Part 1: Jack Samuels at the MSG website TruthInLabeling explains it

This is the email I sent to Jack Samuels at the Mono-Sodium-Glutamat (Natrium Glutamat) website TruthInLabeling and I got his response below:


"Hello,

I have been trying to find this out online but have not found the answer.

1. Gluten: Can you tell me if and why wheat gluten is different than eating wheat flour as a whole? As far as I know wheat gluten is made by washing the flour until the starch is gone. How would this mean broken down protein/free glutamic acid?

2. Auxigro: I couldnt find anything regarding an APPROVAL of the use of Auxigro in organic foods. Do you know if it is true that it has not been approved yet or do you have a reference as to the current status of the approval process?

3. Sodium lactate: I found the ingredient sodium lactate (from beets) on a couple of organic sliced meat products. Is that also Mono-Sodium-Glutamat (Natrium Glutamat) due to processing and thus bad for us?

4. Wine, beer & apple cider vinegar: They are fermented, so does this mean development of Mono-Sodium-Glutamat (Natrium Glutamat) during processing also?

5. D glutamic acid vs. L glutamic acid: In the article I posted right below it distinguishes between L and D glutamic acid, the D form being the manufacturered harmful one. If I understand this correctly it is free L'glutamic acid that develops from making citric acid , pectin, long cooking of tomatoes, ultra pasteurizing and drying milk, fermentation in cheeses such as parmesan and gelatin. It is also free L'glutamic acid that is found in raw in ripe tomatoes. This is somewhat confusing to me still - on one hand there is supposed to be a difference between L and D form of free glutamic acid, yet it seems even the L'glutamic acid coming from natural foods is just as bad. Are BOTH excitotoxins which can kill brain cells? Or is the L form safe and only the D form harmful in normal individuals whereas sensitive people have to stay away from either??? Otherwise, it seems that we cant cook anything since hydrolisation will occur during the cooking process - to a larger or smaller degree but still."


Here is his response:

"Monica:

Following are my responses to your questions.

1. Although some people may not agree, I do not believe that gluten should present an MSG problem. What is a problem is that many, if not most flours (not graham or whole wheat flour) include malted barley, sometimes referred to as barley malt, or malt. These ingredients introduce enzymes into the flour and when you use the flour to make bread or something else, the enzymes break down the protein, at least in part, resulting in some processed free glutamic acid (MSG).

If you look at bags of flour in stores you will see malted barley listed on the labels, but that does not mean that it is necessarily in the flour. Apparently, when the wheat is harvested following a very wet season or if the farmer's field is somewhat depleted of nutrients, the flour does not act properly in recipes. Therefore, the flour company adds the malted barley. Since they do not know when or if they will need to add malted barley, they leave it listed on the label.

Hogsdon Mills (on Internet) produces a white flour that is free of malted barley.

2. To our knowledge, AuxiGro has not been approved for use on organic crops. Some years ago, the Organic Standards Board was prepared to approve the use of AuxiGro, We contacted them and appeared at their meeting in Washington. Approval of AuxiGro was not granted.

3. Sodium lactate should not contain processed free glutamic acid (MSG). It would be sodium linked to lactic acid.

4. All products that include any protein and are fermented will have some MSG. We have some people who have reported they can tolerate one vinegar and not another. They also indicate that their tolerance of a particular vinegar may be different from one batch to the next. Obviously, what they are dealing with is that the amount of free glutamic acid in each batch varies, and their individual tolerance for MSG affects how they may react to it. Interesting is the fact that most foreign beers appear to be better tolerated than domestic beers.

5. Nature only makes the L-form of glutamic acid in higher organisms. Therefore, even if such a thing as a non-overripe tomato has a minute amount of free glutamic acid, it will only be in the L-form. (We had tomatoes tested, and the amount is minute rather than great, as contended by industry.) By and large, the glutamic acid found in unadulterated, unprocessed, unfermented protein is BOUND to other amino acids, and will only be in the L form.

In every case, when an amino acid is FREED from protein through a manufacturing process or is fermented, it will be accompanied by contaminants (see
http://www.truthinlabeling.org/manufac.html).
Although D form chemicals are often toxic, used in some drugs to kill or resolve a medical problem, we do not know if D-glutamic acid is what is causing adverse reactions in people. The reactions may be related to one or more of the other contaminants produced.

We do know that when a protein is hydrolyzed with an acid, the common method used in our country, that carcinogenic propanols will be included among the contaminants. In the last several years, the food regulatory agency in England has removed certain products from grocers' shelves because of excessive levels of carcinogens. They have acknowledged to me, in writing, that all items removed contained acid hydrolyzed proteins.

When you ingest proper proteins, your body does break down (digest) those proteins. I do not consider that to be a problem, and the body appears to rid itself of excesses. Somehow, it appears to us that only the processed free glutamic acid is the problem, and that the contaminants are not all handled in the body. A pathologist once told me that D-glutamic acid was found through autopsy in the brains of deceased people. Since people do not eat any truly natural foods with D-glutamic acid and since the body does not produce D-glutamic acid, it had to enter the body through other means and it was not removed from the body through body systems.

MSG-sensitive people with little tolerance for MSG do become ill from soups and stews that they have prepared from proper ingredients. There is likely some breakdown from other cooking methods, but the amount of contaminants produced are likely low enough to be tolerated by most people.

The bottom line, in my mind, is that our bodies are being overpowered with toxins, causing serious health problems. The body is miraculous and can deal with some toxins, but the food industry appears not to know when to stop.

I hope that the above is responsive to your questions.

Jack Samuels"

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