European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 06, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Modern living monday june 6, 1977 the stars and stripes Page 19 that won ton headache Monos Odlum glutamate May tickle the taste buds but watch out for indigestion. By Patricia l. Raymer new York times he Chest tightens. A numbness creeps up the Back. A headache and sometimes vomiting follows. And maybe upper abdominal Dis Comfort As Well. They Call it chinese restaurant syn drome and thought it s been around for years scientists know Little about now and Why it occurs and even less about its Long term effects. The one thing they Are quite sure of but not positive is that it s caused by the food additive and flavor enhancer known As Mon sodium glutamate or mag. Although much in the news in 1969 when mag was voluntarily removed from baby foods after scientists and the Federal food and drug administration questioned its safety to infant nervous systems the Public has heard Little about the additive since. But behind the scenes controversy still brews in the mag manufacturing Industry which likens its products to Mother s Mil the Fra which is in the process of reviewing mag safety and scientists who offer mixed advice and warnings on the sub stance while it s in the realm of scare sub stances its ubiquity has caused cries of outrage from legislators consumer advocates and health food enthusiasts some scientists say that chinese restaurant syndrome and similar reactions to food containing High quantities of mag Are largely transient problems not much More than a minor nuisance. The one certainty about mag is that it is virtually impossible to avoid it in prepared foods. It s in canned vegetables most Frozen foods and to dinners in soups and soup mixes salad dressings and Mayon Naise baked goods and crackers. But Reading labels won t help those interested in avoiding the substance be cause Fra standards Are inconsistent although mag must be listed on soup labels for example it need t be on May  is because the Fra has established a Standard of identity for such items As Mayonnaise and manufacturers need not list the ingredients unless they differ from the accepted  is also sold in free form by the Brand name accent which is 100 per cent mag or Ai Inomoto or by other companies simply As mag. It s present in Many spices and Herb combinations. And while it is not sold As a Salt substitute mag is often used As one by those on Low sodium diets. Little do the users know however that besides glutamate mag contains sodium. And scientists have found that those using mag As a Salt substitute May actually be getting More sodium than if they used Only Salt since it takes three times As much mag As Salt to achieve comparable  the reason mag is in so Many foods or added to them is that it is a flavor enhancer making foods taste  it stretches the flavor of foods allowing manufacturers to add smaller amounts of the real ingredients for flavor. In processed foods it restores flavor lost in cooking and in restaurants holds the flavor of foods that May sit for Long time. It is also used to overcome steam table fatigue of meats. And although mag itself was removed from baby foods it has been replaced by Hydrolysed vegetable protein Lvpl which appears to be not much different. According to or. John w. Olney of the Washington University school of Medicine in St. Louis glutamate is added to the hip and is simply another Way of getting mag into the baby  Olney whose Early research found that feeding Large amounts of mag to infant mice destroyed nerve cells in the Region of the brain that controls appetite body temperature and other important functions continues to be one of the most outspoken opponents of mag. His research was largely responsible for the initial removal of the substance from baby foods. He believes that it should be removed from the Fra s generally recognized As Safe list and should be More strongly regulated. Since it is one of the country s most widely used additives so million pounds were produced in the United states alone last year does or. Olney consider it More harmful than other frequently used condiments such As Salt certainly anything that can cause brain damage in animals is dangerously toxic he said. We have to look at each substance separately. If one can have Seri Ous toxic effects it makes sense to observe a wide margin of  glutamates arc naturally present in Many foods particularly onion beets mushrooms tomatoes and wheat gluten. Mag manufacturers argue that the body responds the same to natural glutamates As it does to glutamate products added to foods. Olney disagrees. The glutamate occur ring naturally in foods is largely Dige Tedas protein not As free glutamate he said. For instance it takes several hours for the protein in Steak to be digested. The glutamate is released slowly and never causes a marked Elevation of glutamate in the blood. When added to foods As free glutamate it is absorbed abruptly into the system elevating the glutamate level in the  while there Are few scientific stud ies on Why mag affects humans adversely there Are popular theories about How it does. One theory it that the soup served in chinese restau flavor Stretcher Mon sodium glutamate is the sodium Salt of glut Mic acid an amino acid and is one of the building blocks of which protein molecules Are made. Mag is naturally present in All proteins and Many  centuries orientals used seaweed naturally ugh in Gnu tamic acid As a flavor enhancer. But it was t until 19h that scientists figured out a method of extracting it from seaweed to use As a Flavouring additive for other  companies produce it commercially by breaking Down substances High in glut Mic acid largely wheat or Corn gluten and protein wastes from sugar beet processing. While scientists Are not sure How it enhances the flavor of foods it is known to do so for High protein foods but not for Starchief foods. Not rants is the culprit since it often contains Large doses of mag. Since people frequently go to restau rants on an empty stomach and because soup is the first course of the meal it is suggested that these factors ensure that Large amounts of mag Are rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream and carried to the nerve endings setting off the syn drome. This of course does not explain Why some people react to mag and others Donot. Or. Liana Reif Lehrer. An assistant to professor of biochemical ophthalmology at the Harvard medical school suggests that some people May have greater ability to metabolize glutamate than others. My guess is that some people when challenged with elevated amounts of mag just can t metabolize it that the addition of mag overloads the system she said. Or. Reif Lehrer who has polled adults and interviewed children on chinese restaurant syndrome and Hopes soon to begin testing children on their reactions to mag describes herself As one who takes a Middle line in the controversy. There is no scientific evidence that mag in any amount does any Gross damage to the Normal person she suggested. But we Don t know enough about the substance. Perhaps there is some indication that some people should t consume unlimited  there Are Many hereditary conditions we really Don t talk about  or. Reif Lehrer noted. Like the fact that there is a Small number of people whose urine turns red when they eat beets. Now we Don t know if there Are any Long Range effects of  there is no published evidence to Sug Gest for example that mag May be a Carcinogen. One unanswered question concerning glutamate is that if mag does indeed cause Adverse reactions in Many people what does it do to those whose diet is Likely to contain rather High quantities of the sub stance such As orientals or those eating Large quantities of japanese or chinese food Over Long periods of time Olney explained that mag in its commercially produced free form has Only been in use for 20 or 30 years and there simply have been no tests actually no controls on the effect of mag in the diets of  says that those who do Buffer from an mag reaction need not to tally avoid chinese food. Although Alm stall chinese restaurants admit to using mag in varying quantities most say they can omit it if diners request it