The Poisoning of America - I hope you find this as informative as I did

[BigBearJohn]

http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/bbs/showthread.php?threadid=337566

I wondered if there could be an actual chemical causing the massive obesity epidemic, so did a friend of mine, John Erb. He was a research assistant at the University of Waterloo, 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 the scientists have to create them. They make these morbidly obese creatures by injecting them with MSG when they are first born. The MSG triples the amount of insulin the pancreas creates, causing rats (and humans?) to become obese; they even have a title for the race of fat rodents they create: "MSG-Treated Rats."

I was shocked too. I went to my kitchen, checking the cupboards and the fridge. 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, Kraft salad dressings, especially the 'healthy low fat' ones. The items that didn't have MSG 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. They hide MSG under many different names in order to fool those who catch on.

But it didn't stop there. When our family went out to eat, we started asking at the restaurants what menu items had 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, McDonalds, Wendy's, Taco Bell, every restaurant, even the sit down ones like TGIF, Chilis', Applebees 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!

[UdoKier]

1. People in China, Taiwan and Japan also eat copious amounts of MSG

And there is no public phobia about MSG there as there is here.


So why is there no obesity epidemic there, where MSG has been a staple for over a half century?

[BigBearJohn]

2. Good question. I dont have an answer.

[punpirate]

3. The key is probably the combination of...

... MSG and fats. Asian diets are fairly high in fish and vegetables and vegetable protein, and the cooking methods are fairly low in fat.

Most of the foods mentioned having high levels of MSG also have, not coincidentally, high levels of fat.

Cheers.

[Branjor]

4. self deleted

[UdoKier]

5. Another point your post brings to mind....

You mention quasi-restaurants like TGIF, Chili's and Applebees. It should be mentioned that the portion sizes of most meals at those places are more than double what an adult should be eating. Not only are they twice as big as servings at real restaurants were 30 years ago, the servings at restaurants in Japan are much smaller.

We have been conditioned to not feel satisfied until we are stuffed to the gills...

[BigBearJohn]

6. Good point. My neighbor is Asian and I asked him. They use it sparingly