The Masks of MSG

By Cindy Knight

During those stormy days last winter, I researched a food additive that has wormed its way into the food chain and ultimately our lives. Many of you know it as MSG, and have first-hand knowledge that it can stimulate hyperactivity in children.

Are you aware when you are reading the labels of those quick and easy to prepare boxed foods that MSG also masquerades under the following names?

• Omega Protein Refined/Hydrolysed Fish Emulsion
  
• Steam Hydrolysed Feather Meal
• Hydrolysed Proteins
  

It’s also hidden in food ingredients listed as hydrolysed vegetable protein, autolyzed yeast extract, soy protein isolate, and many other names. Just because the name MSG doesn’t appear on the label doesn’t mean that it isn’t there.

It’s also present in a product called AziGro WP Plant Metabolic Primer, which is sprayed on some of the vegetables our children eat, into the air, and onto the ground where it gets into the drinking water.

The following vegetables are sprayed with this product. In fact, the Environmental Protection Agency has the following crops registered for this product to be used:

• head lettuce
  
• pinto beans
  
• eaf lettuce
  
• grapes
  
• butter
  
• tomatoes
  
• bulb onions
  
• romaine lettuce
  
• potatoes
  
• bell peppers
  
• snap beans
  
• peanuts g
• reen peppers
  
• strawberries
  
• cucumbers
  
• jalapeno peppers
  
• watermelons
  
• navy beans
  
• iceberg lettuce
  

Autism & ADHD is now linked to the addictive food additive – MSG

For the last fifty years, the medical community has been baffled by the increase in cases of Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder and Autism. These two diseases, unheard of before 1950, have been striking an increasing number of children.

MSG is used in almost every institutional setting in America – from hospitals to school cafeterias to elderly care facilities.

MSG is being added to mass-produced food to increase its palatability. Women are being exposed to a major toxin that can cause irreparable damage to their child even before they discover they are pregnant.

MSG and its related ingredients have been found in increasing amounts in processed and fast foods.

MSG has no nutritional value. Scientific studies show that food laced with MSG cause people to eat more of it and faster than food without it.

MSG and Obesity

Could there be a connection to the MSG added to our food and the fact that 60% of the world’s population is obese? Could this be a contributing factor in the obesity of our children?

BUT, never mind the weight connection – what is it doing to your child’s brain?

John Erb, a development disorder researcher and author of the boo, “The Slow Poisoning of America,” comments that the FDA has no limits on how much MSG can be added to foods, even though as little as two tablespoons of it has been shown to cause epileptic convulsion and death in animals such as dogs.

MSG is a highly reactive amino acid used by scientists in studies to purposely cause death to areas of the brain and is fed to rodents to make a strain of obese and pre-diabetic test subjects. MSG is classified as a neurotoxin. Too much of it introduced into the brain can cause rapid cell death. It is this kind of destruction that John Erb states is the cause of ADHD and Autism.

How does your school respond?

Many schools today are recommending drug intervention for children who suffer from ADD and ADHD. The drug of choice is called Ritalin. If your school has recommended medication, do a Google search and type in “dangers of Ritalin” to familiarize yourself with the effects of this choice.

You also need to know that there are alternatives such as improving the nutritional value of the diet, removing additives, and special learning techniques so that your child who is likely very bright to begin with, can get an education and take his/her place in our society.

Many children diagnosed with ADD/ADHD should be in classes for “gifted” children because of their high level of intelligence.

It helps to know that there are organizations that specialize in designing learning programs for children who don’t learn at the same rate or in the same way as the rest of the class. For information on resources in Ontario, refer to the Attention Deficit Disorder Foundation of Ontario at www.addofoundation.org.

Cindy Knight, RHN, CR. is a Registered Holistic Nutritionist, Certified Hand & Foot Reflexologist, Reiki Practitioner, Colour Therapist, and Mannatech Glyconutritional Supplement Distributor. Her company, Feel Better Therapies, provides a relaxing environment where every client can prolong their feeling of well-being. Cindy can be contacted at (519) 319-0096 or by email at cmknight@feelbettertherapies.com.

Published in Networking Today, August 2004.