Dr. Weeks’ Comment: Thanks to our friend and patient Rebecca for sending this excellent warning about MSG.
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This is yet another example of the folly of government “health care reform” wherein, at the same time as the Feds encourage us to adopt healthy lifestyle habits, they subsidize Big Business (in this case food companies) which knowingly push unhealthy food that has been “slow poisoned” to boot!
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Note that Michelle Obama’s five steps are helpful, but unless and until she and her husband confront the Big Businesses whose strategy is to create addicted and obese “consumers” at an early age, all her five steps are fluff –
http://www.letsmove.gov/sites/letsmove.gov/files/pdfs/TAKE_ACTION_COMMUNITY_LEADERS.pdf
No! Her steps and her whole “Let’s Move” project are worse than fluff because, knowing as she does that the real problem is toxic food being spewed forth from profits above morality businesses and since she uniquely has the opportunity to do a real service by addressing this horrible behavior, her offering obese kids fluff (“exercise”) instead of mustering the will to actually attack the problem at its source (with her arguably influential husband) is a grave disservice.
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Rebecca writes: “Wow! I know MSG is awful stuff and in everything, but I didn’t know they used it to induce obesity. I’ve been saying for a long time that big business is running the country, and here is just more proof that it owns Congress, the President, etc. The only solution I can see is to absolutely stop eating processed food. Even without MSG, the processing destroys so many nutrients that hunger isn’t satisfied, so people eat more.”
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MSG Update
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This could explain the reason why you can’t go without a Tim Horton’s
coffee, you can’t stop eating those snacks or you can’t lose that
weight! It’s definitely given me something to think about and maybe
throw out a few things!!!
Here’s an interesting article that warrants a read. We will be extra
vigilant in checking labels from now on.
The content of this article has links to substantiate its claims – Scary stuff!
MSG (a slow poison)
The food additive MSG (Mono-Sodium Glutamate) is a slow poison. MSG
hides behind 25 or more names, such as “Natural Flavoring.” MSG is
even in your favorite coffee from Tim Horton’s and Starbucks coffee
shops!
I wondered if there could be an actual chemical causing the massive
obesity epidemic, and so did a friend of mine, John Erb. He was a
research assistant at the University of Waterloo in Ontario , Canada ,
and spent years working for the government. He made an amazing
discovery while going through scientific journals for a book he was
writing called The Slow Poisoning of America ..
In hundreds of studies around the world, scientists were creating
obese mice and rats to use in diet or diabetes test studies. No
strain of rat or mice is naturally obese, so scientists have to create
them. They make these creatures morbidly obese by injecting them with
MSG when they are first born.
The MSG triples the amount of insulin the pancreas creates, causing
rats (and perhaps humans) to become obese. They even have a name for
the fat rodents they create: “MSG-Treated Rats.”
When I heard this, I was shocked. I went into my kitchen and checked
the cup-boards and the refrigerator. MSG was in everything — the
Campbell’s soups, the Hostess Doritos, the Lays flavored potato chips,
Top Ramen,Betty Crocker Hamburger Helper, Heinz canned gravy, Swanson frozen prepared meals, and Kraft salad dressings, especially the
“healthy low-fat” ones. The items that didn’t have MSG marked on the product label had something called “Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein,” which is just another name for Monosodium Glutamate.
It was shocking to see just how many of the foods we feed our children
everyday are filled with this stuff. MSG is hidden under many
different names in order to fool those who read the ingredient list,
so that they don’t catch on. (Other names for MSG are “Accent,
“Aginomoto,” “Natural Meat Tenderizer,” hydrolyzed protein etc.)
But it didn’t stop there.
When our family went out to eat, we started asking at the restaurants
what menu items contained MSG. Many employees, even the managers,
swore they didn’t use MSG. But when we ask for the ingredient list,
which they grudgingly provided, sure enough, MSG and Hydrolyzed
Vegetable Protein were everywhere.
Burger King, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Taco Bell, every restaurant – even
the sit-down eateries like TGIF, Chili’s, Applebee’s, and Denny’s –
use MSG in abundance. Kentucky Fried Chicken seemed to be the WORST
offender: MSG was in every chicken dish, salad dressing. and gravy.
No wonder I loved to eat that coating on the skin – their secret spice
was MSG!
So why is MSG in so many of the foods we eat? As a preservative, or a vitamin?
Not according to my friend John Erb. In his book The Slow Poisoning
of America, he said that MSG is added to food for the addictive effect
it has on the human body.
