I am starting to see a trend of internet blog articles that suggest that certain proteins (whey or collagen) contain MSG. I can assure you that the authors are mistaken, and due to their lack of knowledge in biochemistry, and basic physics, they are also misleading the general population. In this article, I will show that their assertions defy the laws of physics and that they need to take down their articles and generate other different sources of click bait.
Argument #1: There is MSG in your whey protein
MSG stands for monosodium glutamate. To produce MSG, the free glutamic acid must bind with sodium to form a salt. 1 So does hydrolyzed protein contain MSG? Well, this would be dependent on three things: 2
- There must be free glutamic acid.
- There must be free sodium ions.
- There must be an enzyme that acts as a catalyst to enable the reaction.
In whey protein, we are dealing with complete proteins, there are no free sodium ions, and there are no enzymes to complete the reaction. 3 Therefore, there is no MSG in whey protein unless, for some strange reason, the company put it there. Why would they do that? It would cost extra money, and it would give some of their customer’s severe side effects.
There is no MSG in your whey!
Argument #2: Free glutamate = MSG
Free glutamate is often added as a flavor enhancer and is naturally occurring in most plants and animals (including you). 4 How does this occur? Let us look at an example of how free glutamate is created in soy sauce:
In the process of making soy sauce, we need soybeans, table salt, and bacteria. The soybeans have proteins which are broken down by the bacteria for food. Some bacteria (particularly those in the Corynebacterium genus) produce MSG from the available materials. 5 How does it do this? C. glutamicum, a member of the Corynebacterium genus, contains genetic code to produce enzymes that isolate glutamic acid from complete proteins. Naturally, there is not enough Gibbs free energy to make this process chemically favorable (in thermal dynamics, stable molecules need a strong enough force to break the atoms apart). To break a protein down into individual amino acids, we need some force to make this happen. In the process of fermentation (no oxygen present in the environment), they use a part of their metabolism (the TCA cycle) called alpha-ketoglutarate to create an energy unit called NADP+. This is then used to activate the enzyme glutamate dehydrogenase which separates glutamic acid from protein. 6 7 8 9
Free glutamic acid has a unique flavor. The Japanese call it “umami” which translates to “savory” in English. 10 The free glutamates act upon the T1R1 and T1R3 receptor sites on the tongue 11 These internet bloggers see no difference between the naturally occurring, free glutamates, and man-made monosodium glutamate. The key difference is that naturally occurring free glutamates are consumed in combination with other proteins. Many of these blogs contain the words, “Warning! Do not eat these glutamate containing foods!” suggesting a glutamate free diet. They list foods that contain naturally occurring free glutamate which is balanced out with other amino acids found in protein. Their action on mGluR4 and mGluR1 receptor sites are balanced by the other amino acids. 12 13 14 Soy sauce, for instance, which contains a high free glutamate content for the reason described in the above paragraph, only contains 926mg of free glutamate per 100g. 15 This is rather insignificant in general physiology as, in a healthy individual, free glutamate is found at 50–100 mol/L in human blood. 16 It is silly when you think about it. For a healthy person to have an adverse reaction to a free glutamate, they would have to ingest a significant amount of pure glutamic acid on an empty stomach. Who in their right mind would do that? In full disclosure, if someone were to have a compromised gut barrier or a GABA deficiency, they could have issues with some foods that contain large amounts of free glutamates. But they are going to have health problems anyway because they have a compromised gut barrier or a GABA deficiency! 17 18 19 20
Do not buy into the anti-glutamic acid hype. Remember, every plant and animal protein on Earth have free glutamates. You can not avoid them in your diet and live (you need protein to survive). You also have free glutamate in your blood, so stop being silly!
Free Glutamate does not equal MSG!
Argument #3: Hydrolyzed proteins have free glutamate.
What is “hydrolyzed” protein? Hydrolyzed protein has been partially digested, meaning that it has gone through an enzymatic process that breaks down larger proteins into smaller ones making it easier for people to digest. 21 22 Because of this additional process, it is a premium product and is more costly. Bloggers indicate that “anything hydrolyzed contains MSG,” which is a ridiculous argument beyond measure, so we are going to take this a step further: does the process of hydrolysis create free glutamates? That is more interesting, and spoiler alert, the answer is still no.
