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Writer's pictureLori-Anne Victoria

Glutamic Acid and Migraine

If you are a migraine sufferer, you probably read labels, just to avoid getting a food or additive triggered migraine. But what you m ay not know is that lots of foods you think are good for you or even "organic" may have hidden additives, preservatives and even MSG. I just found out, for eg, that my organic keto coconut creamer has hidden MSG in the form of maltodextrin. SO , another food for me to scratch off the list of "Can-haves".



FYI: for label readers, these things (MSG and glutamic acid)



occur “naturally” in some forms so often labelled “natural flavours” on ingredient list.

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Being natural does not however mean safe, so beware! Even cyanide and lead are natural, but ingesting them can result in terrible damage or death.

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Glutamic Acid opens calcium channels. Many Migraineurs take preventive medications called Calcium Channel Blockers to help keep attacks from happening. For those who are very sensitive to MSG and free glutamates, Calcium Channel Blockers are often effective as preventives.

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Migraine patients who have sustained physical trauma to their brains, may have an altered brain blood barrier (BBB). The BBB helps to keep unwanted toxins etc away from the brain, but when an injury occurs, this BBB may be disrupted, allowing even more MSG to enter the brain and act as a trigger.

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Recently food companies have begun to come to the realization that consumers are becoming more label savvy. To their credit Migraine patients are reading labels and understanding them!

With 37 million Migraineurs in the US reading labels and trying to stay away from MSG and glutamates, this poses a problem for companies who want to make a profit by adding the compound to their products.

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As a result some companies have hired specialists to “clean up” their product labels. They take pride in this and often will proclaim their “clean” labels to the public. Many will announce 💥💥NO ADDED MSG”. In reality the MSG has not been removed from these food products at all, just from the label. 💥💥

Here are a few of the ways Glutamate may be found on a food label:

These ALWAYS contain free Glutamate:

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Ajinomoto

Amino Acids

Anything with the word ‘hydrolyzed’ including hydrolyzed protein

Anything “… protein”

Autolyzed Yeast

Calcium Glutamate

Calcium Caseinate

Gelatin

Glutamic Acid

Glutamate

Hydrolyzed corn gluten

Kombu extract

Magnesium Glutamate

Monoammonium Glutamate

Monopotassium Glutamate

MSG

Natrium Glutamate

Natural flavors (may contain up to 20% MSG)

Seaweed

Sodium Caseinate

Soy Protein

Soy Protein Concentrate

Soy Protein Isolate

Textured Protein

Umami

Whey Protein

Whey Protein Concentrate

Whey Protein Isolate

Worcestershire sauce

🔥Vari-Vox chicken pox vaccine

Vetsin

Yeast Extract

Yeast Food

Yeast Nutrient

🔥Glutamic acid that is found in unprocessed or unadulterated protein is bound and therefore safe.

⚠️Things that often contain free glutamate, or free glutamate is created in their processing procedures include:

⚠️Anything “enzyme modified”

Anything fermented

Anything “protein fortified”

Anything labeled “ultra pasteurized”

Aspartame

Barley malt

Carrageenan

Citric Acid

Citrate

Boullion

Broth (not from scratch under controlled circumstances)

Dough conditioners

Enzymes

Flavors

Flavoring

Guar Gum

Locust Bean Gum

Malt Extract

Malted Barley

Maltodextrin

Mushrooms

Pectin

Protease

Sea Salt

Seasonings

Soy sauce

Soy sauce extract

Soy protein

Stock (not from scratch under controlled circumstances)

Wheat protein

Xanthan Gum

Highly sensitive people may find that these ingredients contain enough free glutamic acid to cause reactions:

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Anything enriched

Beet Juice

Brown Rice Syrup

Corn starch

Corn Syrup

Dextrose

Lipolyzed Butter Fat

Milk Powder

Modified Food Starch

Overripe tomatoes

Reduced fat or skim milk

Rice Syrup

Things labeled “low fat”

Things labeled “no fat”

Ammonia is metabolized in the body into free glutamates. Ammonia is being added to meat products and does not have to be labeled.

⚠️Some ingredients were designed to work synergistically with MSG, so if you see them mentioned, MSG is almost always present:

Disodium 5 —Guanalate

Disodium 5 —Inosinate

Disodium 5 —ribonucleotides

Read the rest here:


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