Even the propaganda website sponsored by the food manufacturers lobby group supporting MSG explains that the reason they add it to food is to make people eat more.
A study of the elderly showed that older people eat more of the foods
that it is added to. The Glutamate Association lobbying group says eating more is a benefit to the elderly, but what does it do to the rest of us?
“Betcha can’t eat [just] one,” takes on a whole new meaning where MSG
is concerned! And we wonder why the nation is overweight!
MSG manufacturers themselves admit that it addicts people to their
products. It makes people choose their product over others, and makes
people eat more of it than they would if MSG wasn’t added.
Not only is MSG scientifically proven to cause obesity, it is an
addictive substance. Since its introduction into the American food
supply fifty years ago, MSG has been added in larger and larger doses
to the pre-packaged meals, soups, snacks, and fast foods we are tempted to eat everyday.
The FDA has set no limits on how much of it can be added to food.
They claim it’s safe to eat in any amount. But how can they claim it’s
safe when there are hundreds of scientific studies with titles like
these:
“The monosodium glutamate (MSG) obese rat as a model for the study of exercise in obesity.” Gobatto CA, Mello MA, Souza CT , Ribeiro IA. Res Commun Mol Pathol Pharmacol. 2002.
“Adrenalectomy abolishes the food-induced hypothalamic serotonin release in both normal and monosodium glutamate-obese rats.” Guimaraes RB, Telles MM, Coelho VB, Mori C, Nascimento CM, Ribeiro. Brain Res Bull. 2002 Aug.
‘Obesity induced by neonatal monosodium glutamate treatment in spontaneously hypertensive rats: An animal model of multiple risk factors.” Iwase M, Yamamoto M, Iino K, Ichikawa K, Shinohara N, Yoshinari Fujishima. AHypertens Res. 1998 Mar.
“Hypothalamic lesion induced by injection of monosodium glutamate in suckling period and subsequent development of obesity.” Tanaka K, Shimada M, Nakao K Kusunoki. Exp Neurol. 1978 Oct.
No, the date of that last study was not a typo; it was published in
1978. Both the “medical research community” and “food manufacturers”
have known about the side effects of MSG for decades.
Many more of the studies mentioned in John Erb’s book link MSG to
diabetes, migraines and headaches, autism, ADHD, and even Alzheimer’s.
So what can we do to stop the food manufactures from dumping this
fattening and addictive MSG into our food supply and causing the
obesity epidemic we now see?
Several months ago, John Erb took his book and his concerns to one of
the highest government health officials in Canada . While he was
sitting in the government office, the official told him, “Sure, I
know how bad MSG is. I wouldn’t touch the stuff..” But this top-level government official refuses to tell the public what he knows.
The big media doesn’t want to tell the public either, fearing issues
with their advertisers. It seems that the fallout on the fast food
industry may hurt their profit margin. The food producers and
restaurants have been addicting us to their products for years, and
now we are paying the price for it. Our children should not be cursed
with obesity caused by an addictive food additive.
But what can I do about it? I’m just one voice! What can I do to stop
the poisoning of our children, while our governments are insuring
financial protection for the industry that is poisoning us?
This message is going out to everyone I know in an attempt to tell you
the truth that the corporate-owned politicians and media won’t tell
you.
The best way you can help to save yourself and your children from this
drug-induced epidemic is to forward this article to everyone. With
any luck, it will circle the globe before politicians can pass the
legislation protecting those who are poisoning us.
The food industry learned a lot from the tobacco industry. Imagine if
big tobacco had a bill like this in place before someone blew the
whistle on nicotine?
If you are one of the few who can still believe that MSG is good for
us and you don’t believe what John Erb has to say, see for yourself.
Go to any search engine. Type in the words “MSG Obese” and read a
few of the 115 medical studies that appear.
Also search for National Library of Medicine www.pubmed.com
We the public do not want to be rats in one giant experiment, and we
do not approve of food that makes us into a nation of obese,
lethargic, addicted sheep, feeding the food industry’s bottom line
while waiting for the heart transplant, the diabetic-induced
amputation, blindness, or other obesity-induced, life-threatening
disorders.
With your help we can put an end to this poison. Do your part in
sending this message out by word of mouth, e-mail, or by distribution
of this printout to your friends all over the world and stop this
“Slow Poisoning of Mankind” by the packaged food industry.
Blowing the whistle on MSG is our responsibility, so get the word out!
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