I scoured the peer-reviewed literature looking for any evidence that there are free glutamates in hydrolyzed whey, hydrolyzed collagen, or hydrolyzed casein proteins. The only data that I can find is from a nutritional evaluation that compares the free amino-acids against the bound amino acids in the protein chains. 23 There is very little fluctuation in glutamic acid from the process of hydrolysis. Statistically, the variance is insignificant, so we have to assume that there is none.
There is no free glutamate in hydrolyzed proteins!
Argument #4: Glutamine = MSG
What about the amino acid, l-glutamine? Many bloggers are warning people against taking glutamine supplements because they will magically transform into MSG. L-glutamine is the most prevalent amino acid in the human body. 24 Our bodies produce an enzyme called glutaminase which converts l-glutamine to glutamic acid 25 This is such an important process that there is a built-in redundancy in the human genome. GLS and GLS2 are found on different chromosomes. From a purely evolutionary basis, the organisms that developed this redundancy lived on and the ones that did not are gone. That is how important l-glutamine is! Furthermore, there are very high concentrations of glutamine in the human heart. 26 How committed are you to your glutamine-free diet? Committed enough to walk into your physician’s office and ask to have your heart surgically removed and replaced with a mechanical one so that you have less glutamine in your body? Of course not. Do not be silly.
Glutamine is not the same thing as MSG!
The moral of the story is to maintain a healthy level of skepticism when reading internet blogs (even this one). Some red flags that should raise your level of caution are:
- Fear provoking titles, or “clickbait” (“There is MSG in Your Whey!!!”)
- Poor quality references or no citations at all.
- No comment section or forum (completely one directional communication).
- Based solely on anecdotal reports (“the glutamate-free diet cured my sister’s, friend’s, kid’s autism”).
Sorry, internet bloggers. Protein powders and even pure glutamine supplements do not contain MSG. In the interest of responsible journalism, please take down your articles and replace them with more accurate information. We all make mistakes, right?
- http://www.fda.gov/Food/IngredientsPackagingLabeling/FoodAdditivesIngredients/ucm328728.htm ↩
- http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/publications/documents/MSG%20Technical%20Report.pdf ↩
- http://www.zju.edu.cn/jzus/2006/B0602/B060202.pdf ↩
- http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/publications/documents/MSG%20Technical%20Report.pdf ↩
- http://web.mst.edu/~microbio/BIO221_2007/C_glutamicum.htm ↩
- http://chemed.chem.purdue.edu/genchem/topicreview/bp/ch21/gibbs.php ↩
- http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/90/3/728S.full ↩
- https://books.google.com/books?id=sMawO9ci1EAC&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq=corynebacterium+produce+msg&source=bl&ots=uq-uqOThUk&sig=KZlDvbzANI7Wfcqo_3zIVnRQX_w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi2mMDDrb_MAhWEPiYKHaTcAY8Q6AEIWDAI#v=onepage&q=corynebacterium%20produce%20msg&f=false ↩
- https://books.google.com/books?id=vlfMBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA439&lpg=PA439&dq=corynebacterium+produce+msg&source=bl&ots=S8TLGDDqur&sig=s3YszEis-gLEQOaBCao–etr32w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi2mMDDrb_MAhWEPiYKHaTcAY8Q6AEIWjAJ#v=onepage&q=corynebacterium%20produce%20msg&f=false ↩
- http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2013/apr/09/umami-fifth-taste ↩
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25253867 ↩
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7891082 ↩
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22008743 ↩
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2904507/ ↩
- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/229166830_L-glutamic_acid_content_of_fresh_and_processed_foods ↩
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3136011/ ↩
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2904507/ ↩
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3136011/ ↩
- http://scdlifestyle.com/2015/09/l-glutamine-7-dos-and-donts/ ↩
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12467378 ↩
- http://www.mensfitness.com/nutrition/supplements/whats-that-hydrolyzed-whey ↩
- http://www.zju.edu.cn/jzus/2006/B0602/B060202.pdf ↩
- http://www.zju.edu.cn/jzus/2006/B0602/B060202.pdf ↩
- https://examine.com/supplements/glutamine/ ↩
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/2744 ↩
- http://jn.nutrition.org/content/126/4_Suppl/1142S.extract ↩
I just wanted to add another “anecdotal” tale to the story. I began suffering from anxiety attacks and severe depression in college, the same time I discovered cheap ramen packets. I loved them and ate them daily. Anxiety ruined my life in many ways. Doctors all said I was bi-polar, tried SSRIs, etc. Nothing worked.
