where you could cherry pick or manipulate the data, from the comment this was literally just serving a meal to a few people and watchnig how their minds fill in the gaps.
I had a girlfriend who claimed to be allergic to it. She would read food labels to avoid eating anything with MSG or "natural flavoring" (label-code for MSG). I've heard other people say it "tricks your taste buds into thinking something tastes good," which just sounds like any other seasoning, if you think about it for a second. I'm surprised there was no mention in the video of soy sauce (fermented soybean juice), which I understand is naturally high in MSG.
I knew someone who actually was allergic to MSG itself. Their face would visibly swell up and after enough exposures their throat started swelling shut. And yeah they did have severe health issues from being unable to have a LOT of things like sundried tomatoes, soy sauce, etc.
@pat mckinzie It's not completely false. A Chinese restaurant near where I lived as a teenager got shut down after the health inspector caught them labeling horse meat as beef.
Tomato and Mushrooms are some of the foods that contain natural MSG. So, the reason that mushroom soup or tomato sauce didn't taste any different or enhanced, is because it already was because of that natural MSG. Cheers!
@@ytskt I'm asking what *your* point is. I think Adam takes pretty good care in the video to acknowledge the cultural moral panic about MSG, and I think the concerns he does raise are well-contextualised and well-argued. And I don't at all see what your comment has to do with Chirag's.
I want to add that this "criticism" is not unique to "European/American" people only though. A lot of people who grew up in Muslim cultures, for example, seriously believe that eating pork is bad for your health. And we're not talking about religious taboos here. Some of them just think pork is somehow intrinsically unhealthy, even though it is not true, scientifically, in comparison to other types of meat, and many pork-consuming countries have some of the longest life expectancies.
To me msg is like salt. Can you get a seizure from salt, yes. Are people panicking on the streets, no. It's the same with msg. Don't eat too much and you'll be fine.
Mnemosyne Barton Your body is made of salt. Your blood needs sodium in it in order to be healthy. Sodium. is an essential mineral. The people who cant eat salt are dead. Almost every food has salt in it
Mnemosyne Barton Also i hope youre not eating potato chips, doritos, sausages, hotdogs and other processed meats, seaweed, tomatoes, soy sauce, parmesan cheese, and the list goes on and on. You probably eat msg on a daily basis. Lmao
one time i made eggs and accidentally seasoned my eggs with MSG instead of salt. i kept adding, tasting, adding, and tasting, and was so confused as to why my eggs didn't taste savory enough. it tasted good but somehow lacked saltiness. then i pulled out some actual salt, put it on my eggs, and then it tasted right, which was when i realized the thing i was sprinkling on before was MSG. u need both to really lift the flavor of ur food.
@@dixonyamada6969 Well from my experience, having sweetness, savoriness, and saltiness is like... I mean I can't really describe how it taste like, other than telling you that it tastes really good.
@@dixonyamada6969 It lifts certain base flavours - think about how popular ketchup it, the reason it's so popular is because it's an almost perfect combination of Sweet, Sour, Salt, Glutimate and Bitter, and so when used on so many foods, it just lifts them all in every way possibly.
I made an order for a takeaway Asian restaurant once, and mentioned in the notes to add extra MSG to the fried rice. They called me up extremely confused and asked if I meant I wanted no MSG.
I like your videos man, but seriously... you gotta learn how to actually *use* MSG before damning its usage as an ingredient. "The taste is not immediately obvious when I add a sprinkle to [XYZ]". So... should we apply the same standard to bay leaves, or garlic? MSG, in small amounts, can add a subtle umami to things. It should stay in the backburner. Like salt, if the taste of the MSG is super obvious, you've added too much MSG. I agree that in the USA there's been a cultural over-correction of sorts. Too many people out there view MSG as 'magical yummy powder' or 'super salt'. MSG has a place in your pantry next to the salt, the granulated sugar, and the white distilled vinegar. It's a pure taste that can help balance a dish. It is not magical yummy powder - it's a useful ingredient that can sit in a cupboard with other useful ingredients. Use 1/8 tsp *max* per 300-400g of food. Do not expect it to fundamentally alter the taste - after all, that's not what you want. You want it to stay in the background, give a bit of depth to stuff with overly sharp flavors. Here's an alternative experiment for you: make some homemade blended hot sauce. Do so with Habaneros... *really* amp up the heat. Make it hot enough where you're saying to yourself "man, this's really uncomfortable". Then slowly start to add MSG to the sauce, see how well it rounds it out. There's a reason Sichuan food is chock to the brim with MSG, after all - there's nothing better to balance the heat of raw capsaicin. In any event, thanks for doing your part in combating the "MSG is harmful" myth. But yeah... too much MSG on that chicken/chips man, that must've been gross as shit.
I really adore how measured you are in your approach to potentially controversial food science. You don't strike me as having a perspective you are aiming to sell. Your intellectual curiosity shines through, and it makes the videos incredibly enjoyable to watch. Also, let Lauren know I'm reading Better than the Best Plan and it's so much fun! A great postpartum (in other words, tired, cranky, potentially stressed and seeking respite) read.
This. I am glad I found this channel. It is a realistic approach to understanding food at a scientific level (distilled down for mass consumption). And he doesn't overcomplicate to solidify his niche.
@Franz I'm not going to respond to everything you said here, because frankly a lot of it is nonsensical. But I need to correct where you have said things that are simply false. I never said I "bought into margarine being healthier a healthier alternative to butter back in the day." I simply never said anything of the sort. Nor did I ever say that I deprive my children of red meat, or encourage anyone else to do so. Regarding teflon, I have no idea what you think you're talking about. No expert thinks the pans are terribly dangerous. The reason the EU is looking at bans is because of PFAS chemicals leaked into the environment from the non-stick production process, and from products like water-proof clothing that is literally coated in GenX. Lastly, the assertion that I'm being lazy is absurd. I am being humble. I am knowing my place. I am not a scientist, and I am not qualified to challenge the scientific consensus. No one should care what my opinions are about the science. Instead, I seek out qualified experts and relate their knowledge and opinions to my audience. That is all I am qualified to do.
Asian restaurants are pressured to have no MSG signs while KFC along with every American savory snack liberally uses it. USA! USA! USA! Fun fact: Japan is the heaviest user of MSG and have the highest life expectancy along with Greeks.
What? The Japanese life expectancy exceeds 80 and they have the most centenarians in the world. They literally have MSG everyday in their meals and snacjs. No obesity problems and much less heart and stomach problems per capita than Americans.
Umm I think this is obvious as to why.. MSG is FAR more common(at least it WAS) in Chinese and Asian cooking. American foods establishments get away with this now as they are less likely to use MSG (or were), and have only more recently started using MSG more routinely. But this stems simply from misinformation about MSG in the first place. Incorrect articles and research about MSG that made people afraid of it. I do not think this is anyone's fault specifically for the MSG-hesitancy, but I also do not think it is rooted in racism or Xenophobia.
Calling headache symptoms as "Chinese-Restaurant syndrome" is like calling obesity as "American-Diner syndrome" or calling digestive issues as "Indian-Streetfood syndrome" 💀
There are plenty of food additives that cause allergies that are not MSG. And there are Chinese restaurants that use a lot of additives, and others that use none (aside from salt and spices). When you have allergies to chemical additives you can tell the difference fairly easily. I get a dry cough after some restaurant food, but not after others. Next to fast food, Americanized Chinese restaurants are usually the second worst. But like I said there are exceptions.
@@ericchen776 It's mostly in the seasonings, and I never said it was specific to Americanized Chinese. They use a lot of whatever it is that gives me the bad cough and rash in fast food, especially A&W. I don't have issues with Italian restaurants or Mexican restaurants though, along with most other culturally focused restaurants, so yes, I would say that Americanized Chinese stands out as worse than most, at least for me. It seems you expect a guy in the comment section to have a PHD on food additives, which I don't. It is an anecdotal comment on the internet. Chill out, and stop getting so defensive.
I spent the whole video fearing that a NOOOOOO would burst out from the speakers at any time. Thankfully it didn't happen . Thank you, Adam, for a great peaceful, informational and entertaining video.
He only does that when basic, easy, recepies have been littered with nonsense "secrets"... Like vegetable soup. Veg+water+heat..... [But then you have to have 10 week old sauteed mushroom sauce...] NO! Just boil the damn vegetables ffs.
*So the conclusion of this video is:* *1.* MSG is not harmful if used in moderation *2.* MSG does not make already tasty food taste better *3.* MSG makes bland food taste great
It's been one year since I started doing MSG powder. First it was all fun, and I felt great. I was eating it after every meal, every night before I went to bed... it was a great experience. But my obsession grew. I started incorporating it into every aspect of my life. Used it on my toothbrush when I brushed in the morning... gargled with it. Put it in my coffee. Then it turned detrimental. I would snort lines of it before I went to school. Put it in my pipe and smoked it before work. The next thing I knew, was that I was heating it up in a spoon, and putting a syringe into my intestines. Man, was that a great pump.
Industrial fermentation followed by chemical stabilization can also technically describe wine production (at least on a large enough scale). I wonder if anybody would argue that wine is unnatural, or if this more a matter of semantics and personal bias.
@@Magneticlaw And MSG is from bacteria! Also perfectly natural - in fact, bacteria have been around in nature for hundreds of millions of years longer than grapes have, and grapes are domesticated, so one could say grapes are _more_ unnatural in comparison!
I make my own Ranch dressing (Cook's Illustrated recipe). It calls for 1/2 tsp of salt. Last time I made it, I swapped it for 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp MSG, and I laughed when I tasted it. It tasted EXACTLY like Hidden Valley Ranch.
I love how most people that say "chinese takeout gives me headaches- msg you know" eat like tons of products that msg like bags and bags of doritos and cheetos and never complain about them lol.
@@AssyMcgeeKicksAce who said they did? I said most people that say this dont complain about any other source of msg, not that most people have a problem with chinese takeout.
As I recall, the whole MSG hysteria began with a restaurant reviewer writing about his experience eating at an Asian restaurant. He wrote a review blaming his headache on MSG. He left out that he also consumed enough alcohol to induce a hangover. P.S. Ikeda did not find monosodium glutamate in seaweed. He found glutamate, figured out it was responsible for umami, and then had to figure out how to stabilize it so it could be used in food. He did this by adding sodium, hence "monosodium". He deserves a Nobel prize.
I mean it's also possible that the alcohol plus the salt in the MSG plus him not drinking water caused some minor dehydration and lead to a headache something that is easily a side effect of not drinking enough water also alcohol dehydrates as well too much MSG is probably bad but how much is too much matters on a LOT of factors and probably different person to persona and is probably not as big of a deal as some people have made it out to be granted more studies into food are always welcomed hopefully they will actually be unbiased.
So eating tomatoes and cheese is harmful? Glutamic acid is found in both foods. The human body synthesizes glutamic acid, which is strange if you regard it as harmful. Extensive testing has shown that MSG is not harmful to health.
@@gbennett58 Bound glutamates are in tomatoes, celery, mushrooms, cheese. They're still in their whole form. Free glutamates are no longer attached to the amino acid and spike the level of glutamates in the blood stream. MSG is the unnatural form of glutamic acid.
