another reason to avoid chinese...

[ScarlettStar86]

Me and OH decided to treat ourselves to a chinese takeaway tonight, as I can have one within my daily syns. Have noticed periodically that I get a horrible headache like a vice round my temples and only realised last time that it was when I had eaten a chinese. It happened again tonight so did some googling and discovered pages and pages about monosodium glutamate (msg) allergy with symptoms identical to mine (i also get the chest pain and palpitations but never connected them to the headaches). I'm shocked that an ingredient can make me feel like this its awful! The chest pain has been quite bad lately but not at the same time as the headaches so I think I need to check my food cupboards and make sure its not in anything else!
Does anyone else have this reaction to it?

 

[slimmersally]

I was just discussing this with a colleague on Wednesday. I don't have a reaction to MSG but it is very well documented. I come from Australia and it is very common for Chinese restaurants to advertise as MSG-free. If you really like Chinese then ask your local if they can recommend dishes that don't contain MSG or can cook without it.

 

[donna88]

I've never experienced problems myself but I have heard other people talk about it but like Sally said, you should be able to ask which dishes don't contain it or they might do one without for you, its worth asking at least

 

[Rowley]

I'm also sensitive to MSG, get the headaches and find my heart racing after eating foods containing it. If you read into what it actually does to your body (causes chemical lacerations in your taste buds to give you a more intense flavour) its awful, and I do think it needs to be banned.