Finally, after THIRTY YEARS when I bumped into the gut-brain connection concept I decided to reduce my diet down the bare essentials and real food. My anxiety went away. I added the ramen back in, the anxiety returned. So I cut out ramen and was pretty good for the next two years, but I’d have anxiety on the weekends. Looking at my patterns I recognized that on Thursday I’d get a pizza from Little Caesars, usually eat half on Thursday night, then snack on the rest over the next day or two.
Once I cut out the Little Caesars pizza, I’ve been anxiety free!
I eat protein shakes regularly, don’t really get a lot of exercise, but basically eat well. I supplement with tri-aminos (lysine, arginine, ornithine) daily.
I’ve experimented with MSG after-the-fact as well. I can handle some on occasion. I could have a bowl of ramen with the MSG-laden spice packet and not feel much different tomorrow. But if I do it few days in a row it will end in a massive panic attack.
So for me it’s like the stuff builds up until my system can’t handle it anymore.
I do not get ANY immediate issues with MSG. No sweats or heart palpitations or headaches. I get panic attacks. So my issue is likely more related to too much glutamate activity in the brain.
Perhaps a thin or leaky blood-brain-barrier let’s in too much blood-serum glutamates once my body is overloaded on them. Perhaps in the absence of exercise the glutamates, which are stored in muscle, build up quickly. I have indeed had instances in my life where I ate ramen daily and did not have anxiety issues. All of those times occurred when I was extremely physically active during the time-period (once on a week-long survey of Lechuguilla cave where I was crawling through a cave all day long, and once when I did work in the Congo where I’d be walking or paddling all day long).
So my conclusions are this:
MSG is to high fructose corn syrup as bound-glutamates are to maple syrup,
stay active so your muscles burn up extra glutamates,
eat real food and supplement for a lack of aminos if needed,
and avoid MSG as much as possible, just like you should avoid all the other crap in modern processed foods
THIRTY YEARS of panic attacks and ruined relationships due to them.
I don’t care what anyone else says or thinks. MSG was the cause of it.
And I want to sue the FDA for their stance on this man-made chemical.
You are confusing MSG with glutamates. Two different things. MSG contains them but so does a lot of other stuff. You should read some of these comments and revise your article because you’re totally wrong. Plain and simple. WebMD says you’re wrong. All the official scientific outlets say you are wrong. By making your article about MSG as opposed to glutamates which is the actual ingredient everybody is trying to avoid, you can write a whole bunch of BS that makes no sense at all because you’re talking about a topic that is not relevant. Nobody cares if it turns into MSG. People do you care if glutamates are produced. You seem to have missed the point entirely
People trying to avoid glutamates do so for a reason. People like myself who suffer from epilepsy, but others who suffer from ADD/ADHD and other autism-spectrum, neurological, or neuro-psychological disorders such as fibromyalgia. Others who suffer gastrointestinal problems due to the damaging of the microvilli of the gut lining in the small intestine. I personally went from several seizures a day to being seizure-free by adopting the G.A.R.D. (Glutamate Aspartate Restricted Diet) developed by Dr. John B. Symes (www.DogtorJ.com). Free glutamic acid, once unbound from its host protein has an open chemical bond. That bond folds in on itself and the molecule assumes its mono-salt molecular structure. Mono-sodium-glutamate. This structure does NOT mean it is bonded with sodium. It means it has arranged itself in a configuration such that it has a neutral charge. This is the free radical form of glutamate which has two significant effects in the body. The first is it is the most abundant excitatory neurotransmitter in the body. Thus, a sudden concentrated dose of this neurotransmitter is potentially devastating to someone sensitive to overstimulation of the nervous system. Second, the mono-salt molecular structure (again, salt does NOT mean sodium in this case), makes it ideal for lacerating cells in the body. Particularly the cells of the nervous system, microvilli of the gut (where vitamin and mineral uptake takes place) and BRAIN. Yes, these tiny free radicals are small enough to cross the blood-brain barrier, and they enter through the tastebuds of the tongue and go straight into the brain where they trigger the opiate effect in the hypothalamus. Ever wonder why you have to eat the whole bag of Doritos? Have you never wondered why every marinade recipe on the Internet calls for abundant use of soy sauce? You can take a the toughest hunk of meat, soak it in soy sauce overnight and it becomes tender. That is tough muscle cells being broken down by glutamate.
