Blood Brain Barrier: Invasion of the Glutamate

A careful balance of amino acids runs the human body.  When these elements become over-represented in the body, chaos can ensue.  The FDA claims that MSG cannot cross the blood brain barrier, though the studies to support this are sparse.  This is not surprising considering the level of neural-knowledge available in 1948 when MSG was first introduced to America.  We should not forget the complete lack of research done when the FDA introduced the GRAS list in 1958 that declared MSG to be safe in any quantity.

Glutamate is not only one of the most important neurotransmitters in the brain, it is also recognized by scientists to be an excitotoxin.  Excitotoxins in the brain can result in massive cell death.[1]

If excess Glutamate were to cross the blood brain barrier, neurons within the brain would be in great jeopardy. 

The FDA clings to the mistaken belief that MSG cannot cross the blood brain barrier.  If Glutamate could pass the BBB, it would no longer be considered a harmless ingredient and be able to be added in unlimited amounts to your food.  Glutamate is an excitotoxin capable of killing the cells of the brain.[2]  What the FDA has overlooked is the fact that the blood brain barrier is not infallible, and can fail in many situations. 

Increased physical stress of a short duration can increase the ease with which larger molecules can cross into the brain.[3]  Brain injury (stroke or trauma), where a blood vessel breaks and bleeds into the brain, allows direct access for the MSG to cross the barrier and enter the brain.[4] 

Allergies create an increase in histamine in the blood.  Histamine dilates the arterioles, allowing for larger molecules to enter the brain.[5] 

The brain is not completely protected.  The hypothalamus is an important organ that regulates hormones throughout the body.  It is linked to growth and the control of the pituitary gland. The Hypothalamus does not benefit from having a blood barrier, and can be directly influenced by MSG in the blood stream.[6]  The lack of protection from Glutamates can allow MSG to impair memory retention and damage neurons in the hypothalamus.[7]

Another region that the FDA seems to have completely forgot about is the meninges.  This is the lining between your brain and your skull.  It is filled with tiny capillaries, which researchers are now finding have transporter cells dedicated to the transport of Glutamate into the brain.

The Ajinomoto Company on its own corporate Website clearly outlines another way that MSG can directly enter the brain.  In a page designed to sell its Glutamate to research laboratories, Ajinomoto states that L-Glutamate (MSG) and ammonia combine to form L-Glutamine Acid.  Ajinomoto Company states that L-Glutamine can pass through the blood brain barrier.  L-Glutamine can break down into Glutamate and Ammonia.[8]  This can directly increase the neurotoxic levels of Glutamate in the brain.

The FDA has blindly stated that MSG cannot cross the blood brain barrier where it could endanger the sensitive brain processes.  MSG’s manufacturer promotes the fact that it can.  What has happened here?  This kind of contradiction is even worse than the tobacco companies knowing that nicotine was addictive and still advocating its safety.  Ajinomoto directly promotes the effects MSG can have on the brain, and the FDA turns a blind eye to it.

The bottom line is that Monosodium Glutamate in the diet can enter the brain.  The question is, once it is there, what evils can it do?

Glutamate, Headaches and Migraines, Oh My!

You know it well.  A hard day at work has ended and you are looking forward to that time to unwind.  The kids have come home from school, already whining about what’s for supper.  Your spouse just opened the mail and four more bills are overdue.  The dog just threw up on the carpet…again.

The throbbing starts, nagging at first. Getting stronger and stronger until the pounding hammers in your ears.  You want to clamp a pillow over your head, but instead manage to lurch into the bathroom to grab the strongest headache medication you can find.  Tossing back a couple tablets you can hardly wait for the pain to stop.

Headaches are one of the most common illnesses in America.  It is rare that a family can go without using pain medication to counteract their frequency.  The age of people getting headaches has dropped dramatically.  Now even five year olds complain of  headaches.

For those with migraines, the symptoms are far worse.  Severe migraine affects more than 28 million Americans.  A medication that can prevent migraines has not yet been found.[9]  The pain can be so bad that the victim becomes sick to their stomach.  Often lasting for days, migraines can incapacitate otherwise healthy people.  Just why have headaches and migraines become an epidemic in today’s world?  Is it stress, high blood pressure, pollution? 

