MSG in food
Heidi | July 5, 2006There are a number of foods that are known to trigger migraines. I personally have found two triggers: tanins in red wine and MSG. MSG is commonly in Chinese food back home. If places don’t use MSG, they usually advertise it (and I’d only go to those). It is also in a few other things. When it is in other things, like crisps, there is usually a miniscule amount and it usually doesn’t affect me.
On Friday, I had lunch with one of my coworkers from New Zealand. She and I were chatting about migraines and she said that she got more when she moved here too. She finally figured out that MSG is put in a lot of foods here. She told me that it is put in most crisps, Chinese food, and Indian take away. There is only one brand of flavored crisps, Kettle chips, that doesn’t have it.
So, not wanting her to be right, I looked at various crisp ingredient labels. Sure enough, there is MSG in most crisps here. And it isn’t just a miniscule amount. It is pretty high up on the ingredient list. So, if you get migraines, look at the ingredient list in your prepackaged foods.
For those of you who don’t know what MSG is, it is monosodiumglutanate. It is a flavor enhancer. It is added to a variety of foods to make them have a fuller flavor. I guess that is why both Doritos and Pringles taste better here. Shame I can’t eat them anymore…
I must mention this to my sister as she suffers from migraine quite frequently. Thanks for the info.
Interesting. MSG free food doesn’t seem to be very widely advertised here. Are Doritos and Pringles ingredients different here than in the US ?
Ingredients to a lot of foods are slightly different here. The Pringles and Doritos taste better here. Now I know why. Neither product has MSG in the States. MSG is actually fairly rare in a lot of prepackaged foods. Well, except in BBQ crisps, that is.
A lot of foods have different ingredients here than in the States. Manufacturers in Europe use sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup so things like Snickers and Coke taste different. Artificial sweeteners are also different so Diet Coke also tastes different.
I don’t know about things like McDonalds. I don’t eat at fast food chains very often. Well, except Subway which has better bread here than in the States.