I used to consume whey protein powder after every workout. When I stopped, my seizures stopped.
So please, get your head out of the textbooks/laboratory/theory and into the real world where human physiology and thousands of real-world case studies have demonstrated that for individuals with food sensitivities / intolerances looking for answers, your article is not just factually incorrect, it is potentially harmful.
Thank you for your article and your research, but all of the sources you referenced can trace their funding and research back to one and/or more of the large pharmaceutical companies (including the FDA – completely in the pockets of the pharmaceutical giants) who outright own all the major food production companies(including commercial growers) along with the main stream media – which is why you see nothing but commercials for medications and treatments on any of their channels when 30-40 years ago the only medicines on television were for headache, women’s issues and digestive relief period. I confirmed this myself by downloading Annual Prospectus’ for pharma, media, major food companies and you will see for yourself that these parties ALL share the same corporate board members – many of the board members sit on multiple boards for all of these industries. It’s called cornering the market – this is why you cannot sue(easily – it can be done but very very difficult) a vaccine maker if you or your child have a very negative or life debilitating complication from the inoculation. Autism was 1 in 150 about 25 years ago, now for 2020 it’s 1 in 54 – in twenty five years the cases increased threefold – something to think about.
ALL of your sources are very questionable. The process of hydrolyzing a protein creates free glutamates and too much of this in the body does exactly as doctor Blaylock describes in his book – it creates a toxic brain environment that can possibly be related to serious brain issues overtime. Bound glutamate occurs naturally in the body and our body works best with bound glutamate that are naturally processed via breaking down of our foods into the essential nutrients we need for optimum health. Some supplements are good and help with our health, but healthy nutritious natural chemical, genetic modification and pesticide free and have not be so cross bred and modified it actually damages the body – e.g. modern wheat with 50% gluten – something to research for those who are into critically thinking.
Natural processes are ALWAYS the way to go, increase food in your diet that are high in bound glutamate like multiple bone broths, lean naturally raised meet grass feed pasture been, free range chickens feed an organic soy free diet, farm raised pork, and of course fresh wild caught fish from it’s natural habitat and life cycle. Some other health experts sources listed here. We function best with foods grown in the proper organic nutrient dense way nature first produced it. Why would you spend money on supplements that are expensive trying to replace what comes via nature. Resources below – just copy and delete the spaces.
h t t p : / /w w w . missionheirloom . c o m / understanding – glutamate
h t t p s : / / w w w . eatthis . c o m / collagen-rich-foods /
h t t p s : / / w w w . goodhousekeeping . c o m / health / diet-nutrition / g29486608 / collagen-rich-foods /
You are spot on! Great info.
carol, do your own research. the originator of this excitotoxin stuff is the book “excitotoxins : the taste that kills” by russell blaylock . a bible as far as i’m concerned. some good naturopaths know the way to stop and reverse the damage. it involves some amino acids with certain nutrients. best of luck finding naturopaths who know how to do it.
In any case, the information is rather cutting edge, so just like it.
Nice post!
Also, the in new thing of the past several years is celery root powder that is put in Meats for flavor and is put in those really delicious many different flavors fat sausages organic I believe anyway the problem is that if you look up the research data about celery powder It has free glutamic acid produced as they are processing the salaries to make them into powder. I have the research paper and graphs to prove this. Interesting that the lower a temperature the celery is processed at the less free glutamic acid is produced. The higher the temperature that the celery is processed The more free glutamic acid there is. I’m so unhappy because I really liked those fancy Italian flavor, cheese and whatever flavor chicken sausages. but when I looked up the celery powder issue and started seeing that word even in fancy Meats in Deli departments at Major grocery stores there it is free glutamic acid has a nice flavor I guess so does MSG! The food Frankenstein chemists are making a lot of money, addicting people’s brain, and creating Havoc with the neurotoxin effect. we are having to keep one step ahead of the Frankenstein food chemists. Probably the rest of our lives until the FDA will realize that they have responsibilities in this. It seems like hackers Each federal government has to keep one step ahead or keep chasing behind the latest Hackers from other countries. In spite of what Donald J Trump e says
I hate to say this on top of what we’ve already been talking about, but here is dr. Axe talking up his bone broth protein powder Etc. Well guess what the longer you cook the bones the more free glutamic acid is created. There is a source that tells approximately what is a safe amount of time to cook bones to have the minimum amount of free glutamic acid. at the moment I don’t know the name of the source that I read. However when I approached the dr. Axe customer support, they are saying that they don’t even know who is doing the cooking of all the bones of all the animals including fish to make his product! And guess what is proprietary they’re not going to say how many hours this protein has been cooked. I don’t take no for an answer, so I wrote back and said please tell me where these bones are produced and cooked and I will ask them each facility. There has to be scientific research on it.
gee i see you say free glutamates added to food are not the same as msg. no need to read this lie any further.