A 2002 study by Diamond & Wenzel stated that migraines manifest themselves with problems affecting the neurological, gastrointestinal and autonomic functions of the body in combination.[10]  Could there be a trigger that affects all of these body systems at the same time?  This mystery trigger may be the key to unlocking the cause of migraines. 

Could it be………… MSG? 

Neurological:  Higher blood flow can increase the permeability of membranes allowing for higher Glutamate levels that could cause Glutamate-induced neurotoxicity.

Gastrointestinal:  Ingestion of MSG directly stimulates sites within the gastrointestinal canal.[11]

Autonomic:  Variations in Glutamate within the spinal cord (Central Nervous System) can cause changes in nerve cell membranes, possibly making them more receptive to pain signals.[12]

It appears that MSG could fulfill all three roles that Diamond & Wenzel identified.  Glutamate can affect the brain, central nervous system, and digestive system all at the same time.

If MSG does cause headache and migraine, wouldn’t there be proof? Plenty!

MSG has been established as a trigger for headaches.  Even the FDA admits that headaches are a side effect of eating MSG.  A study by the Northern California Headache Clinic showed that chronic headache sufferers decreased the frequency of their headaches simply by reducing their intake of MSG and Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein (which contains 10-30% MSG).[13]

Sands, Newman, and Lipton of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York also identified Monosodium Glutamate as a leading trigger of headaches.  They suggested that avoiding MSG could prevent headaches.[14]  In a study of 201 subjects, it was discovered that 28.8% of them had Glutamate-induced headaches.  The study went on to say that these headaches could indicate damage to the central nervous system.[15]

High Glutamate content within the spinal cord can also induce headaches.  Both chronic tension headaches[16] and chronic daily headaches can be linked to Glutamate reactions within the Central Spinal Fluid. [17] Both headaches and migraines in children have been linked to Monosodium Glutamate in the diet.  Treatment of these disorders should include avoidance of the dietary trigger.[18] 

The toxicity of MSG seems to be directly related to how much food you ingest with the additive, and how long you go without eating food afterwards.  Researchers have shown that 100% of people who ate MSG laced foods and then fasted overnight complained of headaches.[19]

Hopefully those of you that suffer from headaches and migraines, or have children who do, will benefit from the evidence gathered by these devoted researchers.  If your symptoms are triggered by MSG sensitivity, the best way to test for it is to experiment on you and your own family by avoiding all foods that contain MSG or MSG related ingredients.

After the terrible shock that we all suffered in September of 2001, my family sought solace by turning to comfort foods.  In the months that followed almost all of our meals were coming out of drive-through windows, or microwave friendly packaging.  Not only did our weight increase, so too did the incidence of headaches.  Even our children suffered from headaches on frequent basis.  We were going through pain relief pills in such numbers that we started buying the jumbo-sized bottles. 

All that changed when we discovered the dangers of MSG.  Boxed, canned and frozen foods laced with MSG were taken out of our cupboards, fridge, and pantry.  Items at fast food restaurants that contained Glutamates were now avoided.  Within weeks of altering our diet we noticed a considerable change.  The bottle of headache pain reliever was no longer a daily visitor at our table.  In fact, it has disappeared to the back of the medicine cabinet, hidden behind the bandages.  From February of 2002, to the time of penning this book, our family has been headache free. Head pain that used to be a part of our daily life is now only a memory. 

Could it be that easy for your family?  It wouldn’t hurt to try.  The rewards of living pain free are definitely worth the price of giving up MSG laced fried chicken and gravy.

ADHD, Epidemic in Our Schools

The principal sat behind her desk, disgusted.  Yet again this boy stood before her, yet again he had disrupted the classroom and been sent down to her office.  Yet again he had assaulted another student and required teacher intervention.  This time, however, it had taken three teachers to hold him down.  Something had to be done.

The written list of complaints the teacher reported to her read like a rap sheet:

Ø      Short attention span, easily distracted.

Ø      Constantly moving.

Ø      Shows no interest when others are talking.

Ø      Trouble waiting – usually gets in fights at this time.

Ø      Cannot stay seated.

Ø      Does not comply with instructions.

Ø      Has problems with his school work.

Ø      Easily distracted.

