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PeanutSalsa t1_itw6oi5 wrote

Why is monosodium glutamate (MSG) such a trigger of headaches for people?

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Indemnity4 t1_itxn46w wrote

Upfront: some of it is a very slight form of racism. Used to be called Chinese Restaurant Syndrome.

You eat about 10-20 mg of glutamate a day in a normal diet. It's in cheese, tomatoes, soy sauce, soy-anything like protein boosted meals, roasted meats - essentially it's in anything that tastes savoury.

There is no difference between MSG or naturally occurring glutamate in other foods. Your body sees those as being exactly the same. It's just normal glutamate that has been mixed with salt and dried.

Next, the science. First, MSG not been proved to to be linked to headaches. Second, there is good evidence that MSG at any concentrations has no effect on headaches.

Those are different but good stories: you can give anyone MSG and it doesn't cause migraines or headaches; If someone is susceptible to migraines or headaches, it's been shown it's not the MSG causing it.

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