I am beginning to sweat.
The room seems to have notched up a degree on
the thermostat and I’m feeling sleepy. Is
it possible to have consumed so much tea that our bodies are becoming
hyponatremic? I’m quite sure that when I
shift in my seat I hear the sloshing of the liquid within- I have become a
human water snake toy.
Photo from the day
Unfortunately the fun we were having could
not disguise the burgeoning pain stemming from our abdomens. I have suddenly
become 5 months pregnant with a tea baby. Chesca is also experiencing this Immaculate
Conception. She says we’re bloated. Bloated?
What. From tea!?! I admit, reader I've never truly
felt bloated before and have never understood what people meant by it but as I
soothed my tea babies with lullabies, I had a gastronomic awakening. This painful feeling of extreme satiation was
not a pleasant experience. Not even after one of Brighton’s infamous Chick’s
takeaways (best takeaway ever by the way) had I felt like this, yet here I was
resembling a pumped up toad.
Artists Impression
Marco returns and fills our cups with even
more tea. “Are you northern?” he asks. Baffled, we reply “no” which sets off
even more giggles. Strange Marco. Maybe he’s been drinking some of this magic
tea too…
We want to leave but we can’t. We physically
can’t, and the room has begun to feel so claustrophobic and stuffy that I begin
to get suspicious about how one and a half scones, 4 small sandwiches and about
6 cups of tea could’ve resulted in my demise.
I diagnosed Chesca and myself with potential MSG overdose. Trust me, I’m
a qualified hypochondriac.
I had analysed the possible causes: do they
pump the food with air? Are there hallucinogenics in the tea? Is that a dolphin
playing the piano? Does the food contain additives that fill the consumer up
quicker, meaning the restaurant saves on food costs? This final thought led me to question the
possibility of MSG enhancement in the food here.
MSG, better known as monosodium glutamate, is
an amino acid that was developed in Japan by Dr. Kikunae Ikeda in the early
20th century as a flavour enhancer, following his discovery of a fifth taste bud
receptor which he named umami. Umami joins sweet, salt, bitter and sour
receptors on our tongues and corresponds to savoury tastes in foods.
The worldwide implications of this
manufactured taste is that now many restaurants (and food producers) now add
monosodium glutamate to their foods, yet there have been concerns over the
physiological effects of this amino acid on MSG sensitive individuals and
individuals who consume high concentrations of this flavour compound.
Foods high in MSG flavouring include soy sauce,
processed chicken, and parmesan cheese amongst many others. It’s probable that
the high concentration of MSG in soy sauce is what inevitably led to the
coining of the term ‘Chinese Restaurant Syndrome’ by Robert Ho Man Kwok to
explain the after-effects of eating at a Chinese restaurant. He described the
symptoms as occurring 15-20 minutes following the first dish but lasting for
two hours. The symptoms he suffered from were palpitations, numbness, and weakness,
but others include headache, nausea, chest pain and drowsiness. Together these
physiological effects combined with the feeling of fullness prevent the
consumer from eating more. Whilst many campaigned that these side effects were
the result of MSG added to the Chinese dishes, ultimately this is merely
speculative. Nothing has been proven that confirms MSG as responsible for the
uncomfortable feelings felt during a meal. In fact, research points in two
directions which I will explain further below.
I'm sure that many people will be familiar
with the symptoms described during a meal and the realisation that you cannot
eat as much as you would’ve thought capable, but then a short while later
feeling hungry once again. Is there a connection between the feeling of
satiation and hunger, and is MSG the missing link?
As mentioned, MSG is thought to have two
different effects on the body which is where the research is divided. Some
believe that MSG consumption makes you feel fuller quicker due to the
appearance of symptoms cited above whereas others propose that MSG serves to
make you feel hungrier.
MSG corresponding taste buds have been found
to send inaccurate signals to the stomach and brain regarding the protein and
nutrition status of the food in which the MSG is included. MSG tricks the taste
buds on your tongue into thinking a food is of greater nutritional value than
it really is, so you feel less need to eat it as your brain is misinformed that
you have succeeded in fulfilling your protein needs for the time being. Your stomach
then perceives itself to be full and you stop eating, eating less food in a
buffet, saving the restaurant money.
However, many people report feeling hungry an
hour or so after finishing a meal containing MSG, which is the basis of the
claims that MSG serves to promote hunger. The explanation for this is that the
glutamate compound triggers slow insulin release leading you to feel hungry an
hour or so later. MSG can cause insulin release when it doesn’t necessarily
have to be released, that’s what’s clever and dangerous about it. American food
manufacturers use this knowledge to market this hunger as an opportunity for
the consumer to eat more of that product. By filling the consumer up with a
compound that tells your brain and stomach the food is higher in protein than
it actually is, when this wears off you are left hungry once again so eat more
of the product. A positive reinforcement occurs and the food is perceived as
addictive by the consumer, leading to greater sales of the product, and big
bucks for the manufacturers.
MSG can therefore be interpreted as an anti-appetite
suppressant. This means it makes you hungrier in the long run due to the drop
in blood sugar level, leading to you seeking food again an hour later.
In relation to the tea for two experience,
say I managed to consume a higher concentration of MSG than I usually receive
in my diet, not only would the MSG tell my stomach to stop eating, but I
suspect my pancreas would have secreted a lot of insulin in response to my
spiking blood sugar, which then turned into me experiencing a ‘sugar low’ later
on, hence the drowsiness. My point is that if
there was MSG in the food provided which filled me up quickly, it leads to me
and other guests unable to accept their offers of more sandwiches and scones,
therefore saving them money (small note: the price for the tea included unlimited
sandwiches and scones essentially).
Or, maybe I just can’t handle my tea.
Lastly, it should be noted that Chinese
restaurants are not the only users of MSG, in fact, KFC has been found to add
the flavouring in 33 of their products, including gravy and rice according to
an investigation.
Obviously the concerns surrounding MSG are
not only health related but also economical. If MSG masks the true nutritional
value of food whilst providing a delicious taste then the food manufacturer is
able to include less real food so to say, allowing them to cut back on the inclusion
of the more expensive, actual food. In particular, as MSG acts as a fake
protein, producers can save costs by including less real protein and the
consumer doesn’t notice the difference. Imagine a chicken soup, how much
chicken do you actually get in those soups? Here’s betting that it contains MSG
in the ingredient list.
To conclude, I’ve recently decided that there are just too many additives, sugars, chemicals and whatnots residing in my
staple microwaveable meals, (combined with a recent traumatic tuna-chicken
experience which I shall share in another post) that I’m going to start cooking meals
from fresh a lot more often. All I need to do now is learn how to cook!
Most of my research done on this topic came
from this very helpful website: http://www.msgtruth.org/
If you want to find out more about MSG then this is the place to start.
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