Is MSG actually bad for your health?

“No MSG.”

You’ve probably seen the label before – on restaurant windows, ramen packages, or even frozen meals. For decades, MSG has been branded a harmful additive, a chemical to surely avoid if you care about your health. But what is MSG really, and why has it been so vilified?

MSG stands for monosodium glutamate: a compound made of sodium (salt) and glutamate. Glutamate is an amino acid that your body naturally produces and uses in abundance – it’s essential for brain function and acts as an excitatory neurotransmitter. Glutamate is also what gives food their umami, the “fifth taste” responsible for the deep, savory flavor in mushrooms, meat, cheese, broth, and tomatoes.

When combined with sodium, glutamate becomes MSG, a flavor enhancer that intensifies umami without changing the food’s natural taste. Despite being associated with artificiality, MSG is chemically identical to glutamate, as monosodium glutamate merely consists of one sodium atom and one glutamate molecule ionically bonded. What's more interesting is that glutamate is often found in everyday foods, like mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, and Parmesan cheese. Notably, these foods are staples in Italian cuisine, but the fear of MSG isn't a concern when eating pasta.

Seasoning with MSG also leads to significantly less sodium intake than table salt, making it a useful alternative for people trying to lower their sodium consumption (e.g., to help high blood pressure) without sacrificing flavor. Altogether, MSG sounds like the perfect component to add to dishes. So is it really bad for you?

Multitudes of studies studying MSG have been published by various authorities, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), World Health Organization (WHO), and the National Academy of Sciences, ranging from long-term studies to comprehensive reviews. All of them have found no consistent evidence that MSG is harmful when consumed in normal amounts. Early in 1995, the FDA found that MSG was safe to consume, with no evidence of long-term harm, and the only adverse effects being short-term headaches in sensitive individuals. Even earlier, the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), consisting of members from WHO and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), first evaluated MSG in 1971 and 1974. Both times, JECFA placed MSG in the safest category of food additives, along with table salt and vinegar. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) re-evaluated MSG and other glutamates in 2017, and found no evidence of genotoxicity, carcinogenicity, or long-term harm. To account for the sensitivity experienced by a minimal proportion of individuals, EFSA set a conservative daily intake limit to ensure safety for all: 30 mg per kg of body weight– which is still quite a lot for a typical diet.

If MSG is generally safe, then why the stigma? In a 1968 letter to the New England Journal of Medicine, a doctor speculated that he experienced numbness and heart palpitations after eating Chinese food, sharing a personal experience, not a formal study. He coined the racist term “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome” to describe it — and despite being rooted in xenophia and not being based on controlled research, the phrase stuck.

The letter, though anecdotal, was picked up by the media and publicized without scrutiny. As the term “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome” gained traction, sensational headlines exaggerated the potential dangers, often without scientific backing. Newspapers and television shows ran segments warning against Chinese food, reinforcing the idea that it was uniquely unhealthy. This uncritical media amplification helped the fear snowball, embedding the myth in public consciousness.

Some food historians argue that MSG stigma was also weaponized by competing restaurant industries. As Chinese takeout grew in popularity in mid-20th century America, it posed a threat to more “mainstream” restaurants. Demonizing Chinese food as unhealthy or suspicious provided a convenient way to stoke fear and direct customers elsewhere.

The impact on Chinese restaurants was tangible. Some reported drops in business due to health fears, and many felt forced to adopt “No MSG” signs or change recipes to accommodate misinformed customers. In extreme cases, restaurants closed due to bad press and declining revenue, all because of a compound later proven as safe as table salt (if not more) by multiple health agencies across the globe.

Ironically, Chinese food may have less MSG than Italian food. While Chinese cuisine may use added MSG as a seasoning (like a sprinkle of salt) in some dishes, but not all. Italian food often contains naturally occurring glutamate in Parmesan cheese, tomatoes, mushrooms, anchovies, cured meats, and broths. These ingredients are loaded with glutamate, and since MSG is just glutamate plus sodium, your body doesn’t really distinguish between the two.

To put this into perspective, a bowl of spaghetti with tomato sauce and Parmesan likely has more glutamate than the average Chinese restaurant dish.

Here's a list of common foods and their glutamate content:

Common Foods	Glutamate content (mg/100g)
Parmesan cheese	~ 1,200
Tomato juice	~ 250
Mushrooms	~ 180
Typical amount of MSG added to a dish	< 500

Furthermore, the backlash was never applied to foods like canned soup, Doritos, or American fast food – despite those products containing similar or even higher levels of MSG and glutamate.

The stigma around MSG centered less around science and more around xenophobia, and racialized perceptions of what food is “clean” or “healthy.” Despite decades of research showing MSG is safe for most people, its reputation still hasn’t fully recovered. Restaurants, especially Chinese ones, continue to feel pressure to advertise “MSG-free” dishes in order to appease health-conscious customers.

The story of MSG reveals how our ideas of what’s “healthy” are shaped by more than just nutrition labels. They’re influenced by race, power, and cultural bias – by who’s cooking the food, and how it’s perceived. MSG isn’t dangerous. But the way we talk about it has been.

If the same compound can be demonized in Chinese cuisine and celebrated in Italian dishes or processed snacks, maybe the real issue isn’t MSG at all. It’s who gets to define health, and whose food is considered clean, safe, and legitimate.