MSG - true story. I was hosting a large party with some friends. I was making a huge green salad in an old wooden salad bowl handed down for who knows how long. As I was taught, I rubbed the inside with a raw garlic clove. But my twist on tradition was a light toss of MSG, after which I added the lettuce, then drizzled the vinaigrette down the side of the bowl, then tossed it all together. This meant I could set it up and leave it without the lettuces wilting. In this instance, big bowl, only two hands, I'd left the vinaigrette in the kitchen. I went back and got it, returned to the buffet to add it to the bowl...the now empty bowl...WTF? I'd of sworn I left a bowl full of lettuce here. It was really disorienting, until...the ravening hordes surrounded me...asking for more of that delicious salad. "It's the best dressing I ever had," etc. etc. etc. A tiny bit of raw garlic rubbed on a wooden bowl, a very light sprinkling of MSG (it is after all a salt) and some leafy red and green lettuce. I tried it later on, just as an experiment, and it did taste good. Better than good. It was somehow mildly entrancing. I could actually taste the lettuce (and a faint whiff of garlic) without the overpowering acid/oil of a vinaigrette. My mom and I had been using it for years in our cooking but hadn't noticed quite how big difference it can make. First time I made roast chicken for my Aunt, sprinkled with a little garlic salt and MSG, she (a cranky woman who never liked anything) raved about it. "The best chicken I've ever had." Unfortunately, or fortunately, where a little is magic, a lot isn't transformational, at least not in a good way. If you want to test this yourself, steam some plain green beans, serve them with just a pinch of MSG and taste. They've suddenly got more flavor -- their own is amped up. MSG is, after all, meant to enhance flavors, and it does. As for the MSG syndrome, people had been eating in Chinese restaurants, eating food containing MSG, for decades without ill effect. Why they would suddenly believe they were now alllergic to it is a mystery to me. I taught Chinese stir fry in a community college level culinary program. I had had a student warn me that she was deathly allergic to MSG. "It sent me to the emergency room." While I had my doubts, I wasn't taking any chances. I spent hours going from store to store sourcing Chinese sauces and condiments without MSG, in particular, oyster sauce. Come the first class, we made, among other things, fried rice, with oyster sauce. It wasn't until everyone was sampling the food, including my deathly allergic student, that I found the non-MSG oyster sauce container, sitting there, unopened. Do I call 911 now or after she falls to the floor in whatever. No surprise, she pigged out, raved about the flavor, and had no ill effects. Wow, sorry, that was a brain dump, but MSG is one of those things I'm a bug about. If people would just use a little common sense, not panic and, above all, not overindulge, we'd all be a lot happier.
oyster sauce (like any fermented protein) is even a source of naturally occuring glutamate, the only part theorethically missing is the sodium ions, which you'd also get from regular salt (and are most likely present in oyster sauce as well)
@@cozyvamp Oh yeah she would have suddenly started having symptoms like a kid that just fell down, didn't realize people were watching than starts crying for attention.
"As a test I added MSG to MSG broth and couldn't tell the difference, then I added MSG to MSG sauce and couldn't tell the difference again! So I added MSG to a bland dish and, guess what? It tasted like I added mushroom broth to it!"
Tomatoes and mushrooms are two ingredients that already contain significant amounts of glutamate. They're also usually absent in the American Chinese recipes where MSG is used. This was like emptying a bucket of water into a partially filled bath tub and then complaining that you didn't see much of a difference in the water level. MSG works best in foods that contain little to none if it. If Doritos were made with plenty of real cheese powder they wouldn't need MSG. It's just that they can use a tiny amount of actual cheese powder and then some much cheaper MSG and sodium to get close to a "more cheese" flavor profile.
Your natural glutamate sources argument is off base. Tomatoes have glutamates but far less than meat. MSG is primarily used in cooking to complement flavours of meat. It actually works really well with foods that are already extremely high in glutamates. Adam appears to be just not adding enough salt for MSG to shine in his chosen recipes.
@@l26wang Krawurxus is mostly right though. You're right that meat has much higher total glutamate content than tomatoes, but the majority of it is bound to proteins and bound glutamate contributes very little to taste. Free glutamate, which tomatoes are very rich in, is the one that contributes the most to flavour. In fact, meat can easily have much higher overall glutamate content than even parmesan cheese, but the latter has a much stronger umami flavour because it's full of free glutamates.
My favorite response to the "it's all natural so it must be good for you" was my grandmother pointing to her foxglove plants on the windowsill. She said "those are all natural too and they look beautiful but if you eat a blossom or two you'll be fertilizing your own flowers after your soon to be funeral. Just because something is all natural doesn't mean it's good for you. People have been killing each other for millenia with all natural ingredients."
I lived in Japan for a year. MSG is a staple in my cabinet and I never tell guests if I've used it (although when I'm making japanese food I use dashi which has a lot of umami). They compliment the food and never complain. MSG gets too much heat and definitely should be more accepted in cooking.
You should probably tell your guests just in case someone is sensitive to it. My mother gets severe gastrointestinal distress from even small amounts within minutes. And it's not imaginary, I've tested for that. 🤓🍻
Uh, you should definitely tell people what you put in your food, there was just a guy in the comments talking about how he’s has seizures induced because of MSG
Yeah and please warn you guest when you use salt and pepper in your food too, I once saw a guy in a youtube comment that claimed he was allergic to salt and he would definitely sue your sorry ass if you invited him over for dinner
as a child born in 75 and loving chinese take out, kung fu and all things asian thru the 80s i actually remember my mom and others bringing up that i shouldnt eat allot of chinese food because of the msg and that study lol
Yeah I also don't remember there being a whole lot of "anti-asian xenophobia" in my neck of the woods... and I grew up in the southern midwest. My parents just told me that American-ized Asian food was unhealthy, like every other over-indulgent carb-heavy Americanized restaurant food -- such as Americanized Italian food, Americanized Mexican food, Americanized American food...
@@MrShagification Yea you're probs right, but i think the reason he can't taste it is because mushroom and tomatoes have MSG in them before you even add any so yea
You are incredibly articulate and precise with what you want to say and how you get it across. There's no BS 3 minute intro, you don't ever sway off track, and you don't leave cliff hangers for the final minute to enhance watch time. I find that extremely admirable, as UA-camrs like you are far and few between. Just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate your style, almost as much as I appreciate YOU. Thanks for the quality content, as always :D
MSG adds such a good flavor. My mom is Japanese and used it in stews and other concoctions. I tried replicating her recipes without it but it doesn’t work. It adds the umami flavor.
So, I think that the reason adding MSG to mushroom stock / tomato sauce has little effect is because the mushroom stock / tomato sauce already has a lot of naturally occurring umami flavor, whereas the tortilla chips you added MSG to don't.
I agree. I often use mushroom powder when cooking, but I just don't see the point of using it in spaghetti sauce because it won't change the flavor at all. Coffee & Worcestershire sauce on the other hand DO add nice flavor to tomato sauce.
That’s the whole reason our bodies like glutamate. The foods that it’s in naturally are rich in nutrients that are rare in nature. Tomatoes, mushrooms, but especially red meat. Think about how many micronutrients are in those foods that aren’t in berries and cereals. So when you take that taste our bodies associate with “rare treat with lots of vitamins” and add it to empty calories, you get a dysregulated appetite. It’s not some insidious killer like leaded gasoline or asbestos, but the eating habits that cause obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and high blood pressure are killing people every day.
One thing that was missed here is mentioning the use of MSG in vegan foods. It works really well to add depth to foods if you're avoiding adding animal products to your food.
If you don't consider a product of bacteria to be an animal product, but I assume vegans don't, because if they did they literally couldn't eat anything.
The same thing happened in the 60's with cyclamates. Diet soda came out that did not have any after taste..After a very short life it was deemed dangerous. As it turned out the testing that was done to determine it's safety was the equv.of drinking 100 cans of soda a day. We figured it had to have been funded by one of the big sugar companies.
Tbf, I'm from the south, and I personally know people that drink enough soda for the artificial sweeteners to be harmful, and a couple that actually have health issues from them. That said, there's no way it could be worse than high fructose corn syrup. Also, at the point that artificial sweeteners become problematic, you'd also be getting too much sugar or too much of something else. I think so long as you're happy with the taste, and enjoy in moderation (and have no health issues regarding them), go for whatever. I personally don't like the flavor of artificial sweeteners, and feel like they destroy the flavor profile and overpower most things they're added to. I only drink sodas with real sugar though, because I feel that corn syrup does the same.
Same thing they did with vaping. They tested the effects of e-juice at temperatures well over boiling in comical concentrations and ignored that no human could physically do that.
Loli Hitler and if we didn’t burn the Tobacco but used a dry herb vaporizor, i could see that. But burning the plant, i see no way it could be healthier than a vaporized product. Unless that vaporized material is something like Azidoazide Azide...
This channel is better than all my years at culinary school. Wickedly interesting. We love you Adam!!!! -Chef Ortiz (currently drinking coffee watching your channel, 10pm at night, San Diego, CA) =]
MSG is great to have around but it's a fickle-ass ingredient when it comes to what it improves and what it doesn't. In scrambled eggs it's nuts, but I agree on the tomato sauce front. Tomatoes are already rich in glutamates so it seems almost redundant.
I someone to make a tutorial on how to make MSG at home. Then the grandmas will know it isn't some evil thing made in a chemistry lab (even though the kitchen is basically a chemistry lab)
@@vali_bg5234 See adam's latest video on yeast extract. Yeast extract is rich in amino acids and inosinates, all flavour enhancers. Add a pinch of salt and done.
Can confirm Doesn't go well with curry, I tried it, I mean it was decent but........... The curry was probably better without it but other than that, it compliments well with spicy and sweet or even sour, never with tomatos in the mix
9:48 "You wanna know what three grams of MSG looks like?" Cuts to MSG: "Yeah. That's a lot. That's probably not what you're eating" Me looking at an empty bowl of MSG popcorn: Huh
I spent almost thirty years of my life as a chef and I would use MSG. ... ... However, I used it as a supplement to salt to help bring out the flavor of the food without it tasting too salty.
Just gunna throw this out there, I've had curiosity stream for well over 2 years now and I absolutely LOVE it. Its inexpensive and its 100% worth it if you enjoy documentrys or just learning new things from space to people to technology, its a great streaming service
I tasted NaCl, KCl and MSG. MSG in a small amounts helps cut overall salt intake. KCl just feels like something else on its own even though it’s salty as well and I end up with a weird sensation that something is both salty and unsalted at the same time.
Eh, arguable, but I get what you mean. Everything in moderation. Except legit toxins (though alcohol is kind of an exception despite being literal toxic yeast farts). The majority of toxins are just simply bad.
@@saracole7623 it isn't arguable, yeast doesn't have a butthole to fart with. It produces chemicals as a product of digestion, yet does not fart. And saying "most toxins are harmful" is just more of the current trend of completely misusing and misunderstanding the words "toxin", "toxic", and "chemical". Everything is all of those things, and that says nothing about anything. Everything is made of chemicals, and everything has a level of toxicity that can eventually lead to harm in the high enough amounts. It's not an argument.
@@leadbones I said it was yeast farts for the sake of simplicity and humor. Thank you for killing my joke. Also, everything being a toxin is absolutely not true. A toxin is something that causes disease or death at a low concentration in the body. Things like arsenic, or botulism, or lead. Those are toxins. Things that can cause disease or death in the body at high concentrations like water and salt are not toxins. Maybe fact check stuff before you go running your mouth.