Ø      Draws on other people’s papers.

Ø      Will not line up – just runs around.

Ø      Complains of being bored.

Ø      Spends a lot of time on time-out chair because of not listening or breaking rules or fighting.

Ø      Does not respond to a reward system, no matter how simple.

This boy was trouble, and she had more just like him.  He just wasn’t cut out for her school.  She called in the parent and handed over the list of complaints.  Careful not to call it ‘suspension” she told the parent that the boy couldn’t be served in her school.  Maybe next year he might grow out of it, and could come back.

The parent listened to the professional opinion of the educator, got the boy’s things, and together they left the school.  Who knew that Kindergarten could be such a tough year?

This boy isn’t alone, there are more than a million like him in the schools of United States and Canada, and their numbers are growing every year.

Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) is quickly becoming the most prevalent problem with young students today.  The National Institute of Mental Health states that about 3% of school children now have ADHD, and that number is growing.  The occurrence of ADHD has increased 500 percent in the last decade, and shows no signs of slowing down.  At this growth rate, in only twenty years 75% of all school-aged children will have ADHD.  Are they doomed to suffer the same fate as the kindergarten student?

ADHD strikes more often in boys (75%) then in girls.  It is a disorder that alters the victim globally, affecting their entire personality and demeanor.  Children with ADHD grow into adults with ADHD.  The problems they have in youth may hamper them throughout their entire lives.

The medical community is baffled.  As yet no cause has been found.  Pharmaceutical companies, however, have no end of drugs to offer exhausted parents.  Ritalin is the drug of choice.  Its long list of side effects is countered by the calm it seems to bring to these children. 

ADHD is a condition present at birth. For years, professionals have pointed to its prevalence in families to prove it has a hereditary link. 

What if the answer was simpler?  Perhaps it isn’t a family gene, but rather the similar environment within families that is increasing the disorder faster than the affected generation can replicate itself.

Pregnant woman are becoming more and more concerned about what they are putting into their bodies.  They watch their fat intake, cholesterol intake, sugar intake, but no one has ever told them to mind their Glutamate intake.  Considering the importance that doctors now place on expectant mothers to take just the right amount of vitamins and folic acid, one would think they would consider carefully what large amounts of brain-altering amino acids could do.  There are about twenty amino acids that the human body uses to make proteins.  These proteins form all of our organs, tissues and especially brain. 

Everything an expectant mother eats can also be consumed by the child growing within her.  This is especially true in the first trimester of growth, when the placental barrier that regulates the flow of toxins to the fetus is not fully developed.  The placental barrier is designed to allow amino acids into the fetus to make the body tissues and organs.  Researchers have found that not only do amino acids cross the barrier to the baby, but they also tend to collect there so that the concentration of these chemicals is higher in the growing fetus than in the mother’s blood.[20]  This can become especially dangerous when the mother eats food containing MSG.  Dr. J.W. Olney, a specialist in MSG research at the Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, Missouri, discovered that MSG in the diet of pregnant primates causes brain damage in the offspring.[21]  Dr. Olney has since continued to expand on his research of the effects of MSG on subjects and discovered that:

“the human food supply is a source of excitotoxins that can damage the brain by one type of mechanism to which immature consumers are hypervulnerable, or by other mechanisms to which adult and elderly consumers are peculiarly sensitive.”[22]

If large amounts of MSG gather within the developing fetus, the increased state of Glutamate excitotoxicity could alter the brain itself in the developing stage.  Neuronal pathways growing in the developing brain could be excited into greater, more rapid development.

The brain could become over-simulated so that some areas could become hyper-sensitized to Glutamate, while others could be overdeveloped to the point of cellular death. 

ADHD infants show susceptibility to high levels of Glutamate within their neuronal regions.[23]  If Glutamate in utero can over-develop neuronal pathways in the fetal brain, perhaps that would explain the hyperactive difficulties in the ADHD child after birth.

