This week, we’re introducing a new “Tidbits” feature on wellvidence.com. Unlike our typical article summaries, Tidbits posts will link to articles and podcasts written by other journalists that we hope will stimulate thought-provoking discussions about food, fitness, and other topics of interest to the wellvidence reader. Enjoy!
Lilly Sullivan of This American Life delves into why over 40% of all Americans still believe that monosodium glutamate (MSG) is harmful to your health. The episode is best listened to via the podcast. There’s also a transcript. The first few paragraphs are pasted below.
Ira Glass: A few years ago Jennifer LeMesurier was watching this PBS cooking show. And this chef, David Chang, started talking about MSG.
David Chang: Monosodium glutamate.
Ira Glass: And of course, lots of people believe MSG is bad for you. It gives you headaches, a food hangover– that idea’s been around for decades. I grew up hearing this. Maybe you did, too. But Jennifer knows this is a myth. In fact, the very next segment on the show is science and food writer Harold McGee saying just that.
Jennifer Lemesurier: And he just had this sort of throwaway line that, yeah, this myth of MSG being harmful can be traced back to one letter in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Harold Mcgee: A letter to the editor in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Jennifer Lemesurier: And I was just sitting there going, huh, one letter. It was like, oh, it’s an origin story.
Ira Glass: At the time, Jennifer was PhD student, very interested in the way people talk about race and Asian-Americans. So to hear that there was once this letter that led Americans to freak out about the dangers of an ingredient commonly used in Chinese food, an ingredient that was later proven totally harmless, Jennifer wanted to see that letter. So she went into the stacks, found this old journal from the ’60s, and there it was. A letter to the editor from a doctor, titled Chinese Restaurant Syndrome.
Jennifer Lemesurier: So the letter reads…
Listen to the podcast: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/668/the-long-fuse
Continue reading the transcript: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/668/transcript
Photo by Frank Zhang on Unsplash.