That's not even the issue, though. The way you talked about it, and many others do, implies that there are real pros and cons, and that the 'healthiness' somewhere in the middle. When it's actually just completely fine to use regularly. If you removed salt from your diet, you could use ~3 times the amount of MSG than you would salt, and it would be as healthy as salt (obviously ignoring any dietary Cl needs).
I bought some Accent (MSG) and experimented with it. It makes everything taste like meat. Licked some off the back of my hand, tasted like meat. Sprinkled some on a hard boiled egg, made it taste like meat. Added some to oil & vinegar salad dressing with garlic and dried herbs, tasted like a delicious meat sauce. The best moment came when I added it to a flour and cornstarch mixture, then coated a flattened chicken breast with it before frying in a pan. Served the chicken on a hamburger bun with a slice of pickle and teaspoon of pickle juice, and I had a home made fast food tasting chicken sandwich.
The real secret ingredient of everything from KFC to Chick-fil-A. In the Binging with Babish Krabby Patty episode he was right that the real secret ingredient was likely MSG.
i have a stomach condition where I can't eat alliums (garlic and onions), and MSG is an absolute lifesaver for making my food taste good. As long as it's being added to otherwise good food I think it's a really good tool
I wouldn’t be surprised that you are still very sick. The onion and garlic create a reaction when it kills the bad guys in your gut. The more you eat the less you will get a reaction. You must be very toxic to get such a reaction. Plant based is the solution if you want to live a healthy life. You’ll be living, not just surviving.
@@jullyannrodriguez56 funny how that's the polar opposite of both my lived experience and direct advice from doctors also things have improved in the last few years as I've refined what my digestive tract can and cant handle thank you very much. I've found a few veggies that are really good, and wouldn't you know it alliums continue to not be on that list.
This is incredibly interesting! It is odd though that, even though it's ultimately suggestive, Guga Foods had a completely different conclusion to MSG. In the video "I added MSG to everything and this happened," it was observed by three different people that adding MSG to things that already tasted good made them taste bette while adding it to things that tasted bad made them taste worse. Definitely not saying one is right and one is wrong but merely that the outcomes being different are interesting in terms of (non-scientific) subjectivity.
@@MyVaniryes? Traditional lentil meal in turkey… it tastes so good with just salt and bread. And as far as I know it has no msg 😂 just onions, salça (tomato paste) , garlic and most importantly HIGH QUALITY lentils. American lentils taste like cardboard. For lentil meals I specifically buy a regional type of lentil - from the region of Yozgat. They are the best tasting. I have had lentil meals made from lentils that were imported and all of them tasted horrible so I believe your American lentils might be the problem.
but in case for babies / infant age, if you keep give them flavourful foods, they usually would avoid eating nutritious food that the taste not as strong/tasty as they often eat. that can be a health problem and headache for parent
Since I was a kid, I’ve always been sensitive to large amounts of free/unbound glutamate. I get heart palpitations from eggplant parmesan, Cheetos, Doritos, soy sauce, KFC, and many processed foods. I agree that a lot of people are full of it when they claim to be sensitive to certain foods, but some of us are actually sensitive to sudden spikes in blood glutamate levels. Glutamate is an excitatory neurotransmitter, after all. For those of us who truly have a consistent reaction to glutamate, it doesn’t matter if it’s a Chinese restaurant, an Italian restaurant, or a box of Hamburger Helper.
This, a thousand times this. It's the non asian processed foods that sneak up and get to me. I stopped eating chick fil a because they must be doing their food in MSG.
People who actually are sensitive just make MSG more credible because such people can't eat ANYTHING with large amounts of MSG, not just Chinese food or things with added MSG. But people who just bash MSG complain about Chinese food and added MSG, then enjoy broccoli and shitake mushrooms in their food. And suddenly it's fine.
@@kittenmimi5326 I don't believe it is an allergy. Just as some people are more sensitive to caffeine, some people are more sensitive to glutamates as both are neurotransmitters that excite certain receptors in our body
I wholeheartedly agree with you! Firstly, it's been used in Asia for centuries; secondly, it's ridiculous how here in the U.S. it's vilified. And, thirdly, I've been using this for 35+ years and I can taste the difference when I use it (brings out natural flavors of food - especially meats). Lastly, why pay $2.99 for "Accent" (for a small amount) - I buy a bag (1-2 lbs) at any Asian market for $1.99 -$3.99 - it doesn't go bad.
So let me get that straight. A peer-reviewed, scientific *MEDICAL* journal decides to dedicate a whole section for its contributors to make pranks and inside jokes on food, health, and medical issues, without any disclaimers? What could possibly go wrong...
It's a journal for experts, it seems they all knew that section was a forum-type thing. The problem there seems to be the same one we see now - lay persons reading scientific journals without the knowledge\care to fully understand what they read, and the resulting misinformation
Inside jokes and contrived areas of research are a very common thing in any kind of forum made by experts and for experts. The sections where these are written are not explicitly dedicated for such jokes, but have a lower level of rigor applied to the things posted there, which allows jokes to get through next to the genuine - a distinction that the experts who the paper is printed for would easily be able to make. The danger comes when uninformed people read a scientific journal without knowing what they're talking about.
Tomatoes and especially mushrooms already have a good bit of naturally occurring MSG in them. That's one of the reasons why even mildly flavorful mushrooms make almost any dish a whole lot better.
@@GogiRegion Well there's something about purified MSG that makes me feel really weird and gives me a fluttery heart - - It surely must be that its concentrated. BTW, I dont trust the FDA!
When I was a kid, I opted McCormick's Aromatic Salt over ketchup. The stuff is basically a mix of salt, MSG and some powdered onion. That stuff was crack.
One thing you might be doing wrong is that when using MSG you need to complement it with some salt and sugar. We Chinese(Yes I am Chinese) use it as an addition of flavor but not a replacement for salt. Also you added wayyy to much in your food, a mall pinch would be enough.
My favorite use for msg is putting it on my vegetables, particularly broccoli. I find I can easily eat 2-3 cups of broccoli every day for WEEKS when I add msg, but I get incredibly tired of it without msg in about 2-3 days.
@@MercenaryBlackWaterz well that seems a bit silly of dr. Tracy. MSG is produced by the fermentation of starch, sugar beets, sugar cane or molasses. This fermentation process is similar to that used to make yogurt, vinegar and wine I suppose we could say in some sense that wine isn't natural either, but that doesn't tell you anything at all about whether or not wine is good or bad.
@@Passionforfoodrecipes I think Dr. Tracy meant that most MSG additives are non-brewed condiments, same as most vinegar, because it's way easier and cheaper to produce it in a tank
@@MercenaryBlackWaterz "natural" doesn't mean fucking anything anymore in the food industry because it's marketing jargon. Also because it's from bacteria/fermentation, that's biologic functions, so therefore "natural", or as natural as cheese, yogurt, alcohol, and bread; which have all need considered food, and likely "natural" for at least the last few millenia....
My aunt used MSG in her restaurant. She called it magic salt. …lol… I miss that lady. She made excellent food. I should have paid more attention to what she tried to teach me. Dude, you could easily be a teacher. In a school. 🙄
Here's the thing though... it's a reactive chemical. Know what it reacts with, and it'll enhance noise. Like red sauce... try that in a red sauce with cheese or meat additives, and you'll see a whole new world, because of the proteins. Similarly, use it as a partial salt replacement in a marinade, and the meat flavor will be huge. Put it in ice cream, and have an underwhelming experience. Gotta know how reactions work, is all.
@@ThePreciseClimber It'll work well in anything where you want that flavour that's not already loaded with MSG. I find it very useful for vegetarian meals that use meat replacements and (obviously) are low on "natural" MSG - fried rice is a great one, as are vegetarian noodle pans, if you don't fill either up with mushrooms. And since with the Covid situation I am constantly out of mushrooms...
@@Freddy96LP Good advice. Definitely works great with simple vegetables. Vegetables have always been a bit of a crapshoot for me, especially potatoes. Depends on where I buy them, during which months and all that. But with MSG, they ALWAYS taste good.
Microwaves are fine, but microwave popcorn is garbage tier. Highly recommend literally any other method, like air popper or stovetop which is my preferred method. You can really get creative with your toppings then =) I like to melt butter in some olive oil, and toss the popcorn with seasoning salt (like Lawrys) and MSG. Super tasty!
@@LastbutNotFirst You're the idiot, it doesnt destroy the nutrients in food at all. “Whenever you cook food, you’ll have some loss of nutrients,” says registered dietician and certified food scientist Catherine Adams Hutt, RD, Ph.D. "The best cooking method for retaining nutrients is one that cooks quickly, exposes food to heat for the smallest amount of time and uses only a minimal amount of liquid." Guess what? Microwave cooking does that. Taken from WebMD.com, but you can also find supporting statements on health.harvard.edu, in a health letter by Dr. Anthony Komaroff, it's Editor in Chief
@@LastbutNotFirst Thank goodness I had a UA-cam commenter so eloquently correct what I learned in my nutrition and chemistry courses in nursing school. 🙄 Microwaves are fine. From the World Health Organization: "Food cooked in a microwave oven is as safe, and has the same nutrient value, as food cooked in a conventional oven. The main difference between these two methods of cooking is that microwave energy penetrates deeper into the food and reduces the time for heat to be conducted throughout the food, thus reducing the overall cooking time." - www.who.int/peh-emf/publications/facts/info_microwaves/en/
Growing up, I was only ever told MSG made you crave more of the foods it was mixed with. I was never told about the origin story or the other reported health effects. So to summarize your video, MSG doesn't really have negative health effects (except for a small percentage of people), is generally safe for daily consumption, but it likely does cause us to eat more of the foods it is mixed with. Pretty much confirmed what I learned 20 years ago.
@@howareyou4400 I think there is a difference between making incredibly tasty food that people love and want to come back and eat again and again, and adding a chemical whose singular purpose is to boost cravings. On one hand you have people making choices, on the other you are taking that choice away. It’s the classic dilemma, if you could make people fall in love with you, then how would you ever know if they are with/love you truly or because you made them? And then worse, you took their will away and inserted yours. That makes you a monster.
@@howareyou4400 Make an amazing product that people love = good Make a mediocre product, but add a thing that tricks people into loving your product = bad This applies everywhere. Just make a good product - don’t cheat your way to success.
Keen eye of a true connoisseur. The keen eye is probably from the benefits of the orange color of the Doritos . Carrots are orange and good for your eyes so you don't have to be a science doctor to see the correlation there .
Thanks for the video. My mom heard of the original article and was pretty terrified of buying Asian foods with MSG in them. I don't think she knows its in Doritos or chips as Monosodium Glutamate though. Gonna be an interesting conversation for us.
what a genuinely brilliant video, for real, ive watched this more than 3 times now, im a chef of 12 years, from scotland, i like to think that im quite clued up when it comes to dietry stuff, but when i see your videos i get humbled, well done mate, i love learning. you love teaching, and youre good at it. =)
I’ve been using a personal 1/3rd sea salt 2/3rd msg mix, ground black pepper, and chili powder mix to season almost any meat I eat for awhile now. I also use a small dash of the sea salt msg mix in rice I make as well. I’ve never seen any negative affects from it and am considered healthy by most doctors I’ve seen.