Researchers at the Department of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, used proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy to compare normal children’s brain chemistry to that of ADHD children.  After measuring a number of chemical reactions in the brains, they discovered that the only difference they found in brain chemistry between ADHD and normal children was the elevated Glutamate levels.[24]

If higher Glutamate levels in ADHD children were reduced in the diet, could the symptoms of the disorder be reduced?  Yes. Research shows that parents who place their children on a low MSG diet can reduce the frequency of negative behaviors associated with the disorder.[25]  ADHD is a relatively new disorder.  It has a very short history and has been noticed and diagnosed only within the last 50 years.  In the 1970’s it was loosely identified as hyperactivity, in the 80’s it was labeled Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. 

ADHD’s dramatic increase in cases coincides directly with the introduction of MSG in mass marketed foods in America.  The dramatic increase in ADHD cases seems to correlate directly with our increased consumption of restaurant and pre processed foods.

MSG intake could be the very cause of the ADHD that is now rampant in our children.  If the current growth pattern of ADHD continues, soon these children will make up the majority in the classroom, and the adult population as well.

Autism: the Dumbing of America

ADHD is not the only disorder that is exploding in our nations’ youth.  Autism is a form of mental disability that is growing in frequency and severity.

Autism is an ailment that manifests as the retardation of the mental abilities of the victim.  Children with the disorder can have extreme anti-social behaviors, act abusive to others or themselves, practice continual repetitive motion, show delayed and reduced language development and use, as well as other socially unacceptable behaviors.  A few with autism are mildly affected, and can lead almost normal lives.  Some have even been noted to have areas of genius.  Known as savants, these individuals can have extreme disability in one area, speech for example, while also having incredible ability and innate talent, for instance mathematics or playing an instrument.  It seems some areas of their brains can be underdeveloped, while a few have specific areas of exceptional development.  Most victims tend to have such severe communication and behavioral problems that society will have to provide them with a lifetime of specialized care.

Autism shares a number of similarities with ADHD.  Historically, it was only discovered in the 1940’s and then in only a few very rare cases.  It is a disorder that develops in the fetus during pregnancy.  It is found to occur more often within the same family.  Similar to ADHD, individuals with autism are also 75% Male, 25% female.  Even more astounding is that the frequency of autism in births has increased 500% in the last decade, just like ADHD.

The research on autism has surprising similarities to that involving ADHD.  Many reports on autism refer to discoveries that individuals with the disorder have extreme Glutamate level abnormalities[26] and Glutamate receptor anomalies within the brain.[27]

If MSG intake in the mothers diet during pregnancy is the key to both ADHD and autism, what decides whether a child becomes ADHD or autistic?

It could be possible that the high levels of Glutamate in the developing brain create an over-abundance of Glutamate receptor neurons.  With an overabundance of these cells in certain areas of the brain, it could result in the hyperactivity seen in ADHD individuals. 

However, if Glutamate levels become too high, excitotoxicity could result, causing the death and destruction of developing neural pathways in the brain.  Entire brain regions such as Brocca’s area (linked to speech) or other susceptible cells could be stimulated to death, causing that part of the individuals brain to be completely unusable.  This kind of global damage could explain the brain abnormalities we see in people with autism.  Family genetics may come into play in determining how much MSG it takes to affect the developing fetus.

Reducing MSG in the diet of autistic individuals may not undo the damage done, but it may reduce some of the severity of the autistic symptoms, i.e. self-abuse or repetitive motion. 

Hopefully we can reduce the incidence of autism.  In 1992, there were 12,000 cases reported in American schools.  In 2000 the number ballooned to 80,000.

At this rate of increase, by 2008 the population will be a staggering half million cases, and by 2016, 4 million autistic children will require the intensive services of the nation.

By removing MSG and the additives that contain MSG from the diet of pregnant mothers, is it possible that the epidemic of ADHD and autistic children could come to an end?

Something must be done, the sooner, the better.

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder whose frequency is also on the rise.  People diagnosed with this disorder exhibit signs of brain dysfunction from hallucinations to episodes of mania.

Recent research shows that the common link between people with schizophrenia is an imbalance of brain chemistry, specifically a defect involving the Glutamatergic system.[28]  People with this disorder are not able to process Glutamate in the same way that the unafflicted populace does. 

