Page 5 - Fall2020

Letters

MfG AND OBESITY that the brains of newborn animals are damaging the cells that host targeted
Without MfG (manufactured free vulnerable to glutamate insult. Brain glutamate-receptors and/or causing
glutamate, also called MSG), processed damage followed by obesity was pro- death by over-exciting those glutamate
food wouldn’t sell—and there would be duced in newborn mice (whose brains, receptors until their host cells die.
no obesity epidemic. like those of humans, are not fully de- Additional confirmation of the
Have you ever stopped to consider veloped). A student in Dr. John Olney’s brain-damaging effects of excito-
that before there was ultra-processed lab had observed that mice being used toxic free glutamic acid comes from
food, there was no obesity epidemic? in studies of glutamate-induced retinal research focused on identifying and
And without MfG there wouldn’t be dysfunction had become grotesquely understanding human diseases and ab-
many, if any, ultra-processed foods on obese. A series of studies by Olney and normalities associated with glutamate,
the market. often for the purpose of finding
Flavor-enhancing ingredients drugs that would mitigate gluta-
aren’t highly visible in processed mate’s adverse effects. By 1980,
food, but they’re absolutely essen- glutamate-associated disorders
tial. Flavor enhancers mask off- such as headaches, asthma, dia-
flavors, make chemicals taste like betes, muscle pain, atrial fibrilla-
food and bring what industry calls tion, ischemia, trauma, seizures,
an “umami taste” to otherwise stroke, Alzheimer’s disease,
bland and unappetizing products. amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Those who reap huge profits (ALS), Huntington’s disease,
from the sale of processed foods Parkinson’s disease, depression,
wouldn’t have a foot in the door multiple sclerosis, schizophrenia,
without flavor enhancers and obsessive-compulsive disor-
won’t be giving them up any time der (OCD), epilepsy, addiction,
soon. That’s despite the fact that attention-deficit/hyperactivity
every one of them contains excito- disorder (ADHD), frontotem-
toxic (brain-damaging) glutamic poral dementia and autism were
acid—also known as glutamate. on the rise, and evidence of the
There are three prerequisites for others followed. Many were studies of brain-damaging effects of glutamate
producing brain damage that will MSG fed to animals. were generally accepted by the scien-
lead to obesity. First is a brain that is Today, there is more than sufficient tific community.
vulnerable to damage due to injury or excitotoxic glutamic acid in ultra- To become excitotoxic, glutamic
the immaturity of a fetus or newborn. processed food, “fake” food, protein acid must be accumulated in consider-
Second is sufficient free glutamate—or substitutes and dietary supplements to able quantity. There have always been
other potentially excitotoxic material to cause excitotoxicity. When present in excitotoxins, although not in food in
produce the excesses needed to become amounts needed for normal body func- excessive amounts. But that changed in
excitotoxic. More than enough free glu- tion as a natural component of food, 1957 when extraction of glutamate from
tamate is present in processed foods to the neurotransmitter glutamic acid is a protein source (which had been a slow
accomplish that. Third, there must be a essential. But when accumulated in and costly method) was replaced by
way to deliver this excitotoxic material amounts greater than the body requires, carefully selected genetically modified
to a vulnerable brain. glutamic acid becomes an excitotoxic bacteria that excrete glutamate through
In the 1970s it was demonstrated neurotransmitter, firing repeatedly and their cell walls. That transformation

FALL 2020 Wise Traditions 3