Hey Adam, could you make a video about general freezing stuff. You know, what things taste bad after freezing, what tastes better, can anything be harmful after freezing etc. Great video love ya
that_G_EvanP English is not the only language in the world. It’s possible this is an ESL situation, and you probably don’t know all the correct words in that person’s language, either. You knew darned well “freezing” was the intended word.
I'm going to have to try your chip experiment just to see if I think the same thing. I find it interesting that people go after msg, but not other umami foods: *many kinds of mushrooms (which is part of why they seem to add so much flavor to so many dishes!) *brewer's yeast aka nutritional yeast *certain kinds of fermented seaweed and/or fish (worshtershire sauce) certain fermented beans. Our family generally uses brewer's yeast a lot, and we tend to think of it as a "butter enhancer", so we sprinkle it on popcorn, make brewer's yeast toast (butter bread and sprinkle it on top before broiling to golden brown), use it on butter-fried potatoes (at the end of cooking, so it doesn't burn), and put it in chicken flavor ramen broth.
My dad's on a low sodium diet and msg has less sodium than table salt so we use that when cooking (and still try to use it sparingly) and it's fine. It makes it easier to cut back on salt without killing flavor.
It can be argued that MSG is actually “natural”. MSG is produced by bacteria in factories, and bacteria are natural. The word natural has not been well defined by the FDA, so it doesn’t really matter whether or not the word natural in on a food label. Also, the MSG from factories is chemically identical to that of MSG in meat and mushrooms, so even if it isn’t natural, it is exactly the same as if it was.
"Natural" has no meaning anyway because even chemical processes are arguably natural; even artificial processes can produce something chemically identical to biological processes. It's why the FDA sets no standard for the term "natural" as applied to food and drugs.
I don’t think there’s necessarily anything wrong with exhibiting a healthy amount of skepticisim towards food additives recently introduced to our diets. One thing to consider is that Japan has the highest life expectancy of any major country on the planet, and they use a ton of MSG in their food-certainly way more than Americans. That alone is pretty clear evidence, at least to me, that it’s completely safe and not worth concerning over.
"we're not out there on the streets shooting up huge amounts of MSG"
Speak for yourself Adam. I like to party.
Wow, we found a barbarian here
@@trihermawan9553 Yes, as a man of culture you should snort MSG, of course.
Gee! How can I be cool like you?
Absolute madlad
The pinnacle of man
I remember this one UK show about food science. In one episode they gathered some people and served them a meal. After the meal, people were interviewed and then told that the meal had MSG in it. Some of the interviewed claimed to feel headaches or some other mild symptoms and one woman in particular went as far as saying that she "had noticed the taste of MSG" and "had been having headaches since then". However, they lied. There wasn't any MSG in the food. I still remember the face of that middle age woman who said she felt the taste of MSG in the food...
Oh I really trust that wasn’t a biased study
@@larryp.60 i mean that is the placebo effect. I mean its so strong that most pain medication does nothing more than simply convincing someone that they will feel better. The human mind is pretty fucked.
@@larryp.60 how, how would that even be biased? From the comment it was literally filmed and all they did was give people a meal which they claimed had MSG in it, watch their reactions, document the nocebo effect, and then tell them the truth. That, really can't be biased. Its not like this was a massive data driven survey or anything where you could cherry pick or manipulate the data, from the comment this was literally just serving a meal to a few people and watchnig how their minds fill in the gaps.
@@larryp.60 Yes. They're biased to be against MSG.
I was thinking of the same thing
Adam: MSG
Me: Metal Sear Golid
I've been looking for this comment! Now I don't have to write it myself :)
metal solid gear?
Snakes ass
@@zlataneminovic1816 liquiiiiiiiid!
@Aaron Fkckcjc I think its a pun because Searing in cooking means to heat up a part of food; usually steaks
I had a girlfriend who claimed to be allergic to it. She would read food labels to avoid eating anything with MSG or "natural flavoring" (label-code for MSG).
I've heard other people say it "tricks your taste buds into thinking something tastes good," which just sounds like any other seasoning, if you think about it for a second.
I'm surprised there was no mention in the video of soy sauce (fermented soybean juice), which I understand is naturally high in MSG.
I wonder if she knew how many foods she ate that had naturally occurring MSG in them?
That's why soy sauce is so damn good
your brain tricks you into thinking
MSG- My Sexy Grandmother
I knew someone who actually was allergic to MSG itself. Their face would visibly swell up and after enough exposures their throat started swelling shut. And yeah they did have severe health issues from being unable to have a LOT of things like sundried tomatoes, soy sauce, etc.
A small amount of people will experience mild adverse reactions when eating a lot of...literally anything!
@pat mckinzie It's not completely false. A Chinese restaurant near where I lived as a teenager got shut down after the health inspector caught them labeling horse meat as beef.
@@Mikemk_ if this was back in 2013 they could've been just victims of the tesco horse meat scandal where tesco sold horse meat as beef.
@@this_is_japes7409 2011 I think. I went to college in 2013, and it was a couple years before I moved away.
Hell, even drinking water a lot can kill you, so yeah.. Ban water, i guess?
@pat mckinzie Well, there was a chinese food restaurant around me that got shutdown for it's beef not actually being beef.
This makes me think I need to get some MSG so I can start getting healthy food to start tasting like Cheetos and Doritos.
I was thinking the same
😂😂😂 genius!
Hmm... That is actually not really required at all. Optional, though not required. There is a lot of delicious healthy food.
@@Drawingb ...
@@makavelismith Its true
A wise man said: "MSG is salt on crack"
Fuiyooohhh
Fuiyohh
And a stupid auntie left the wise man for saying that.
@@juliaxiao5320her name was "Dat Ho", and the wise man should've sprinkled a little msg on their relationship :(
@@thatoneguy7661 lmaooo
Tomato and Mushrooms are some of the foods that contain natural MSG.
So, the reason that mushroom soup or tomato sauce didn't taste any different or enhanced, is because it already was because of that natural MSG.
Cheers!
Had it been invented by an European/American, it would never face such criticism or bad press.
@@ytskt Did you watch the video?
@@philidips yes. What's your point?
@@ytskt I'm asking what *your* point is. I think Adam takes pretty good care in the video to acknowledge the cultural moral panic about MSG, and I think the concerns he does raise are well-contextualised and well-argued. And I don't at all see what your comment has to do with Chirag's.
I want to add that this "criticism" is not unique to "European/American" people only though. A lot of people who grew up in Muslim cultures, for example, seriously believe that eating pork is bad for your health. And we're not talking about religious taboos here. Some of them just think pork is somehow intrinsically unhealthy, even though it is not true, scientifically, in comparison to other types of meat, and many pork-consuming countries have some of the longest life expectancies.
We should start calling salt "sodium chloride" and maybe the chemical-like name will prevent people from dousing everything they eat with it like MSG
Better yet, monosodium chloride.
Monosodium monochloride
"Uh dude, that's salt."
uh dude, it's called salt
@@PasCone103Z
That's what I said. Sodium chloride
To me msg is like salt. Can you get a seizure from salt, yes. Are people panicking on the streets, no.
It's the same with msg. Don't eat too much and you'll be fine.
Mnemosyne Barton
Your body is made of salt. Your blood needs sodium in it in order to be healthy. Sodium. is an essential mineral. The people who cant eat salt are dead. Almost every food has salt in it
TWrecks true. Yet there it is: many people must avoid added salt. Isn’t science fun?
Mnemosyne Barton
Also i hope youre not eating potato chips, doritos, sausages, hotdogs and other processed meats, seaweed, tomatoes, soy sauce, parmesan cheese, and the list goes on and on. You probably eat msg on a daily basis. Lmao
Mnemosyne Barton
Soy sauce literally contains glutamates so im gonna have to bet your asian restaurant uses glutamates.
@@vraifille meat basically has msg on it. I'm assuming you're vegan
one time i made eggs and accidentally seasoned my eggs with MSG instead of salt. i kept adding, tasting, adding, and tasting, and was so confused as to why my eggs didn't taste savory enough. it tasted good but somehow lacked saltiness. then i pulled out some actual salt, put it on my eggs, and then it tasted right, which was when i realized the thing i was sprinkling on before was MSG. u need both to really lift the flavor of ur food.
Well put some sugar and honey in it. And taste that again.
@@davidfreeman3083 what will do sweetness do? does it add to the savoriness
@@dixonyamada6969 Well from my experience, having sweetness, savoriness, and saltiness is like... I mean I can't really describe how it taste like, other than telling you that it tastes really good.
@@davidfreeman3083 Sugars can have a similiar effect to glutamate, enhancing and intensifying the other taste/aroma compounds
@@dixonyamada6969 It lifts certain base flavours - think about how popular ketchup it, the reason it's so popular is because it's an almost perfect combination of Sweet, Sour, Salt, Glutimate and Bitter, and so when used on so many foods, it just lifts them all in every way possibly.
I made an order for a takeaway Asian restaurant once, and mentioned in the notes to add extra MSG to the fried rice. They called me up extremely confused and asked if I meant I wanted no MSG.
Based
When I want extra spices, people always roll their eyes until I say, "use the right amount, not the white amount."
Lot of uncle Roger fans out there.
I like your videos man, but seriously... you gotta learn how to actually *use* MSG before damning its usage as an ingredient.
"The taste is not immediately obvious when I add a sprinkle to [XYZ]". So... should we apply the same standard to bay leaves, or garlic? MSG, in small amounts, can add a subtle umami to things. It should stay in the backburner. Like salt, if the taste of the MSG is super obvious, you've added too much MSG.
I agree that in the USA there's been a cultural over-correction of sorts. Too many people out there view MSG as 'magical yummy powder' or 'super salt'. MSG has a place in your pantry next to the salt, the granulated sugar, and the white distilled vinegar. It's a pure taste that can help balance a dish. It is not magical yummy powder - it's a useful ingredient that can sit in a cupboard with other useful ingredients.
Use 1/8 tsp *max* per 300-400g of food. Do not expect it to fundamentally alter the taste - after all, that's not what you want. You want it to stay in the background, give a bit of depth to stuff with overly sharp flavors. Here's an alternative experiment for you: make some homemade blended hot sauce. Do so with Habaneros... *really* amp up the heat. Make it hot enough where you're saying to yourself "man, this's really uncomfortable". Then slowly start to add MSG to the sauce, see how well it rounds it out. There's a reason Sichuan food is chock to the brim with MSG, after all - there's nothing better to balance the heat of raw capsaicin.
In any event, thanks for doing your part in combating the "MSG is harmful" myth. But yeah... too much MSG on that chicken/chips man, that must've been gross as shit.
Chinese Cooking Demystified love your videos.
He literally added, MSG, into mushroom stock and tomato sauce, which have natural glutamic acid in it lol.
Man this is not an essay competition.
@@jadajames181 This comment reeks of "I'm too dumb to contribute to this discussion, know I am, and it makes me feel bad."
What do you mean?
I really adore how measured you are in your approach to potentially controversial food science. You don't strike me as having a perspective you are aiming to sell. Your intellectual curiosity shines through, and it makes the videos incredibly enjoyable to watch. Also, let Lauren know I'm reading Better than the Best Plan and it's so much fun! A great postpartum (in other words, tired, cranky, potentially stressed and seeking respite) read.
