Few ingredients inspire as much fear as MSG, or monosodium glutamate. While an overtly chemical name and a similarity in appearance to salt certainly don’t help its case, the food additive is especially reviled because some people believe that consuming it causes a slew of symptoms, from headache to palpitations to numbness.
But is MSG actually bad for you? Monosodium glutamate has a terrible rap due to decades of anecdotal reports, but it’s probably nowhere near as detrimental to your health as you think. Here’s everything you need to know about the misunderstood ingredient, according to experts.
What is MSG?
Monosodium glutamate is a food additive that enhances the savoury flavour in food. In technical terms, MSG is the sodium salt of the common amino acid glutamic acid, per the Food Authority NSW. It takes the form of a white, crystalline powder. Importantly, MSG tastes really good—it can deepen flavour and make food taste more like itself, much like salt does.
You can find MSG at almost any supermarket in Australia, but it is still most popular in Eastern Asia. The ingredient was first discovered by Japanese chemist and professor Kikunae Ikeda, who extracted it from dashi broth in 1908 and almost immediately began selling it.
MSG is a completely natural substance. It occurs in foods like ripe tomatoes, aged cheeses, fish, mushrooms and seaweed—all of which share that deep, earthy, savoury flavour. Today, MSG is produced by fermenting starch, sugar beets, sugar cane, or molasses. And despite the name, it contains no gluten.
Is MSG bad for you?
“There is no good research to back up the notion that MSG is bad for you,” explains dietitian Susan Levin. “In fact, international organisations such as the World Health Organisation, the Food and Drug Administration, and the European Food Safety Association classify MSG as ‘generally recognised as safe.’”
Importantly in Australia and New Zealand, “no food additive – including MSG – is approved for use in food until its safety has been established by FSANZ. MSG and other glutamates are among a group of food additives that are generally permitted in foods, due to their safety” says Food Authority NSW.
Another 2019 review concluded that many of the reported negative side effects of MSG are “poorly informative, as they are based on excessive dosing that does not meet with levels normally consumed in food products.”
The ingredient might also increase meal satisfaction, even with less food. A small 2014 study divided people into two groups: one received soup with MSG, while the other had plain soup. When the two groups later consumed lunch, the MSG group ate significantly less than the non-MSG group, but reported feeling just as satisfied by their food. This suggests that MSG might even help you feel fuller, aiding in weight-loss journeys, although there’s no definitive link yet.
But if you always feel gross after eating foods high in MSG, you don’t have to feel bad about cutting it out of your diet: “One will hear plenty of stories of less-than-desirable reactions to MSG,” Levin explains. “If you are one of those people, it hardly matters what the research shows. You probably want to avoid an ingredient that doesn’t make you feel well.”
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