There is a night and day difference between naturally occurring L-glutamate found in whole form proteins and D-glutamate, which is a by-product from isolating the protein. http://www.truthinlabeling.org/manufac.html True, our bodies do produce L-glutamate, and additionally we receive through WHOLE FORM PROTEINS IN PLANTS. ANYTIME, ANYTIME, ANYTIME, YOU ISOLATE A PROTEIN THROUGH A CHEMICAL PROCESS, AS IN PEA OR SOY PROTEIN, YOU GET BROKEN PROTEINS, AND CARCINOGENIC BYPRODUCTS, mono and dichloro propanols (which are carcinogenic), heterocyclic amines (which are carcinogenic), and other unwanted byproducts (impurities). Please read link as the arguments made here don’t align the truth. If you dive down the rabbit hole, “protein powders,” are a multi-billion dollar business.
Lee Johnson, please help. I have H63D Hemechromatosis, which has de myelinated my neurons,along w other catastophic effects.I am alive because Somebody Up There heard me ask.& for 14 days i pooped out Iron,that i practically had 2 dig out. there is still brain damage from Iron,so dementia.and Im still trying to be 50 yr professional Violinist…
ANYWAY the inherited family suseptib to MSG, which used to only mean bad headaches, now is horrendous. msg in sushi caused me to dope of into unconscious, and millions of “needles” stabbing me in each and every skin/nerve cell all over body. torture. Poison Control said “take Taurine as antidote, i had it and the 7 hr torture ebbed away.
also after having Biochem Organic Pea and Rice Protein Powder, the only other ingredient …NATURAL FLAVORS…i had a seizure right there over my countertop. experimented again, w/o the many added supplements, Same. seizure, loss of motor control, nevervthe same, intelligence wise, after that. perhaps the isolation of “1 carb & 1 amino acid, carmelized by extrem hi heat” ? so with these 2 incidences, am I among the few who should still be vigilant about free glutamic acid in foods?
with Heme & non Heme iron problem and my reactions to free glutamic, how the HECK am i supposed to get protein the rest of my life?? Also allergic to eggwhites and to Casein…ugh
carol, do your own research. the originator of this excitotoxin stuff is the book “excitotoxins : the taste that kills” by russell blaylock . a bible as far as i’m concerned. some good naturopaths know the way to stop and reverse the damage. it involves some amino acids with certain nutrients. best of luck finding naturopaths who know how to do it.
EXACTLY!!
I couldn’t have said it better.
The people who are sensitive to MSG know what products give them symptoms. Mine are migraines so bad you can’t stand up to get to the bathroom to throw up so hard your back and chest tingle with pins and needles feelings. There are absolutely no words to describe how horrible MSG, aspartame and any of the ingredients they are hid in make me feel.
http://www.truthinlabeling.org IS the site to go to figure this stuff out.
Same happens to me – unfortunately, sometimes you don’t know MSG is present until too late and the reaction has already started. It’s scary! I can now “smell” MSG in packaged foods when people microwave meals at work. I have also had to spit out product used by the dentist to numb the gums because I could feel the aspartame reaction beginning. They thought I was crazy until they dug up the packaging and found it in the ingredients list.
I have a severe reaction to MSG. and I work out. Sadly, protein shakes like “MetRX” cause me a-fib… atrial fibrillation.. It has enough glutimate in it that it causes a reaction with me. It a rapid and irregular heart beat. (for those who dont know what that is, it feels like your heart is beating outside your chest in an irregular way… I am 46 years old and work out 4-5 times a week. I wish I could take MetxRX but I no longer can.
for a more complete list of things i need to avoid when looking for post workout shake… i go here. i stick with trusource or (dont laugh – slimfast)… and it sucks but its better than nothing.