This. I am glad I found this channel. It is a realistic approach to understanding food at a scientific level (distilled down for mass consumption). And he doesn't overcomplicate to solidify his niche.
wm1989 exactly! For example the other day I was watching a video and the guy just nonchalantly pulls out truffle
This is exactly what I wanted to say, but I knew someone said if before me! The way you said it is perfect!
@Franz I'm not going to respond to everything you said here, because frankly a lot of it is nonsensical. But I need to correct where you have said things that are simply false. I never said I "bought into margarine being healthier a healthier alternative to butter back in the day." I simply never said anything of the sort. Nor did I ever say that I deprive my children of red meat, or encourage anyone else to do so. Regarding teflon, I have no idea what you think you're talking about. No expert thinks the pans are terribly dangerous. The reason the EU is looking at bans is because of PFAS chemicals leaked into the environment from the non-stick production process, and from products like water-proof clothing that is literally coated in GenX. Lastly, the assertion that I'm being lazy is absurd. I am being humble. I am knowing my place. I am not a scientist, and I am not qualified to challenge the scientific consensus. No one should care what my opinions are about the science. Instead, I seek out qualified experts and relate their knowledge and opinions to my audience. That is all I am qualified to do.
Adam Ragusea
props for holding back 99% of the time Adam.
Asian restaurants are pressured to have no MSG signs while KFC along with every American savory snack liberally uses it. USA! USA! USA! Fun fact: Japan is the heaviest user of MSG and have the highest life expectancy along with Greeks.
@Knight Beast just goes to show how shit their fast food is, along with their lifestyles for quite a lot of people (in America)
What about Japan's heart and stomach problems?
What? The Japanese life expectancy exceeds 80 and they have the most centenarians in the world. They literally have MSG everyday in their meals and snacjs. No obesity problems and much less heart and stomach problems per capita than Americans.
Umm I think this is obvious as to why.. MSG is FAR more common(at least it WAS) in Chinese and Asian cooking. American foods establishments get away with this now as they are less likely to use MSG (or were), and have only more recently started using MSG more routinely. But this stems simply from misinformation about MSG in the first place. Incorrect articles and research about MSG that made people afraid of it. I do not think this is anyone's fault specifically for the MSG-hesitancy, but I also do not think it is rooted in racism or Xenophobia.
Greeks? No it’s Germans in Europe who live the longest and have a lifespan closest to that of the Japanese
Calling headache symptoms as "Chinese-Restaurant syndrome" is like calling obesity as "American-Diner syndrome" or calling digestive issues as "Indian-Streetfood syndrome" 💀
There are plenty of food additives that cause allergies that are not MSG. And there are Chinese restaurants that use a lot of additives, and others that use none (aside from salt and spices). When you have allergies to chemical additives you can tell the difference fairly easily. I get a dry cough after some restaurant food, but not after others. Next to fast food, Americanized Chinese restaurants are usually the second worst. But like I said there are exceptions.
you win the internetO
I will accept your new terms 😂
@@lumpychucks6457 and what specific additives are you referring to? how is that specific to americanized chinese food and not just all processed food?
@@ericchen776 It's mostly in the seasonings, and I never said it was specific to Americanized Chinese. They use a lot of whatever it is that gives me the bad cough and rash in fast food, especially A&W. I don't have issues with Italian restaurants or Mexican restaurants though, along with most other culturally focused restaurants, so yes, I would say that Americanized Chinese stands out as worse than most, at least for me. It seems you expect a guy in the comment section to have a PHD on food additives, which I don't. It is an anecdotal comment on the internet. Chill out, and stop getting so defensive.
"You know what 3 grams of MSG looks like?!"
[Dominoes Pizza youtube ad]
The e number of MSG is e621
Lol I got a reeces ad at that part
Omg I just got the same thing!! (Specifically, the one with the dudes yodelling to each other) 😂
@@RedPawner even better… mmmm…
domino pizza tastes like the dough batter was snorting msg before it got baked
I really love the research approach of your videos. Usually unbiased until the very end where you tell us where you stand and why.
I spent the whole video fearing that a NOOOOOO would burst out from the speakers at any time. Thankfully it didn't happen .
Thank you, Adam, for a great peaceful, informational and entertaining video.
He only does that when basic, easy, recepies have been littered with nonsense "secrets"...
Like vegetable soup. Veg+water+heat..... [But then you have to have 10 week old sauteed mushroom sauce...] NO! Just boil the damn vegetables ffs.
no that was last Thursdays video
The "NOOO" only happens in "SHOCKING SECRET" videos
For years I avoided going to Madison Square Gardens, this video cleared things up for me.
Wasn’t going to a rangers game before this 💀
🤣🤣🤣
*So the conclusion of this video is:*
*1.* MSG is not harmful if used in moderation
*2.* MSG does not make already tasty food taste better
*3.* MSG makes bland food taste great
GrinFlash I disagree, MSG can make good food better
@@boygenius538_8 I've merely stated what Adam said in this video.
"Why i season my msg and not my chloroform"
Dennis Cuesta **visible confusion**
0. MSG is 100% safe if not used in powder form at all
"MSG is the king of flavors"
~uncle roger
uncle roger is best boi
Where is msg haiyaaaaaaa~
Msg baby is best baby
Use a god damn rice cooker its 2020
king of flay ver
It's been one year since I started doing MSG powder. First it was all fun, and I felt great. I was eating it after every meal, every night before I went to bed... it was a great experience. But my obsession grew. I started incorporating it into every aspect of my life. Used it on my toothbrush when I brushed in the morning... gargled with it. Put it in my coffee. Then it turned detrimental. I would snort lines of it before I went to school. Put it in my pipe and smoked it before work. The next thing I knew, was that I was heating it up in a spoon, and putting a syringe into my intestines. Man, was that a great pump.
Lmao
😂😂😂😂
That's a joke, right?
@@Me-da-Ghost No it's OBVIOUSLY serious, you don't inject MSG as well?
@@Me-da-Ghost I'm afraid not
Industrial fermentation followed by chemical stabilization can also technically describe wine production (at least on a large enough scale). I wonder if anybody would argue that wine is unnatural, or if this more a matter of semantics and personal bias.
The whole idea of what's "natural" or not is entirely up to personal bias, and it's a pointless distinction
But...wine is from grapes...perfectly natural! 🍇
@@Magneticlaw shut up royal
@@Magneticlaw And MSG is from bacteria! Also perfectly natural - in fact, bacteria have been around in nature for hundreds of millions of years longer than grapes have, and grapes are domesticated, so one could say grapes are _more_ unnatural in comparison!
Mmm, I love my natural uranium
I make my own Ranch dressing (Cook's Illustrated recipe). It calls for 1/2 tsp of salt. Last time I made it, I swapped it for 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp MSG, and I laughed when I tasted it. It tasted EXACTLY like Hidden Valley Ranch.
lol really?
you found the valley...
@@tawilk and the valley is filled with white powder
@@tawilk now its just valley ranch. probably should delete this to hide it again
Damn that Japanese chemist was like. Oh, I'm going to make some sou- *nevermind I isolated an amino acid*
He figured it out by asking his wife to leave everything but the seaweed out. Since it still tasted good, that had to be the culprit.
now i can make more soup more easily
and that's how glutamic acid was discovered
Yeah read the story of Ajimoto. He made a lot of money from MSG
I love how most people that say "chinese takeout gives me headaches- msg you know" eat like tons of products that msg like bags and bags of doritos and cheetos and never complain about them lol.
yea basically xenophobia
Exactly!!!
Most people don't say this.
@mike hunt no, not false at all. Tell me a reason why there's no doritos syndrome
@@AssyMcgeeKicksAce who said they did? I said most people that say this dont complain about any other source of msg, not that most people have a problem with chinese takeout.
As I recall, the whole MSG hysteria began with a restaurant reviewer writing about his experience eating at an Asian restaurant. He wrote a review blaming his headache on MSG. He left out that he also consumed enough alcohol to induce a hangover. P.S. Ikeda did not find monosodium glutamate in seaweed. He found glutamate, figured out it was responsible for umami, and then had to figure out how to stabilize it so it could be used in food. He did this by adding sodium, hence "monosodium". He deserves a Nobel prize.
Not how to ferment it from sugar?
I mean it's also possible that the alcohol plus the salt in the MSG plus him not drinking water caused some minor dehydration and lead to a headache something that is easily a side effect of not drinking enough water also alcohol dehydrates as well too much MSG is probably bad but how much is too much matters on a LOT of factors and probably different person to persona and is probably not as big of a deal as some people have made it out to be granted more studies into food are always welcomed hopefully they will actually be unbiased.
No. Free glutamic acid is harmful. There is a difference between mushrooms and MSG.
So eating tomatoes and cheese is harmful? Glutamic acid is found in both foods. The human body synthesizes glutamic acid, which is strange if you regard it as harmful. Extensive testing has shown that MSG is not harmful to health.
@@gbennett58 Bound glutamates are in tomatoes, celery, mushrooms, cheese. They're still in their whole form. Free glutamates are no longer attached to the amino acid and spike the level of glutamates in the blood stream. MSG is the unnatural form of glutamic acid.
MSG - true story. I was hosting a large party with some friends. I was making a huge green salad in an old wooden salad bowl handed down for who knows how long. As I was taught, I rubbed the inside with a raw garlic clove. But my twist on tradition was a light toss of MSG, after which I added the lettuce, then drizzled the vinaigrette down the side of the bowl, then tossed it all together. This meant I could set it up and leave it without the lettuces wilting. In this instance, big bowl, only two hands, I'd left the vinaigrette in the kitchen. I went back and got it, returned to the buffet to add it to the bowl...the now empty bowl...WTF? I'd of sworn I left a bowl full of lettuce here. It was really disorienting, until...the ravening hordes surrounded me...asking for more of that delicious salad. "It's the best dressing I ever had," etc. etc. etc. A tiny bit of raw garlic rubbed on a wooden bowl, a very light sprinkling of MSG (it is after all a salt) and some leafy red and green lettuce. I tried it later on, just as an experiment, and it did taste good. Better than good. It was somehow mildly entrancing. I could actually taste the lettuce (and a faint whiff of garlic) without the overpowering acid/oil of a vinaigrette.
My mom and I had been using it for years in our cooking but hadn't noticed quite how big difference it can make. First time I made roast chicken for my Aunt, sprinkled with a little garlic salt and MSG, she (a cranky woman who never liked anything) raved about it. "The best chicken I've ever had." Unfortunately, or fortunately, where a little is magic, a lot isn't transformational, at least not in a good way. If you want to test this yourself, steam some plain green beans, serve them with just a pinch of MSG and taste. They've suddenly got more flavor -- their own is amped up. MSG is, after all, meant to enhance flavors, and it does.
As for the MSG syndrome, people had been eating in Chinese restaurants, eating food containing MSG, for decades without ill effect. Why they would suddenly believe they were now alllergic to it is a mystery to me. I taught Chinese stir fry in a community college level culinary program. I had had a student warn me that she was deathly allergic to MSG. "It sent me to the emergency room." While I had my doubts, I wasn't taking any chances. I spent hours going from store to store sourcing Chinese sauces and condiments without MSG, in particular, oyster sauce. Come the first class, we made, among other things, fried rice, with oyster sauce. It wasn't until everyone was sampling the food, including my deathly allergic student, that I found the non-MSG oyster sauce container, sitting there, unopened. Do I call 911 now or after she falls to the floor in whatever. No surprise, she pigged out, raved about the flavor, and had no ill effects.
