Ask A Healer Holistic Wellbeing Series

What I like and don't like about the FDA
© Neva J Howell, All Rights Reserved

I like that the FDA is finding and recalling health products that have contamination or undisclosed ingredients. Regardless of whether a product is natural or a drug, I believe the FDA should let us know when something contains contaminants or when labeling is misleading.

However, the Food and Drug Adminstration often seems selective in catching or banning such mislabeling.

Truth in Labeling Can Be Misleading:
MSG sliding through the FDA labeling cracks: For example, there are quite a few ingredient names used to disquise the presence of monosodium glutamate ( msg ) in products but so far the FDA has not gone after any of the many manufacturers who still use one or more than many ingredient names that contain msg.

As a person very allergic to msg (monosodium glutamate), and as a person who also has done her homework and knows that msg is an excito-toxin that is poisonous to the body, I am offended that the FDA still allows manufactures to hide this ingredient under so many other names.

Here are just a few of the ingredients that "sometimes" contain msg:

stock, whey protein extract, pea protien, whey protein, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, enzyme modified, autolyzed yeast extract, broth, bullion, calcium caseinate, natural flavoring, hydrolyzed oat flour, gelatin, barley malt, pectin, potassium glutamate, malt extract, soy sauce, soy protien, stock, textured protien, maltodextrin,whey protein, yeast extract and natural meat tenderizer.

Eating out is a huge challenge for the glutamate-sensitive individual. Avoiding gravies, soups and diet foods (MSG added because reduction in fat often equals reduction in flavor) and diet salad dressings can reduce the risk but really, MSG could be in anything you order at a restaurant.

Monosodium Glutamate is not the only toxic additive approved by the FDA for wide use in foods and beverages. Another is aspartame, an artificial sweetener that breaks down into methyl alcohol.

Ask your doctor if it would be ok if you drank methyl alcohol every day. See what he or she says.

Aspartame has been linked to a long list of side effects and reactions including chronic fatique, major headaches, depression, problems with menstrual cycle, constipation, etc.

In studies done with rats, the ingestion of aspartame resulted in tumors of the brain and grand mal seizures in some of the rats.


Is Organic Better? ~*~ Off-Label Prescribing 2

Health Care Disclaimer: I have been repeatedly told, by companies that include msg in their products and most significantly by the reps for one of the biggest and oldest soup companies around, that msg is not harmful. I simply and absolutely do not believe that. I also believe MSG is added intentionally to soups and children's products to increase consumption of those products by children. As an excitotoxin, MSG excites the taste buds and so children want more of whatever contains it.