November 25, 2011

My friend Karl took umbrage about my post on MSG, suggesting that my opinion on it was not a convincing enough perspective as it was not backed up by referenced research. He also believed that my conclusions on MSG were unfounded based on his own understanding of the topic. I pride myself on being well-informed, and while I am only expressing my personal opinions on any topic in this blog, I don’t believe I do so from a place of ignorance – except when it comes to the Kardashian sisters. When something interests me, I read multiple perspectives and use my brain to draw conclusions, even if all of the information is not clearly presented in a nice little package. It will come as no surprise that I believe MSG is a VERY bad and toxic additive in our food chain, and I am convinced it will be proven in my lifetime, as was the case with Transfats. While the last blog was focused on MSG – because I was having such a shocking reaction to it at the time – I also believe things like artificial sweeteners (like Aspartame), High Fructose Corn Syrup, unnatural food dyes, Sodium Nitrite, BHA and BHT (E320), Soy, Tatrazine, and many, many other things are all poisons in our food chain. Heck I recently read an article stating that wheat has been manipulated to such a point, with significantly less varieties available than we had 100 years ago, even eating a whole grain diet is now harmful to us…. but that’s another topic. Getting back to MSG. It was “discovered” in its natural form just over 100 years ago. MSG was then extracted and has been sold commercially around the world ever since. The real challenge with MSG does not come in its natural form, but in the way it is fermented on a massive commercial scale and is now found in just about everything we eat – essentially if it’s not in its raw form, it’s got MSG. The mass production of MSG started in the 1950s and has only grown, and many believe it is the fermentation process applied to its mass production that is creating an inferior and poisonous product – here’s another perspective. For me Soy, amongst many other additives, sits in the same bucket  – the mass production techniques are making it bad – why else go to so much effort to “sell” it as a healthy alternative? I’m not going to try and convince you of anything here, just wanted to share some research and my personal thoughts on various issues, which I believe are linked to MSG and other additives. There’s a lot of shit in our food chain that scares the crap out of me – crikey we’re even eating genetically modified salmon – and they don’t even know what the long term impact will be? Not just that, the majority of governments are not making it mandatory for it to be labelled, which means the consumer can’t even make an informed decision about buying it? That’s outrageous to me. I do not believe that any of us are even remotely capable of understanding the big picture and the impact this is going to have on our minds and bodies, because there is not a co-ordinated or global approach to this topic – but the increase in certain “diseases” and mental illnesses (like Alzheimers and Autism) seem to have a direct correlation to the rise of shite in our food chain. That is my personal belief. Suffice to say, it would take a LOT to convince me otherwise. There is so much more I could say on this, so many arguments I could raise, so many concerns I could discuss, I could talk about the food manufacturing industry’s self interest, the power of lobbying groups, research that supports the arguments for this crap, the fact that livestock is fed on soy and corn so even if we try to avoid it we still get it in our bodies if we’re not vegetarians, and so much more, but then I’d have to write a book – and I am not an expert on this topic, just a very concerned consumer. However, I wanted to share my perspective because it WORRIES ME, but I am not saying I’m right. I could be so far off the mark it’s not funny, but I don’t think I am. For me, having read multiple perspectives on this and other issues, I remain convinced that something very very bad is going on in our food chain, and the corresponding increases in certain diseases, for me, are proof of that. The problem is nothing is conclusive on this topic, because we are not looking at these issues from a global perspective and the data is not being collected in a unified way – so how can we ever prove it if we aren’t even trying to look at it seamlessly? Another argument is that the massive increase in mental illness is being attributed to the fact that people are living longer. As the baby boomers enter their dotage, age is being cited as the key reason for the increases – nothing to do with additives and preservatives. But that argument doesn’t wash with me when I look at statistics on autism, ADHD, etc… Typically considered “young” people’s diseases…   One thing is for sure, if you read any of the research below, the governments of the world are SHITTING themselves, because these increases are going to cost TRILLIONS for the healthcare industry – awesome for the drug companies huh? Perhaps rather than drugging them, or taking any other approach, governments can assess additives and preservatives as a priority? But then, it’s not going to be a current government’s problem is it, so why bother? As my friend Karl said, a person starving to death doesn’t care if is MSG in the food. He is right. But that is a different issue. The issue