When it comes to monosodium glutamate, many people hate it and think that monosodium glutamate has ruined Chinese food. Obviously, it is a pot of clear water, and after adding monosodium glutamate, it becomes chicken soup with a fragrant smell, so many people think that monosodium glutamate not only ruins our food, but also ruins our health. So what is going on?

does monosodium glutamate ruin human health?

In fact, it has been circulating since the last century that monosodium glutamate ruined people's health. In the last century, a Chinese-American contributed to the New England Journal of Medicine, claiming that after eating in a Chinese restaurant for 2 minutes, he felt uncomfortable, and the reason for the discomfort was probably that MSG was put in the Chinese restaurant.

In this regard, this famous medical journal published this article without any investigation and scientific research, and the article quickly aroused people's ideas. More and more people claimed that their hands and feet were numb and their hearts were palpitations after eating monosodium glutamate. Later, a word "Chinese restaurant syndrome" appeared in the local area to refer to monosodium glutamate.

However, in 1993, 71 healthy subjects were tested by a special research institution, and the results showed that there was no evidence that monosodium glutamate would cause human health problems, let alone cancer, so monosodium glutamate was not a carcinogen.

There are even some groups that let participants describe their physical feelings after eating Chinese food. Many participants said that they had symptoms such as weakness. However, the staff said that these Chinese foods do not contain monosodium glutamate.

After that, the participants were given French fries and other foods. The participants said that there were no physical problems, and then the staff said that a lot of monosodium glutamate was used in the French fries.

It can be seen that monosodium glutamate will not affect the human body, let alone cause cancer.

did msg ruin Chinese food?

since msg has not destroyed human health, has it destroyed Chinese food? We know that in terms of food, we pay more attention to the original flavor. However, the appearance of monosodium glutamate has given food a flavor that does not belong to it. Does this mean that monosodium glutamate has ruined Chinese food?

actually, it's not monosodium glutamate that ruined Chinese food, but pepper.

In ancient China, pepper was not a favorite food of the nobles, because the nobles were able to buy fresh food, and these fresh foods were richer in flavor in the processing of ingredients, so the taste pursued by the nobles was "fresh". Moreover, the more delicious the food is, the fresher the ingredients are and the more expensive it is. Therefore, in ancient China, only nobles were able to enjoy delicious food.

However, poor families can only buy meat that is not so fresh or tastes bad, such as pigs in the water. In order to improve the taste of the original food, they will use peppers to enhance the taste, thus making the food easier to eat.

Now, because pepper is more irritating and can stimulate people's taste buds, spicy food is more easily spread to people. The umami flavor is somewhat lonely. For example, Yangzhou cuisine, which is famous for its umami flavor, can hardly compete with Sichuan cuisine, which is famous for its spicy flavor.

However, in the eyes of those who pursue the original flavor, monosodium glutamate ruined Chinese food because Chinese food pays attention to tradition. In the past, people used chicken, duck, fish and other meats to cook broth for more than 2 hours, and finally the broth was the essence of these meats. Nowadays, however, people can blend it with monosodium glutamate and some other ingredients.

Actually, this can't be blamed on monosodium glutamate, because the appearance of monosodium glutamate solves people's pursuit of umami flavor; Although the blended broth contains monosodium glutamate, there are not only monosodium glutamate, but also many other blending agents, which are not as safe and edible as monosodium glutamate.

In addition, the appearance of monosodium glutamate actually improves the delicacy of food, because umami usually exists in meat and seafood, which is very expensive, but now we can buy monosodium glutamate at a very low price to improve the delicacy of food.

It can be seen that monosodium glutamate has not ruined Chinese food.

summary

MSG, like sugar, salt and soy sauce, is just a condiment, and there is no such thing as ruining Chinese food. Moreover, it has been scientifically proved that it is harmless to human body and will not have any negative impact on human beings.

Therefore, we should not demonize monosodium glutamate, but eat it normally as a seasoning.