Wow, sorry, that was a brain dump, but MSG is one of those things I'm a bug about. If people would just use a little common sense, not panic and, above all, not overindulge, we'd all be a lot happier.
oyster sauce (like any fermented protein) is even a source of naturally occuring glutamate, the only part theorethically missing is the sodium ions, which you'd also get from regular salt (and are most likely present in oyster sauce as well)
Did you reveal to the student that they'd just eaten MSG?
@@asandax6 No. She was the type who would have have suef. I did tell my boss so she could decide for herself, though.
@@nienke7713 I was going by the label, which said, "no MSG."
@@cozyvamp Oh yeah she would have suddenly started having symptoms like a kid that just fell down, didn't realize people were watching than starts crying for attention.
"As a test I added MSG to MSG broth and couldn't tell the difference, then I added MSG to MSG sauce and couldn't tell the difference again! So I added MSG to a bland dish and, guess what? It tasted like I added mushroom broth to it!"
Huh?
@@user-sf4fy8bq1h If you don't get it, watch the vid again.
@@pubcollize I just didn't know that mushrooms and tomatoes are naturally high in MSG, that's all
@@user-sf4fy8bq1h Btw sorry if I came off as rude, that wasn't the intention.
@@pubcollize it's okay! Now that I understand, your comment is actually kinda funny
Tomatoes and mushrooms are two ingredients that already contain significant amounts of glutamate.
They're also usually absent in the American Chinese recipes where MSG is used. This was like emptying a bucket of water into a partially filled bath tub and then complaining that you didn't see much of a difference in the water level.
MSG works best in foods that contain little to none if it. If Doritos were made with plenty of real cheese powder they wouldn't need MSG.
It's just that they can use a tiny amount of actual cheese powder and then some much cheaper MSG and sodium to get close to a "more cheese" flavor profile.
Your natural glutamate sources argument is off base. Tomatoes have glutamates but far less than meat. MSG is primarily used in cooking to complement flavours of meat. It actually works really well with foods that are already extremely high in glutamates. Adam appears to be just not adding enough salt for MSG to shine in his chosen recipes.
@@l26wang Krawurxus is mostly right though. You're right that meat has much higher total glutamate content than tomatoes, but the majority of it is bound to proteins and bound glutamate contributes very little to taste. Free glutamate, which tomatoes are very rich in, is the one that contributes the most to flavour. In fact, meat can easily have much higher overall glutamate content than even parmesan cheese, but the latter has a much stronger umami flavour because it's full of free glutamates.
@@osamu_90 Good point!
My favorite response to the "it's all natural so it must be good for you" was my grandmother pointing to her foxglove plants on the windowsill. She said "those are all natural too and they look beautiful but if you eat a blossom or two you'll be fertilizing your own flowers after your soon to be funeral. Just because something is all natural doesn't mean it's good for you. People have been killing each other for millenia with all natural ingredients."
I thought it said MGS instead of MSG and was really confused about what direction this channel was gonna go.
Gametric
“Why I use revolver techniques on semi auto pistols, not actual revolvers”
Revolver ocelot
"Why I season my chemicals and NOT my burger"
Same, doesn't help that I got a notification for an MGS video.
Gametric
« Why engravings give no tactical advantage whatsoever »
I lived in Japan for a year. MSG is a staple in my cabinet and I never tell guests if I've used it (although when I'm making japanese food I use dashi which has a lot of umami). They compliment the food and never complain. MSG gets too much heat and definitely should be more accepted in cooking.
You should probably tell your guests just in case someone is sensitive to it. My mother gets severe gastrointestinal distress from even small amounts within minutes. And it's not imaginary, I've tested for that. 🤓🍻
Uh, you should definitely tell people what you put in your food, there was just a guy in the comments talking about how he’s has seizures induced because of MSG
@@alsaunders7805 if you live in Japan you are you going to died 😂 don't tell pll in Japan to act white.
I think it’s just your guests are polite
Yeah and please warn you guest when you use salt and pepper in your food too, I once saw a guy in a youtube comment that claimed he was allergic to salt and he would definitely sue your sorry ass if you invited him over for dinner
as a child born in 75 and loving chinese take out, kung fu and all things asian thru the 80s i actually remember my mom and others bringing up that i shouldnt eat allot of chinese food because of the msg and that study lol
"You can't have your Chinese food until you finish all your cigarettes"
@pat mckinzie OR maybe the most unhealthy people are the ones that seek diet/low-fat options
its normal in that day because theres no real study about it and ppl better avoid something they dont know to be safe
Yeah I also don't remember there being a whole lot of "anti-asian xenophobia" in my neck of the woods... and I grew up in the southern midwest. My parents just told me that American-ized Asian food was unhealthy, like every other over-indulgent carb-heavy Americanized restaurant food -- such as Americanized Italian food, Americanized Mexican food, Americanized American food...
Born in 74 and I remember my mom saying we had to cut back on Chinese food cuz of msg
hilarious how he called Fritos “food-like products” 😂😂😂
So, is MSG safe to eat or not?
Adam: yesn't
Jed Chu lmaoo
The theme of his channel could be summed up in that one word.
Nice lol
Sure, obviously the conclusion was that just like with a lot of things, it's fine in moderation.
@@tigerzhua drinking too much water is called in the "professional world" as drowning
_"What type of person would eat 3g of MSG..." Proceeds to dump 5g into spaghetti sauce because he can't taste it 😂_
While I recognize this is a joke, that was not even remotely close to 5 g. It was probably less than 1 g.
@@MrShagification Yea you're probs right, but i think the reason he can't taste it is because mushroom and tomatoes have MSG in them before you even add any so yea
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@@RawrXD8 i don't think they contain MSG ...
from what i understood from the video was they contain glutamate naturally
You are incredibly articulate and precise with what you want to say and how you get it across. There's no BS 3 minute intro, you don't ever sway off track, and you don't leave cliff hangers for the final minute to enhance watch time. I find that extremely admirable, as UA-camrs like you are far and few between. Just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate your style, almost as much as I appreciate YOU. Thanks for the quality content, as always :D
Pankohh keep licking his boots
Chris Nemat Lmfaoo let him compliment
@@chrisnemat the fuck is your problem
MSG adds such a good flavor. My mom is Japanese and used it in stews and other concoctions. I tried replicating her recipes without it but it doesn’t work. It adds the umami flavor.
So, I think that the reason adding MSG to mushroom stock / tomato sauce has little effect is because the mushroom stock / tomato sauce already has a lot of naturally occurring umami flavor, whereas the tortilla chips you added MSG to don't.
I agree. I often use mushroom powder when cooking, but I just don't see the point of using it in spaghetti sauce because it won't change the flavor at all.
Coffee & Worcestershire sauce on the other hand DO add nice flavor to tomato sauce.
That’s the whole reason our bodies like glutamate. The foods that it’s in naturally are rich in nutrients that are rare in nature. Tomatoes, mushrooms, but especially red meat. Think about how many micronutrients are in those foods that aren’t in berries and cereals. So when you take that taste our bodies associate with “rare treat with lots of vitamins” and add it to empty calories, you get a dysregulated appetite. It’s not some insidious killer like leaded gasoline or asbestos, but the eating habits that cause obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and high blood pressure are killing people every day.
I thought that's his intended point
@@lastyhopper2792 Yup, that's exactly what he said later on.
That's what he said. Chips are tasteless.
Wait, so "MSG bad" is a boomer meme?
Acedons ye
The profile picture fits the question, i likes
Eating bat and dog is bad tho
yup. Boomers are dumb and racist garbage
@@CodeCombine they ate snakes too?
One thing that was missed here is mentioning the use of MSG in vegan foods. It works really well to add depth to foods if you're avoiding adding animal products to your food.
If you don't consider a product of bacteria to be an animal product, but I assume vegans don't, because if they did they literally couldn't eat anything.
so like meat but without the healthy energy strong nutrients
The same thing happened in the 60's with cyclamates. Diet soda came out that did not have any after taste..After a very short life it was deemed dangerous. As it turned out the testing that was done to determine it's safety was the equv.of drinking 100 cans of soda a day. We figured it had to have been funded by one of the big sugar companies.
Tbf, I'm from the south, and I personally know people that drink enough soda for the artificial sweeteners to be harmful, and a couple that actually have health issues from them.
That said, there's no way it could be worse than high fructose corn syrup. Also, at the point that artificial sweeteners become problematic, you'd also be getting too much sugar or too much of something else.
I think so long as you're happy with the taste, and enjoy in moderation (and have no health issues regarding them), go for whatever. I personally don't like the flavor of artificial sweeteners, and feel like they destroy the flavor profile and overpower most things they're added to. I only drink sodas with real sugar though, because I feel that corn syrup does the same.
That and saccharin
Man that kind of shit should call for jail time to whoever approved that.
@@blargcoster saccharin still sucks tho, even if it's 100% harmless abandoning it is still a net positive. Glad stevia, sucralose etc replaced it
Same thing they did with vaping. They tested the effects of e-juice at temperatures well over boiling in comical concentrations and ignored that no human could physically do that.
When he first tried it, my brother called MSG Meat Sugar Granules
I call it meat salt, cause that's what it tastes like
it tastes like salt i think your bro has dysgeusia
3:45 I mean, there is a natural alternative to vaping; it's called tobacco.
Honestly if cigarettes were only tobacco and menthol they would probably have less health risks than vaping
Would be great if the companies selling them didn't froth at the mouth figuring out how to make them as deadly and addictive as humanly possible.
Loli Hitler and if we didn’t burn the Tobacco but used a dry herb vaporizor, i could see that. But burning the plant, i see no way it could be healthier than a vaporized product. Unless that vaporized material is something like Azidoazide Azide...
@@lolihitler4198 Uh what? The harmful effects of smoking come from either the tobacco or are biproducts of burning tobacco.
I really love this comment
Adam uploads while I’m in school
*I can retake this course next year*
What if he uploads during school next year as well?
What if he also uploads next year?
Buggin
I wish this was less relatable.
This channel is better than all my years at culinary school. Wickedly interesting. We love you Adam!!!! -Chef Ortiz (currently drinking coffee watching your channel, 10pm at night, San Diego, CA) =]
MSG is great to have around but it's a fickle-ass ingredient when it comes to what it improves and what it doesn't. In scrambled eggs it's nuts, but I agree on the tomato sauce front. Tomatoes are already rich in glutamates so it seems almost redundant.
I someone to make a tutorial on how to make MSG at home. Then the grandmas will know it isn't some evil thing made in a chemistry lab (even though the kitchen is basically a chemistry lab)
@@vali_bg5234 It literally is made in a chemistry lab lmao, that doesn't make it bad.
Glutamic Acid - It Is Not MSG or Monosodium Glutamate
@@vali_bg5234 See adam's latest video on yeast extract. Yeast extract is rich in amino acids and inosinates, all flavour enhancers. Add a pinch of salt and done.