It has been suggested that the reduced ability of the brain to transmit Glutamate results in the disturbed information process that is seen in the schizophrenic population.[29]

Studies cited previously in this book have illustrated that excess Glutamate, specifically MSG, can excite neuronal cells to death.  Once these cells are killed they cannot be replaced.  The ability of MSG to kill Glutamate receptive brain cells could lead to a dramatic reduction in Glutamatergic receptor cells in the brain.  This reduction could be reflected in the schizophrenic brain’s inability to handle Glutamate transmission properly.

Forensic studies of schizophrenic brains show “alterations in Glutamate receptors.”[30]

If you were diagnosed with schizophrenia and knew that Glutamate could exacerbate your symptoms, would you approve of its uncontrolled addition to foods?

People with high blood pressure are told to avoid sodium.  Why shouldn’t schizophrenic people prone to the toxic effects of Glutamate be warned to avoid MSG?

Epilepsy

Michael was a charming man.  He was friendly to everyone he met.  Always quick with a smile and to offer a hug.  He could speak both English and French fluently.  No written word was too hard for him to read.  Yet when I met him, he was almost forty and still had not learned to drive a car.  Michael was mentally handicapped and lived in a group home.  He never walked outside unsupervised and had to hold a hand while crossing the street.  Michael was autistic, perhaps one of the first people whose autism may have been caused by MSG. 

I knew him for five years, and grew to love him with all his habits and idiosyncrasies. As he aged he developed epilepsy.  They were small seizures at first, and months would pass between them.  But soon they became more serious.  His body would shake; he would lose consciousness; and on a few occasions, lost the ability to breathe.   Although he had an excellent constitution and rarely even had a cold, the seizures took their toll.  Late one night a violent epileptic fit took hold of him.  At only 43 he passed away.

People with epilepsy have episodes where they lose mental and bodily control.  It can be as inconspicuous as a blank stare (Generalized absence seizure), or as violent as a full body seizure (Tonic-clonic).  A misfiring of the brain’s nerves causes these seizures.  Epilepsy can be a life long condition.  It strikes one percent of the population, and affects children and the elderly more often then anyone else.  In the majority of cases, the cause of the disability is unknown.  Equally mysterious are the factors that trigger the seizures.

Thanks to medical research, epilepsy may not be a mystery forever.  Currently, most epilepsy is kept in check by anti-convulsant drugs.  Many of these drugs have dangerous side effects when taken long term.  Two novel approaches are being taken to reduce seizures in people with epilepsy.  One is surgical in nature, referred to as VNS or vagus nerve stimulation, the other is a very restrictive diet known to as the ketogenic diet.

In VNS, an electrical pulse generator is implanted under the skin.  It sends out electrical signals to the vagus nerve to reduce the frequency of epileptic seizures.  Doctors are not certain why the VNS system is successful, but scientists have found that people helped by this implant have a large reduction in Glutamate within their central nervous systems.[31]  MSG is known to over stimulate many organs and tissues within the human body, perhaps the vagus nerve is yet another site where the excitotoxic affects of MSG could induce a harmful response in the body; namely epilepsy.

In the case of the ketogenic diet, people with epilepsy (notably children) are given a strict diet that contains no refined sugar, small servings of fruits and vegetables, and large amounts of fatty foods.  Most of the foods on this diet are not the pre-made processed kind, and are made from scratch in the home.  Currently doctors think that it is the low sugar content of the diet that is the reason for the diet’s success.  In reality, research has not conclusively proven a link between high sugar blood levels and the onset of epileptic seizures. 

The ketogenic diet may succeed by reducing MSG in the diet.  Because the meal plan does not include factory prepared foods, it is unlikely that the people preparing it are adding the MSG, hydrolyzed plant protein, autolyzed yeast extract or soy protein isolate that can be found in the ready made foods from the grocery store or fast food restaurant.  The low levels of Glutamate in the ketogenic diet may be the key to the diet’s success, not the decrease in sugar. 

While a reduction in sugar may not be the reason the ketogenic diet succeeds, sugar levels do have something to do with epileptic seizures observed in newborns. This has been observed in cases where newborn human infants were hyperinsulinaemic.[32] You may remember this term, it is what MSG treated neonatal rats develop.  The insulin levels in their blood are so high that their blood sugar levels drop to dangerous levels.  In human infants, this hyperinsulinaemia can result in full body convulsions.  Perhaps it is MSG that causes epilepsy in new born children due to an abnormally low blood sugar level.