http://www.truthinlabeling.org/hiddensources.html
Oh, you said the msg word. It’s a bit like Climate Change. Every nutritional expert says that MSG is harmless, but there is distrust of experts in the general population. It’s hilarious the way you sidestep the issue. Argument 1 – You actually need only 1 and 2 to make MSG. Some protein is hydrolysed using enzymes, but not all. If the whey protein is hydrolysed using HCl, which is normal, and neutralised using NaOH, which is again normal, it will contain glutamate and sodium. Now if you have problems with MSG, whatever you do, don’t add salt to your glutamate or glutamic acid containing food, or you will have produced the deadly MSG in your dinner plate (evil organ music)
Natural glutamate is EXACTLY the same as synthetic glutamate. They are both C5H9NO4-. There is no difference between a synthetic chemical and a natural one.
So is there any protein powder that will not cause a reaction? Are some better than others?
http://www.truthinlabeling.org/hiddensources.html
My Dr., who is a nutritional expert, gives me this list.
Yeahp ,they are misleading,i was sure that they were the same
Sorry boss, but glutamine gets converted glutamates. In most people these are converted to GABA, those of us with GAD deficiency don’t and have a significant excess of glutamates. So I have to be incredibly careful with foods high in glutamine and glutamates which are quite high in many green veggies. So MSG no, but glutamates maybe.
is this the “shunt pathway” Im reading about? seems like Im low in GABA calming.family inheritance…low in B6, folic, b12…some other things that make the G not become GABA , but become free glutamic acid. with Iron excess in my brain (and body)from a chromosome mutation, and allergic to eggwhites and Casein…Im scared to have any protein powders at all.
Arguement 3: “Statistically the variance is insignificant”. What is your definition of “insignificant” in this context?
I don’t like that the author does not address any of the questions on these comments.
I will let Jason Hooper know that he has some comments to answer, I will not answer for him on his work.
I wonder how many people with extreme sensitivity to MSG and processed free glutamic acids are sensitive to them for the same reason I am: not GABA deficiency (I likely have plenty of GABA), but GABA receptor down-regulation due to long-term benzodiazepine or Z-drug therapy. Though I’m over six years free of the drugs at this point, the damage persists. And, yes, the drugs likely damaged my gut as well. I’m doing everything in my power to heal both including working with a good functional medicine practitioner. In the meantime, however, I’ve learned to avoid the word “protein” when I see it in an ingredient list. The milk protein concentrate in a yogurt bar was enough to send me to hell one evening. I’d prefer not to repeat that experience. I’m told that undenatured whey protein powder is safe for someone like me, but I confess that I’m scared to try it.
i thought it was UNdenatured whey that was ok..oh,boy, i have dementia from iron damage to nueron coveringsbin brain, so me trying to figure this out by myself is ridiculous.
Lifeiswaiting read your post about Gaba. I too I’m a victim of benzodiazepines. I am still tapering right now from a very high dos. Actually was on it and came off and then back on it and then down again and back up so I really screwed up my Gaba. What do you use as a good protein source. Other than food whole food I mean I need a protein powder because I can barely eat now. I have been eating aye Protein Isolate. I believe it is undenatured I will have to check with the manufacturer. Maybe this is why I’m still having so much anxiety but I have other anxiety issues to side from the tapering let me know if you found out anything else since you left this post a while back trying to find out what the hell I can sustain my body on now thanks
I found out my protein isolate is denatured.
Any idea why bovine collagen powder would consistently cause diarrhea? I found this blog because I had read a mention of a possible correlation between MSG and collagen. I am super sensitive to MSG so it was worth further investigation. Thanks for the info. So now I am still puzzled why the diarrhea… what else could it be?
3 things I’ve seen mentioned along with people ‘reacting’ to collagen powder are;
Histamine, glutamic acid, proline,
Sorry no context or refs,
but may ring some bells for others to comment further…
There is a possibility that collagen may be contaminated with differing amounts of bacterial endotoxins, BUT I cannot find a lot of information for this claim. Collagen is a prebiotic so it is possible that it is feeding something that can metabolize it, increasing motility. The amount of isolated ammino acids in collagen maybe causing issues as well, but you would get the same amount of glutamine give or take for example in a steak. It is high in glycine, but glycine generally does not cause diarrhea.
I’m sensitive to MSG and when i take protein powder 100%, i get a headache each time, one minute after drinking. Without msg, i never get headaches.
Be aware. Be your own test subject. No one wants to get some disease.