Can confirm Doesn't go well with curry, I tried it, I mean it was decent but........... The curry was probably better without it but other than that, it compliments well with spicy and sweet or even sour, never with tomatos in the mix
9:48 "You wanna know what three grams of MSG looks like?"
Cuts to MSG: "Yeah. That's a lot. That's probably not what you're eating"
Me looking at an empty bowl of MSG popcorn: Huh
@@syaondri uh oh, he didn’t respond. fly high 🕊
Bro ppl dont even do that with salt like-
MSG popcorn ???!!! What is this abomination??
I spent almost thirty years of my life as a chef and I would use MSG. ... ... However, I used it as a supplement to salt to help bring out the flavor of the food without it tasting too salty.
Just gunna throw this out there, I've had curiosity stream for well over 2 years now and I absolutely LOVE it. Its inexpensive and its 100% worth it if you enjoy documentrys or just learning new things from space to people to technology, its a great streaming service
My dyslexic ass read this as "MGS" and I was like "what's Adam's problem with Metal Gear Solid?"
He got payed by Konami to slander Kojima.
How far the mighty have fallen...
Adam reminds me of Otacon tbh
😂
Yeah not gonna lie, I thought the same
I was thinking Madison Square Garden. I've never even been to New York.
I don’t even have notifications I just felt youtube call my spirit
I get this too ngl
The true notifications were the friends we made along the way
**THE CHINESE DISHES WOULD LIKE TO KNOW YOUR LOCATION**
No this video is about msg not dogs
yaboipatrick r/woooosh
@@yaboipatrick Dude grow up it's 2020. We're making fun of Bat Soup now.
@@literallyjustin4829 by woooshing him you have just woooshed yourself
@@literallyjustin4829 bro you just wooooshed someone bro thats so funny haha fellow redditor, i tip my hat!
I tasted NaCl, KCl and MSG. MSG in a small amounts helps cut overall salt intake. KCl just feels like something else on its own even though it’s salty as well and I end up with a weird sensation that something is both salty and unsalted at the same time.
Fantastic episode again. Your studies oozes perfectionism, and thoroughness in getting into the right research material, and content.
"with enough salt in it to attract wandering deer out of the woods" I love you Adam!
"starch-based packing peanut" your analogies are amazing.
My life philosophy has always been "everything in moderation," and this video further proves that point.
Everything in moderation, even moderation. Time for another beer
more people need to get educated on MSG!
Literal facts.
well, here's one more ;)
Yes. Educated at to the harm. Read "The Taste that Kills."
This just in: almost nothing, ever, is all good or all bad.
Eh, arguable, but I get what you mean. Everything in moderation. Except legit toxins (though alcohol is kind of an exception despite being literal toxic yeast farts). The majority of toxins are just simply bad.
@@saracole7623 it isn't arguable, yeast doesn't have a butthole to fart with. It produces chemicals as a product of digestion, yet does not fart. And saying "most toxins are harmful" is just more of the current trend of completely misusing and misunderstanding the words "toxin", "toxic", and "chemical". Everything is all of those things, and that says nothing about anything. Everything is made of chemicals, and everything has a level of toxicity that can eventually lead to harm in the high enough amounts. It's not an argument.
@@leadbones I said it was yeast farts for the sake of simplicity and humor. Thank you for killing my joke.
Also, everything being a toxin is absolutely not true. A toxin is something that causes disease or death at a low concentration in the body. Things like arsenic, or botulism, or lead. Those are toxins. Things that can cause disease or death in the body at high concentrations like water and salt are not toxins. Maybe fact check stuff before you go running your mouth.
Crack, crack is allll good.
That's not even the issue, though. The way you talked about it, and many others do, implies that there are real pros and cons, and that the 'healthiness' somewhere in the middle. When it's actually just completely fine to use regularly. If you removed salt from your diet, you could use ~3 times the amount of MSG than you would salt, and it would be as healthy as salt (obviously ignoring any dietary Cl needs).
I bought some Accent (MSG) and experimented with it. It makes everything taste like meat. Licked some off the back of my hand, tasted like meat. Sprinkled some on a hard boiled egg, made it taste like meat. Added some to oil & vinegar salad dressing with garlic and dried herbs, tasted like a delicious meat sauce.
The best moment came when I added it to a flour and cornstarch mixture, then coated a flattened chicken breast with it before frying in a pan. Served the chicken on a hamburger bun with a slice of pickle and teaspoon of pickle juice, and I had a home made fast food tasting chicken sandwich.
The real secret ingredient of everything from KFC to Chick-fil-A. In the Binging with Babish Krabby Patty episode he was right that the real secret ingredient was likely MSG.
there is a reason the literal translation of MSG in Chinese is "chicken essence".
Wait......
Egg is Meat, ain't it?
@@XenoflareBahamut now that's food for thought
@@justgrey3114Also food for yourself 😉
i have a stomach condition where I can't eat alliums (garlic and onions), and MSG is an absolute lifesaver for making my food taste good. As long as it's being added to otherwise good food I think it's a really good tool
I have a similar problem that prevents me from eating alliums. This comment makes me want to try MSG more than anything in the video.
@@momentomori1747 do it! it doesn't replace the taste necessarily but it makes you forget their absence.
also solidarity on the tummy issues friend 🤝
I wouldn’t be surprised that you are still very sick.
The onion and garlic create a reaction when it kills the bad guys in your gut.
The more you eat the less you will get a reaction.
You must be very toxic to get such a reaction.
Plant based is the solution if you want to live a healthy life. You’ll be living, not just surviving.
@@jullyannrodriguez56 funny how that's the polar opposite of both my lived experience and direct advice from doctors
also things have improved in the last few years as I've refined what my digestive tract can and cant handle thank you very much. I've found a few veggies that are really good, and wouldn't you know it alliums continue to not be on that list.
@@jullyannrodriguez56 my other comment aside, did I fucking ask
This is incredibly interesting! It is odd though that, even though it's ultimately suggestive, Guga Foods had a completely different conclusion to MSG. In the video "I added MSG to everything and this happened," it was observed by three different people that adding MSG to things that already tasted good made them taste bette while adding it to things that tasted bad made them taste worse. Definitely not saying one is right and one is wrong but merely that the outcomes being different are interesting in terms of (non-scientific) subjectivity.
MSG is good with lentil meals. Lentils are almost flavourless on their own, but they absorb and reflect spices really well.
No you just don't know how to cook it. Lentil soup and Turkish lentil balls are fabulous.
Onion is needed with lentils
@@mcftr They literally told you exactly how to cook it. What are you on about?
@@mcftr So you are saying that there is a way of cooking lentils to have great flavor that does not involve spices?
@@MyVaniryes? Traditional lentil meal in turkey… it tastes so good with just salt and bread. And as far as I know it has no msg 😂 just onions, salça (tomato paste) , garlic and most importantly HIGH QUALITY lentils. American lentils taste like cardboard. For lentil meals I specifically buy a regional type of lentil - from the region of Yozgat. They are the best tasting. I have had lentil meals made from lentils that were imported and all of them tasted horrible so I believe your American lentils might be the problem.
*UNCLE ROGER: MSG ON BABY MAKES BETTER BABY*
Makes baby smarter.
yoonsu
@@poggers9454 hm who is u
but in case for babies / infant age, if you keep give them flavourful foods, they usually would avoid eating nutritious food that the taste not as strong/tasty as they often eat. that can be a health problem and headache for parent
Since I was a kid, I’ve always been sensitive to large amounts of free/unbound glutamate. I get heart palpitations from eggplant parmesan, Cheetos, Doritos, soy sauce, KFC, and many processed foods. I agree that a lot of people are full of it when they claim to be sensitive to certain foods, but some of us are actually sensitive to sudden spikes in blood glutamate levels. Glutamate is an excitatory neurotransmitter, after all. For those of us who truly have a consistent reaction to glutamate, it doesn’t matter if it’s a Chinese restaurant, an Italian restaurant, or a box of Hamburger Helper.
This, a thousand times this. It's the non asian processed foods that sneak up and get to me. I stopped eating chick fil a because they must be doing their food in MSG.
People who actually are sensitive just make MSG more credible because such people can't eat ANYTHING with large amounts of MSG, not just Chinese food or things with added MSG. But people who just bash MSG complain about Chinese food and added MSG, then enjoy broccoli and shitake mushrooms in their food. And suddenly it's fine.
What’s been your experience with parmesan cheese on an Italian ragu sauce?
Woah some people have allergies what a surprise
@@kittenmimi5326 I don't believe it is an allergy. Just as some people are more sensitive to caffeine, some people are more sensitive to glutamates as both are neurotransmitters that excite certain receptors in our body
I wholeheartedly agree with you! Firstly, it's been used in Asia for centuries; secondly, it's ridiculous how here in the U.S. it's vilified. And, thirdly, I've been using this for 35+ years and I can taste the difference when I use it (brings out natural flavors of food - especially meats). Lastly, why pay $2.99 for "Accent" (for a small amount) - I buy a bag (1-2 lbs) at any Asian market for $1.99 -$3.99 - it doesn't go bad.
wait, there're people putting MSG into tomatoes and mushrooms to add more flavour? why? those two ingredients are pretty much already MSG loaded.
That's like adding sugar to sugar syrup
Its like weed bruh, gotta go HIGHHHERRRRRR!!!!!
Some people are stupid.
Ever tried eating tomato with ketchup?
fresh mushrooms and tomatoes that are not very ripe and cooked down can taste pretty bland. and people still add Parmesan into tomato sauce.
It might be uninteresting, but people with autoimmune diseases often do avoid mushrooms and nightshades because they trigger flares. Ditto msg.
So let me get that straight. A peer-reviewed, scientific *MEDICAL* journal decides to dedicate a whole section for its contributors to make pranks and inside jokes on food, health, and medical issues, without any disclaimers?
What could possibly go wrong...
It's a journal for experts, it seems they all knew that section was a forum-type thing. The problem there seems to be the same one we see now - lay persons reading scientific journals without the knowledge\care to fully understand what they read, and the resulting misinformation
Inside jokes and contrived areas of research are a very common thing in any kind of forum made by experts and for experts. The sections where these are written are not explicitly dedicated for such jokes, but have a lower level of rigor applied to the things posted there, which allows jokes to get through next to the genuine - a distinction that the experts who the paper is printed for would easily be able to make. The danger comes when uninformed people read a scientific journal without knowing what they're talking about.
What could possibly go wrong?
The anti-vaxxer movement is an example.
@@JoseRivera-ym3wj last time I checked the Wakefield paper was not published as a letter to the editor
Tomatoes and especially mushrooms already have a good bit of naturally occurring MSG in them. That's one of the reasons why even mildly flavorful mushrooms make almost any dish a whole lot better.
Yes, but thats like comparing opium to heroin -- purified MSG is a whole different animal
@@annother3350That’s not even true. The FDA said that people only consume about 1-5% of their glutamate from sauces and powders.
@@GogiRegion Well there's something about purified MSG that makes me feel really weird and gives me a fluttery heart - - It surely must be that its concentrated.
BTW, I dont trust the FDA!
@@GogiRegion Hold on a minute though. Glutamate is not the same as Monosodium glutamate
@@annother3350”I don’t trust the FDA” do you also think dihydrogen monoxide should be banned?
Found your channel today. Instantly subbed and spent 2ish hours listening to your vids while cleaning lol
Pam: Whatcha snorting there?