MSG has also been found to create epileptic seizures in the brain.  Scientific researchers turn to their MSG suppliers like Ajinomoto Corporation for their much-needed epilepsy causing excitotoxins.  MSG is used with regularity in animal studies when scientists want to induce epileptic seizures.[33]  One study found that the severity of epileptic seizures in rats that was produced by commercial MSG increased as the subjects age.  The seizures became more tonic-clonic as the animals grow older.  The chance of seizure causing death is also increased.[34] 

Human epilepsy has a similar pattern. Children show more generalized absence seizures, while the elderly show more tonic-clonic types.  Elderly humans have the greater chance of epileptic seizure resulting in death.

No matter how one looks at it, the research is plentiful and shocking:  “Monosodium L-Glutamate (MSG), a commonly used food additive, induces convulsive disorders in rats.”[35]  Even more alarming is that this discovery was made in 1975, yet nowhere at the FDA did alarm bells go off.   

Through all of this, I can’t help but think of Michael.  Not only could MSG have caused lifelong affliction, it could have been the cause of his death as well.

Alzheimer’s Disease

Not everyone that eats MSG becomes obese and diabetic.  As we have seen in the chapter on obesity, there may be a predisposition for those ailments caused by large amounts of MSG during the early stages of growth.  What about people who are not over-exposed to MSG in youth?  Are they safe from its toxic affects? 

Perhaps not.

MSG even affects normal people when they eat it. The ingested MSG over-stimulates the pancreas, causing large amounts of insulin to be created.[36] [37]   This insulin acts to lower the sugar level in the blood.   In diabetics the pancreas becomes so over-stimulated that it fails. In some people, an over-stimulated pancreas can continue creating large amounts of insulin their entire lives.  Though these people are spared from diabetes, they are candidates for another terrible disease:  Alzheimer’s.

Dr. Russell Blaylock, author of Excitotoxins The Taste that Kills, makes a compelling argument that Alzheimer’s and MSG intake are closely linked.  Dr. Blaylock points out that glucose is essential for protecting the brain from excess Glutamate that can excite neuronal cells to death.[38] 

When rats are fed MSG and glucose at the same time, they show less brain damage than rats that eat MSG alone.[39]  The availability of extra glucose allows the brain to protect itself from the ravages of excitotoxins like MSG.

Dr. Blaylock goes on to establish a link between the low blood sugar levels in aging populations and Alzheimer’s disease.  He also points out that Alzheimer’s patients are more reactive to glucose than the rest of the population, showing lower blood sugar and higher levels of insulin.

In a 1983 study by Bucht, Adolfsson, Lithner, and Winblad,  839 psychiatric patients were examined.  Of the 839, 63 were diabetic.  Of these diabetic patients, not one had dementia due to Alzheimer’s, leading the researchers to the conclusion that diabetes may not co-exist with Alzheimer’s disease.[40]  

Do diabetics get Alzheimer’s disease?

Two independent studies, one done at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, the other done at University of California’s Institute for Brain Aging and Dementia, looked at populations of elderly patients.  Both studies came to the conclusion that patients with diabetes are not at risk for Alzheimer’s disease and that the two conditions existing together are extremely rare.[41] [42]  Here we are, with two of the most prevalent and destructive diseases that affect the elderly.  This book has already illustrated how MSG can cause diabetes, would you be surprised if it caused Alzheimer’s as well?

The research is convincing.

The symptoms of Alzheimer’s are caused by neural damage in the hippocampus and basal forebrain.  These structures have a great deal to do with memory.   Research done at the Laboratory of Neurosciences, National Institute on Aging, Baltimore, Maryland, supports the idea that the key feature that may cause Alzheimer’s is the imbalance between glucose and Glutamate in the brain. Five other studies done at the University of Kentucky, U.S.A., University Medical School, Switzerland, and the Heidelburg University in Germany have all come to similar findings.[43] [44] [45] [46] [47]

High levels of Glutamate and low levels of glucose cause brain cell destruction in people with Alzheimer’s disease (AD).   Glucose acts like a police force in the brain, rounding up dangerous groups of harmful substances and arresting their development into deadly gangs.   If glucose is not freely available for the brain to maintain safe levels of Glutamate, the increased Glutamate can overwhelm brain neurons and cause cell destruction.

