boring_pants t1_iujlkre wrote on October 31, 2022 at 8:38 PM

Reply to comment by tmahfan117 in ELI5: Why does MSG make food taste so irresistible? And why is everyone against it? by theinvincible-dosa

> After research, it was found that eating MSG in normal small quantities has little to no impact on health.

That's understating the findings somewhat. It's not "little health impact at small quantities", it's "the studies that claimed it was harmful were flawed and have been thoroughly debunked, and the only reason people bought into them in the first place was because MSG was associated with Asian cooking and Americans were really super racist at the time"

NeoEpoch t1_iuk4b02 wrote on October 31, 2022 at 10:58 PM

"at the time"

AdarTan t1_iujq0tl wrote on October 31, 2022 at 9:09 PM

Didn't the whole panic start off from what was later determined to be a joke article submitted pseudonymously to a medical journal?

EricKei t1_iujroqa wrote on October 31, 2022 at 9:21 PM

Not sure. I was under the impression that it was written by somebody who was holding a grudge (he ate at a Chinese place and fell ill later that day) and just decided to be a jerk about it. He found an easy scapegoat.

E_Snap t1_iujy27k wrote on October 31, 2022 at 10:08 PM

You’re right. He used the name “Dr. Ho Man Kwok”

AdarTan t1_iujzswk wrote on October 31, 2022 at 10:22 PM

I just looked it up and turns out the claim that it was a joke might have been a hoax itself, so I've got no clue anymore.