Welcome to the Ask a Nutritionist podcast, brought to you by Nutritional Weight and Wellness.

We are thrilled to have you join us today as we discuss the connection between what you eat and how you feel and share practical real-life solutions for healthier living through balanced nutrition.

Now let's get started.

Hello and welcome to Dishing Up Nutrition's midweek

segment called Ask a Nutritionist. I am Brittany Vincent, a registered and licensed

dietitian. And on today's show brought to you by Nutritional and Weight and Wellness,

I will be answering a nutrition question we've received from one of our Dishing Up Nutrition

listeners. The question today is, can you talk about MSG? What are the effects of MSG and is it

inflammatory to the body? So first of all, I just want to start to explain what is MSG.

You know, I think everybody's heard of it, but maybe you don't know exactly what it is.

So MSG is also known as monosodium glutamate.

It's a common ingredient and food additive, and it's used to boost flavor. It provides us that umami flavor that you may have

heard of. It's found in many different processed foods, you know, canned, frozen foods, some

restaurant foods. And MSG is derived from glutamic acid, which is a type of protein that is abundant in

many different types of foods, including fruits and vegetables.

However, due to how MSG is manufactured, generally there is also accompanied by other contaminants or undesirable

byproducts. And MSG is quite controversial. You know, you may have heard some people say,

oh, it's totally fine to have MSG and other people say, no, you really want to avoid it as best that you can.

And the reason why it's so controversial is it contains a highly concentrated form of free glutamate.

And it's processed very differently in the body than naturally occurring glutamate. And it's processed very differently in the body than naturally occurring glutamate.

And it can increase the level of glutamate in your blood very quickly. So I want to talk more about

the distinction between free and bound glutamate. All the potential health concerns that you hear of in regards to

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