MSG is the most commonly used flavoring agent in thousands of households, and a little bit of MSG is added to a dish to make the taste very delicious. Although the role of MSG is very powerful, some people may often remind you that when cooking, you should put less MSG, thinking that MSG is an industrial product and harmful to health. Some people believe these claims or have doubts, but for the health of their families, more and more people are beginning to give up MSG, after all, they would rather believe that they have it than believe it.
The name MSG seems to be easy to make people have reverie, because people do not have a good feeling for foods containing fine words, such as creamer, clenbuterol, saccharin, etc., it seems that they are synthetic industrial products, which are incompatible with natural foods, and naturally can be healthy and unhooked. There are even a lot of negative impressions about MSG: "Eating too much MSG will cause cancer!" "MSG is an industrial additive!" "MSG is toxic when heated!"
So what exactly is the substance in MSG, and will long-term consumption really affect people's health?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" > the history of MSG discovery</h1>
The main reason why MONOS can enhance the umami taste of food is that the sodium glutamate component in it works, which was discovered by a Japanese person more than a hundred years ago.
sodium glutamate
It was in 1908, when Kikusana Ikeda, a Japanese doctor of chemistry, was eating kelp cucumber soup and found the soup very delicious, which greatly increased his appetite. As a Ph.D. in chemistry, he was keenly aware that something in these soups had brought about these umami tastes. So he conducted in-depth research on these ingredients, and after repeated verification, he finally determined that the sodium glutamate contained in kelp enhanced the umami taste of the food.
Subsequently, he made sodium glutamate into a umami agent, named it "Ajinomoto", and obtained a patent. In 1909, businessman Saburo Suzuki cooperated with Dr. Ikeda to start the industrial production of sodium glutamate from wheat as raw material, and began to market the product as Aanomoto, and since then MONOSG has been sold all over the world.
Ajinomoto
In 1919, Wu Yunchu, a famous patriotic industrialist in China, saw the advertisement of Amanomoto in Shanghai Beach, and after three years of developing domestic MONOS glutagm, in 1923, the first MONOS glutamate factory appeared in Shanghai, China, The Heavenly Kitchen MSG Factory, and since then China's MONOS glutase industry has started.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="14" > is eating MSG harmful to the human body? </h1>
The main component in MSG mentioned above is sodium glutamate, which is actually a derivative of glutamate, which is an amino acid. Amino acids are the basic units of protein synthesis in the human body, and there are more than 20 kinds of amino acids that make up the human body, and glutamic acid is one of them. From this point of view, the statement that the ingredients in MSG are harmful to the human body is obviously not true.
Glutamate is one of the essential amino acids of the human body
The origin of the earliest harmful remarks about MSG actually originated in the United States. In 1968, when an American doctor ate a meal in a Chinese restaurant, some symptoms of fever and palpitations appeared after the meal, so he directly attributed the cause to the MSG in The Chinese food. The report was later published in the New England Journal of Medicine. After this article was published, this symptom was even titled "Chinese restaurant syndrome". After that, people even began to be afraid and refused to eat Chinese food, so that various American Chinese restaurants were forced to advertise declaring that "MSG is not added to dishes."
Since then, there have been many studies on MSG, but from beginning to end, there is no conclusive evidence that consuming MSG is harmful to the human body. Whether the doctor's report was true or had some other purpose is unknown
But the rumors are getting more and more outrageous, and there are even saying that the taste of delicate cancer will make people stupid. In 1995, commissioned by the U.S. FDA, the American Federation of Experimental Biology reported that under normal circumstances, it was safe to consume MSG. CCTV has also repeatedly refuted rumors about this.
There is also a saying that high temperatures will cause MSG to produce sodium pyroglutamate, and sodium pyroglutamate will cause cancer. In this regard, researchers have conducted relevant research on this, and the results show that after 0.2% of the sodium glutamate solution is heated at 115 ° C for 3 hours, a small part of the glutamic acid will be converted into sodium pyroglutamate, but this substance itself is non-toxic, nor is it a carcinogen, but it does not have the same umami taste as sodium glutamate, and it is for this reason that MSG is best added when it is about to come out of the pot, not because it will become a carcinogen after heating at high temperatures.
As early as 1987, the Joint Expert Committee of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization on Food Additives evaluated MSG and concluded that as long as it is legal and fair use, MSG is safe, and there is even no need to set a limit dosage. Currently, both the WHO, the FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) and the European Union list MSG as one of the safest food additives, i.e. it is safe to eat MSG.
In summary, the safety of MSG is not to worry, in fact, we should actually consider the intake of sodium ions. Because sodium glutamate in MSG provides a certain amount of sodium ions, this replaces salt to a certain extent. Excessive salt intake can lead to symptoms such as increased blood pressure and thirst, and a long-term high-sodium diet will increase the incidence of cardiovascular disease. In fact, in addition to MSG, many other condiments (soy sauce, cooking wine, etc.) now also contain a lot of sodium salt, so for the sake of health, we should reduce the amount of edible salt used when cooking, if you have put MSG or other spices.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="29" > summary</h1>
MSG is actually a practical and healthy flavoring agent, and we should not demonize them. The production process of MONOS glutamate is actually the same as yogurt and vinegar, which is obtained by fermenting grain and can be eaten with confidence. It is only because MSG contains a certain amount of sodium ions, so it is best to control the daily intake, moderate consumption is no problem, we do not avoid it because of some unfounded rumors.
Resources:
[1] A review of 100 years of China's monosodium glutamate industry[J]. Chinese Condiments, 2020, v.45; No.493(03):170-174.
Safety assessment of monosodium glutamate[J]. Chinese Condiments, 2009, 7(34): 31-33
[3] Monosodium glutamate fermentation production process and its main equipment[J]. Journal of Higher Correspondence Education:Natural Science Edition, 1995, 000(004):45-48.