challenge: msg and glutamates

I don’t know who thought it would be a good idea to put pure msg into a capsule and give it to people but they did. I also don’t know who would be surprised with the results.

Having said that, this challenge was also supposed to test glutamates. This is apparently something that is present in all proteins and in its free form, not linked to protein, it enhances the flavour of food. Tomatoes, cheeses, mushrooms, stock cubes, sauces, meat extracts and yeast extracts all contain glutamates. Pure monosodium glutamate (MSG) can also be used as an additive to increase the flavour of soups, sauces, Asian cooking and snack foods.

Because of my history with asthma, I had to do this challenge as a capsule test, not a food test. And there aren’t that many foods that have glutamate on its own, without some amine or salicylate.

Not surprisingly after this challenge I had a bit of a headache, I was quite thirsty, and I was a little short of breath. I also had some serious stomach cramps, felt nauseous and rapid bowel movements.

While I am disappointed that I have failed yet another challenge, I did think “wouldn’t it be kind of ironic that the only thing I wasn’t allergic too would be msg?”, but also was not at all surprised.