Thank you for your post, it allows other to share their experience and valuable knowledge.
As for glycerin and diarrheas, the purpose of glycerin suppository is to loosen bowel. Cheers.
Hi Aurelien,
I also get the headaches from a number of items listed in “the truth in Labeling” website. Column 1 is off-limits for me except “fermented”. The 2nd column is hit and miss and the 3rd seems to be mostly ok to have. I also take the cream of tarter and water remedy as soon as I feel that twinge in the back of the neck/head and it seems to limit the intensity of the headache. This is not always a fail safe but helps enough that I thought I should mention it to you…
I too have taken the bovine protein powder and it used to be fine now it causes me lots of gas and abdominal cramping. Cramping is due to my anxiety I think as I don’t get gas out all because of it. I think having intestinal Flora being off could have something to do with digesting the what I use called wild bone broth protein powder.
Worth reading this post. Actually, on the internet, there are so many unprofessional authors are writing content. And they just copy paste information from different articles and resources. And for that reason, they don’t manage to suggest the accurate suggestions of any kind. Anyway, thanks for clearing these things nicely.
It isn’t silly uninformed bloggers claiming that glutamic acid is toxic. It is neurosurgeon Russell Blaylock whom they are quoting. Maybe you should read the relevant research before attacking straw men.
http://americannutritionassociation.org/newsletter/review-excitotoxins-taste-kills
This is the important comment.
Russell Blaylock is an unhinged quack whose opinions do not follow from the science.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Blaylock
Don’t trust someone just because they have an ‘M.D.’ behind their name.
Did you seriously just use Wikipedia as a source for why someone is a quack? Someone references The American Nutrition Association, and you counter with Wikipedia. Amazing.
Umm, but a large body of research supports what he has written.
One case in point: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22766026
I have read Dr. Blaylock’s comments on Whey Protein containing naturally occuring glutamates. So do tomatoes. And what the author of this article does not understand is that some of us are terribly allergic. I can go into anaphlaxis, throat swells up and can’t breathe if I run into it. And for everyone else? Glutamates are a dangerous neurotoxin. Our bodies make glutamates in the brain naturally. But it is INSIDE the brain. We have glutamate receptors on the brain and when it enters in from outside the brain…it is extremely toxic to the brain and causes the release of destructive chemicals…which in turn causes the excitoxicity. Long term excitoxic activity causes Parkinsons, Alzheimers, Lou Gherig’s disease and all those twitchy diseases that are fatal. It is not worth drinking whey protein drinks or those based with soy. Same thing. Dr. Blaylock was a board certified Neurosurgeon and before that an Oncologist. If he was trusted to do surgery on brains so he is a credible source of information on healthy brains and cancer, at a minimum.
I don’t have an allergy that I know of or nor am I normally sensitive to glutamate. I am now because like another poster put I am tapering from benzodiazepines. It is recommended to keep an low glutamate diet. Even after tapering so that the benzodiazepine damage to the Gaba receptors can heal which can take many years depending on how long you been on them. The point I wanted to get to is this so many healthy foods contain glutamate in Fairly high amounts I believe peas tomatoes. An abundance of others. So unless you have a sensitivity or allergy what this doctor is saying that eating healthy foods like tomatoes is still bad for you I just don’t get it completely. I think after doing research I have found that Protein Isolate does have free form glutamic acid in it and I should avoid it. My problem is I can’t consume enough physical volume of protein and carbohydrates to sustain myself. Anxiety so bad that it affects my eating that much and I also have other gastrointestinal problems.
All I know is I am MSG intolerant and when I ingest most commercial protein powders, I get a headache about 20 minutes after ingesting, which is my standard reaction to MSG. And this is withstanding all other MSG products. I stand behind my belief that most protein powders contain MSG.
You would probably react the same way to a placebo.
The. What do you make of the FDa stating that the glutamate in protein is chemically indistinguishable from MSG. They are not allowed to claim No MSG in a food product if it has anything autolyzed or hydrolyzed. I would assume the FDA as a whole, who states that MSG occurs naturally in protein powders, are more familiar with scientific studies than this blog. http://www.fda.gov/food/ingredientspackaginglabeling/foodadditivesingredients/ucm328728.htm
What do you make of this?
http://www.truthinlabeling.org/formulacopy.html
So, does this mean that if I were to mix MSG with other adequate free amino acid, it would not cause adverse effect?