M.P. Mattson et al. at the National Institute on Aging, Baltimore, take it a step further, arguing there is:

“Emerging evidence that dietary restriction can forestall the development of AD …… is consistent with a major "metabolic" component to these disorders, and provides optimism that these devastating brain disorders of aging may be largely preventable.”[48]

The ‘metabolic’ condition that these scientists speak of bears a striking resemblance to MSG.  MSG not only excites the pancreas to keep blood sugar low and less available to the brain, it also makes extra Glutamate available to enter the brain and cause massive cell destruction. 

Unfortunately, it seems that people whose pancreases manage to survive the stimulation by MSG that has kept their blood levels in a constant state of sugar starvation face a different problem than diabetes as they age:    Alzheimer’s.  Constant intake of MSG (such as in heavily ‘seasoned’ institutional food) results in stimulation of the insulin making beta cells.  Elevated insulin levels cause the amount of sugar available to the brain to drop, creating a chronic low blood sugar level.  Then, as Dr. Blaylock explained, the brain which uses 25% of the body’s glucose intake becomes dangerously deprived of glucose.  Without glucose to change Glutamate into less toxic substances, the Glutamate is then free to collect in dangerous levels around the brains neurons.[49]  Glutamate in high levels causes neuronal cell death.[50] The resulting cell death can manifest itself as Alzheimer’s disease.

Why is it that those with diabetes do not get Alzheimer’s?  People with diabetes have difficulty keeping their blood sugar from being chronically high.  They tend to have blood with very high glucose levels, resulting in plenty of sugar for the brain to use to metabolize and equalize Glutamate levels in the brain.  It seems the elderly are stricken by two main diseases, Diabetes or Alzheimer’s. Monosodium Glutamate may cause both.

Parkinson's and Huntington’s Disease

Genes are the blueprint for our bodies.  They not only tell our cells just how to replicate, they also allow for differences in people.  For some, genes can hold a code that makes them react differently to chemicals than other people. The way they react to these chemicals may determine their level of health.

For some people, Glutamate is such a chemical. 

Parkinson’s disease manifests itself as the destruction of neurons in the substantia nigra-striatum of the brain.  Symptoms of this ailment included rigidity of limbs, tremors, mental dementia, and reduced movement.  Recent research on the origins of Parkinson’s has found that close relatives of those afflicted have a higher chance of getting it, yet no genetic link has been found.  This could support the idea that diet, which families tend to share in similarity, could be a possible cause.

Surprisingly, the brain damage seen in Parkinson’s patients mimics the same stress due to failure of the brain to regulate glucose and Glutamate levels that Alzheimer’s victims suffer from.  The difference in the disorders seems to be in the area of the brain that suffers from cellular death.[51]

If the key to Alzheimer’s is the low glucose availability in brain’s blood sugar caused by ingestion of MSG, there could also be a link between MSG and Parkinson’s disease.

The connection of brain diseases with MSG does not end here. 

Huntington’s disease is a genetic disorder that affects people as they age.  The brain degenerates and causes the victim such problems as reduction in cognitive ability, poor body control, forgetfulness, depression, twitching of limbs, and other symptoms, which can lead to an untimely death.   

A 2002 study at the University of Freiburg, Germany, it was discovered that the mutant Huntington gene causes a:

“progressively deranged Glutamate handling in the brain, beginning before the onset of symptoms .……provide evidence for a contribution of excitotoxicity to the pathophysiology of Huntington's disease, and thus Huntington's disease may be added to the growing list of neurodegenerative disorders associated with compromised Glutamate transport capacity.”[52]

The gene in Huntington’s disease seems to affect the way the brain processes Glutamate.  In Celiac disease, the human body is unable to handle the gluten found in common foods such as wheat products.  To these people, even bread can be toxic.  Perhaps the same could be said about Huntington’s disease and MSG?  

If both Parkinson’s disease and Huntington’s disease are related to high levels of Glutamate in the brain, could eating more and more Glutamate exacerbate these conditions?

Though this hypothesis has yet to be fully explored, there is certainly enough published research to justify further study in this direction.