l-glutamine vs. glutamate vs. free glutamici acid.

Thanks. l-glutamine may not be the same thing as free glutamic acid or msg, but luckily for me, it's what helped me connect the dots because l-glutamine sounds like glutamate. I don't know all the particulars yet, but I have the sense that it's a pre-cursor to, or the body converts one to another.

The other clue for me was when I reacted to Hebrew National Hotdogs with hydrolyzed soy protein. At first, I wondered if I was "allergic" to soy, but the more reading I did on on MSG, and I realized that hydrolyzed soy protein contains free glutamic acid (the business end of MSG), it all fell into place.

As for chicken, chicken, like beef, fish, and other proteins, has glutamate, which when digested, is absorbed slowly (not a problem). So, when an analysis of protein is made, and it talks about the glutamic acid content, that's not the whole story. For people sensitive to MSG, it's the FREE glutamic acid, meaning the amount liberated from long cooking times or reactions of acid or enzymes.

Mike