Krieger: It's mostly MSG
Pam: THE FLAVA ENHANCER!
When I was a kid, I opted McCormick's Aromatic Salt over ketchup. The stuff is basically a mix of salt, MSG and some powdered onion. That stuff was crack.
One thing you might be doing wrong is that when using MSG you need to complement it with some salt and sugar. We Chinese(Yes I am Chinese) use it as an addition of flavor but not a replacement for salt.
Also you added wayyy to much in your food, a mall pinch would be enough.
Awesome video! Straight to the point, so many different opinions and theory and with great conclusion.
My favorite use for msg is putting it on my vegetables, particularly broccoli. I find I can easily eat 2-3 cups of broccoli every day for WEEKS when I add msg, but I get incredibly tired of it without msg in about 2-3 days.
Really? I love broccoli
Uhh, try it with butter and garlic.
Not so healthy but ranch or cheddar cheese sauce.
The reason why it didn’t make the mushroom broth and tomato sauce taste better is because those naturally have msg in it
Yup msg is natural and fine. That said, like most forms of sodium that doesn't mean unlimited quantities!
3:05 "while glutamates do occur in nature Dr. Tracy would not call them natural"
@@MercenaryBlackWaterz well that seems a bit silly of dr. Tracy.
MSG is produced by the fermentation of starch, sugar beets, sugar cane or molasses. This fermentation process is similar to that used to make yogurt, vinegar and wine
I suppose we could say in some sense that wine isn't natural either, but that doesn't tell you anything at all about whether or not wine is good or bad.
@@MercenaryBlackWaterz yep! and now we're really just talking about the definition of words, which is not really the point
@@Passionforfoodrecipes I think Dr. Tracy meant that most MSG additives are non-brewed condiments, same as most vinegar, because it's way easier and cheaper to produce it in a tank
@@MercenaryBlackWaterz "natural" doesn't mean fucking anything anymore in the food industry because it's marketing jargon. Also because it's from bacteria/fermentation, that's biologic functions, so therefore "natural", or as natural as cheese, yogurt, alcohol, and bread; which have all need considered food, and likely "natural" for at least the last few millenia....
My aunt used MSG in her restaurant. She called it magic salt. …lol… I miss that lady. She made excellent food. I should have paid more attention to what she tried to teach me. Dude, you could easily be a teacher. In a school. 🙄
He actually was a teacher. In a school
"Insulin for diabetics"
Thanks for keeping me alive, industrial fermentation!
If you have type2 quit eating carbs an you not need insulin
@@smileyface9459 who would give up rice and bread besides keto/insane people?
@@adamtheprop6959 carbs are like drug nobody want to give up what they like until they dying lol
@@smileyface9459 My dude, you're gonna need to source your claims or at the very least substantiate them if you want anyone to take them seriously
Im pretty sure they use geneticly modified bacteria, so thank GMOs aswell
Here's the thing though... it's a reactive chemical. Know what it reacts with, and it'll enhance noise. Like red sauce... try that in a red sauce with cheese or meat additives, and you'll see a whole new world, because of the proteins. Similarly, use it as a partial salt replacement in a marinade, and the meat flavor will be huge. Put it in ice cream, and have an underwhelming experience. Gotta know how reactions work, is all.
Worked really well with scrambled eggs for me.
@@ThePreciseClimber It'll work well in anything where you want that flavour that's not already loaded with MSG. I find it very useful for vegetarian meals that use meat replacements and (obviously) are low on "natural" MSG - fried rice is a great one, as are vegetarian noodle pans, if you don't fill either up with mushrooms.
And since with the Covid situation I am constantly out of mushrooms...
@@Freddy96LP Good advice.
Definitely works great with simple vegetables. Vegetables have always been a bit of a crapshoot for me, especially potatoes. Depends on where I buy them, during which months and all that.
But with MSG, they ALWAYS taste good.
MSG breaks down into roughly 30% of the sodium of salt. So, you could replace about that much of whatever salt you intended to use with MSG.
Whenever I add msg to anything I try to pair it with salt and a fat. Msg and salt in microwave popcorn is basically crack.
stop using a microwave. not good for you.
Microwaves are fine, but microwave popcorn is garbage tier. Highly recommend literally any other method, like air popper or stovetop which is my preferred method. You can really get creative with your toppings then =)
I like to melt butter in some olive oil, and toss the popcorn with seasoning salt (like Lawrys) and MSG. Super tasty!
@@LEdHeadW yeah you are an idiot. microwaves are not fine. they destroy mostly all the nutrients in your food.
@@LastbutNotFirst You're the idiot, it doesnt destroy the nutrients in food at all.
“Whenever you cook food, you’ll have some loss of nutrients,” says registered dietician and certified food scientist Catherine Adams Hutt, RD, Ph.D. "The best cooking method for retaining nutrients is one that cooks quickly, exposes food to heat for the smallest amount of time and uses only a minimal amount of liquid."
Guess what? Microwave cooking does that.
Taken from WebMD.com, but you can also find supporting statements on health.harvard.edu, in a health letter by Dr. Anthony Komaroff, it's Editor in Chief
@@LastbutNotFirst Thank goodness I had a UA-cam commenter so eloquently correct what I learned in my nutrition and chemistry courses in nursing school. 🙄 Microwaves are fine.
From the World Health Organization:
"Food cooked in a microwave oven is as safe, and has the same nutrient value, as food cooked in a conventional oven. The main difference between these two methods of cooking is that microwave energy penetrates deeper into the food and reduces the time for heat to be conducted throughout the food, thus reducing the overall cooking time." - www.who.int/peh-emf/publications/facts/info_microwaves/en/
Growing up, I was only ever told MSG made you crave more of the foods it was mixed with. I was never told about the origin story or the other reported health effects. So to summarize your video, MSG doesn't really have negative health effects (except for a small percentage of people), is generally safe for daily consumption, but it likely does cause us to eat more of the foods it is mixed with. Pretty much confirmed what I learned 20 years ago.
But any good cooking skill cause people to eat more food too?
Do we intentionally make our food taste bad so that we can eat less?
@@howareyou4400 I think there is a difference between making incredibly tasty food that people love and want to come back and eat again and again, and adding a chemical whose singular purpose is to boost cravings.
On one hand you have people making choices, on the other you are taking that choice away.
It’s the classic dilemma, if you could make people fall in love with you, then how would you ever know if they are with/love you truly or because you made them? And then worse, you took their will away and inserted yours.
That makes you a monster.
@@OriginalFrozenJoe You claim there is a difference, but what exactly is it?
@@howareyou4400 I listed the differences in my reply. 🤷♂️
@@howareyou4400 Make an amazing product that people love = good
Make a mediocre product, but add a thing that tricks people into loving your product = bad
This applies everywhere. Just make a good product - don’t cheat your way to success.
I know a “Nacho Cheese” Doritos ingredient list when I see it.
Keen eye of a true connoisseur. The keen eye is probably from the benefits of the orange color of the Doritos . Carrots are orange and good for your eyes so you don't have to be a science doctor to see the correlation there .
CandE.Adventures lol
I thought the title meant Metal Gear Solid was dangerous
Just A Dio Who's A Hero For Fun
Metal Gear Solid: Snake [with a bit of additives] Eater
Snake? Snake? SNAAAAAKEEE!
metal solid gear
*I mean...*
Me too thanks
I really sat there like “I don’t understand. What’s wrong with Metal Gear Solid???”
It has been artificially produced by a nefarious industry that wants you to become addicted to it so it can sell you more. DUH!
MSG not MGS lol
Metal Sear Golid
War has changed....
This beautiful sponsor segment actually made me want to sign up for Curiosity Stream - thank you
I remember Anthony Bourdain talked about this, claiming certain journalist targeted the Asian restaurants due to racism.
Thanks for the video. My mom heard of the original article and was pretty terrified of buying Asian foods with MSG in them. I don't think she knows its in Doritos or chips as Monosodium Glutamate though. Gonna be an interesting conversation for us.
what a genuinely brilliant video, for real, ive watched this more than 3 times now, im a chef of 12 years, from scotland, i like to think that im quite clued up when it comes to dietry stuff, but when i see your videos i get humbled, well done mate, i love learning. you love teaching, and youre good at it. =)
I’ve been using a personal 1/3rd sea salt 2/3rd msg mix, ground black pepper, and chili powder mix to season almost any meat I eat for awhile now. I also use a small dash of the sea salt msg mix in rice I make as well. I’ve never seen any negative affects from it and am considered healthy by most doctors I’ve seen.
Hey Adam, could you make a video about general freezing stuff. You know, what things taste bad after freezing, what tastes better, can anything be harmful after freezing etc.
Great video love ya
What in the literal hell are you talking about? "Frozing" stuff? Are you you trying to say freezing? Are you ok?
that_G_EvanP English is not the only language in the world. It’s possible this is an ESL situation, and you probably don’t know all the correct words in that person’s language, either. You knew darned well “freezing” was the intended word.
Judy Vallas thank you for telling it like it is!!
@@MrEazyE357 yeah sorry, i meant freezing. I guess frozing just sounded right in my head XD
I'm going to have to try your chip experiment just to see if I think the same thing.
I find it interesting that people go after msg, but not other umami foods:
*many kinds of mushrooms (which is part of why they seem to add so much flavor to so many dishes!)
*brewer's yeast aka nutritional yeast
*certain kinds of fermented seaweed and/or fish (worshtershire sauce) certain fermented beans.
Our family generally uses brewer's yeast a lot, and we tend to think of it as a "butter enhancer", so we sprinkle it on popcorn, make brewer's yeast toast (butter bread and sprinkle it on top before broiling to golden brown), use it on butter-fried potatoes (at the end of cooking, so it doesn't burn), and put it in chicken flavor ramen broth.
It's called Umami because when he tasted it he exclaimed, "Oooooooh, Mami!"
Excellent dad joke,
That's so bad...
I like it
wow kinky much?
That was horrible, thank you
My dad's on a low sodium diet and msg has less sodium than table salt so we use that when cooking (and still try to use it sparingly) and it's fine. It makes it easier to cut back on salt without killing flavor.
It can be argued that MSG is actually “natural”. MSG is produced by bacteria in factories, and bacteria are natural. The word natural has not been well defined by the FDA, so it doesn’t really matter whether or not the word natural in on a food label. Also, the MSG from factories is chemically identical to that of MSG in meat and mushrooms, so even if it isn’t natural, it is exactly the same as if it was.
"Natural" has no meaning anyway because even chemical processes are arguably natural; even artificial processes can produce something chemically identical to biological processes. It's why the FDA sets no standard for the term "natural" as applied to food and drugs.
It can be argued that anything is actually natural.
Humans are natural, after all, and so anything they do is also natural.
"Now it's all over my kitchen" literally made me laugh out loud, well done. Good science communication
I love how you refer to the conversation in the journal as the reddit of old, that makes so much sense, lol.
I don’t think there’s necessarily anything wrong with exhibiting a healthy amount of skepticisim towards food additives recently introduced to our diets.
One thing to consider is that Japan has the highest life expectancy of any major country on the planet, and they use a ton of MSG in their food-certainly way more than Americans. That alone is pretty clear evidence, at least to me, that it’s completely safe and not worth concerning over.