Smarter: Is MSG Bad for You?

My mom believed that MSG was harmful, though she was always vague about what was exactly bad about MSG. On a “don’t eat this” scale of 1 to 10, MSG was probably a 5 or a 6 to her. It wasn’t weapons-grade-level bad, but she found it to be a bonus when restaurants touted their food as MSG-free.

When we polled some of our social media users on whether they were concerned about MSG when they ate, 45 percent of Instagram followers said yes, while 55 percent said no, making people’s opinions on this issue somewhat split. But is MSG really bad for you? In other words, and this is probably the most high-stakes question of all time: Is my mom right? 

Here’s what experts told me.

First, what is MSG, exactly?
MSG (aka monosodium glutamate) combines sodium with glutamate, an amino acid that is present in our bodies as well as in many foods. Glutamate—and MSG—adds umami to food. Often called the fifth taste, umami is a complex savory flavor, and it enhances salt perception. 

Interestingly, MSG is found in several popular foods, including canned soups, instant noodles, cold cuts, soy sauce, and even chips and snacks. And while you can produce MSG commercially, MSG also naturally occurs in tomatoes, mushrooms, cheeses, and ingredients such as hydrolyzed vegetable protein, autolyzed yeast, hydrolyzed yeast, yeast extract, soy extracts, and protein isolate.

How did MSG get such a bad rap to begin with?
The perception that MSG is unhealthy or even unsafe began when an anecdotal report published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1968 blamed symptoms of headaches and nausea potentially on the MSG consumed in Chinese restaurants.

The belief that MSG was unhealthy became widespread over the next few decades. Chinese food and restaurants were especially targeted, and the term “Chinese restaurant syndrome” was defined in an earlier entry of the Merriam-Webster dictionary as symptoms caused by “food and especially Chinese food heavily seasoned with monosodium glutamate.” 

In recent years, the public perception of MSG has been challenged. In 2020, in response to an online campaign, Merriam-Webster updated its definition of “Chinese restaurant syndrome,” stating that the term has been criticized as “misleading and potentially offensive” and that “[r]esearch in the years since has failed to establish a clear link between those adverse reactions and the consumption of MSG.” Which brings us to the main question …

Is MSG safe?
There is no strong scientific evidence that suggests MSG is harmful, says Kantha Shelke, founder of Corvus Blue, a food science and research firm based in Chicago. And scientists have not been able to consistently trigger reactions in people who identify themselves as being sensitive to MSG, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

In 1995, MSG was concluded to be safe by the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. The organization’s report, which was commissioned by the FDA, did state, however, that symptoms were identified in some sensitive people who consumed 3,000 mg or more of MSG in one sitting without food. 

However, given that a typical serving of a food with added MSG usually contains less than 500 mg, it’s highly unlikely that people would be consuming more than 3,000 mg of MSG without food in one sitting, the FDA says. And if you cut back on eating processed, packaged, and fast foods, you’re likely to consume less MSG.

More recently, a 2017 report from the European Food Safety Authority said ​​that symptoms from MSG are rarely seen at intake levels below 3,000 mg and that an acceptable daily intake is 14.5 mg per pound of body weight. Which, for example, if you weigh 150 pounds means 2,175 mg. 

It’s worth noting, though, that MSG is a source of sodium. While MSG contains less sodium than table salt, you might still be consuming a lot of sodium if you eat too much MSG. MSG contains 480 mg sodium per teaspoon, and the daily recommendation for sodium is less than 2,300 mg per day.

Here’s the bottom line: No, MSG isn’t really bad for you and moms aren’t always right, but if you are worried, you can check the labels and eat fewer foods with flavoring ingredients that may contain MSG. The FDA requires that foods containing added MSG list it as monosodium glutamate on the ingredients list. 

If an ingredient that naturally contains MSG is in a food, the FDA doesn’t require that it says it contains MSG on the label. However, foods with such ingredients can’t have claims such as “No MSG” or “No added MSG” on their packaging.