- Why are flavour enhancers used in our foods?
Put in the simplest way possible, the flavour enhancer’s job is to make stale, flavourless and poor quality “foods” taste nice. It is a colourless, odourless powder that is very cheap and easy for chefs, cooks and food manufacturers to replace real ingredients with. Doesn’t that seem gross? How about putting FOOD in our food?
- Flawed research
100% of the research used by FSANZ and the FDA has been funded by industry. This means that every single “study” undertaken to prove the safety of these manufactured chemicals has been paid for by the people who make it! Don’t you think they may have a vested interest in keeping people eating it? There are numerous articles and studies that show how the results of these “studies” have been manipulated in the favour of the manufacturers. Independent studies have proven time and time again that these food additives are highly toxic and have no place in our food.
- Banned in infant foods
Flavour enhancers are banned in infant foods in Australia, New Zealand and America because they are known to cause severe damage to the brain and nervous system. Although it is wonderful that this protection is being offered for babies under the age of 12 months, it simply doesn’t go far enough! Many infant foods have still been found to contain processed free glutamates (the chemical that is MSG and other flavour enhancers) and there are no labeling systems in place to help women during pregnancy or our growing, developing children to avoid these. This massive flaw in the labeling system means that it is up to us to learn exactly which ingredients will contain these processed free glutamates and keep our families safe from it.
- Addiction and obesity
It is a proven fact that MSG and other flavour enhancers are highly addictive. After eating this toxic chemical your taste buds are left craving more and more. As you crave more of the foods containing flavour enhancers all other food begins to taste bland by comparison and you loose the joy of real food. Not only is it highly addictive, it is also known to cause obesity. Numerous researchers around the world are using MSG as a tool to create obese rats and mice to carry out research on. That’s right! MSG is injected into these poor animals simply to make them obese for research purposes. There is no way that flavour enhancers are not a massive contributing factor in the current “obesity epidemic” and the industry knows this.
- Harmful side effects
We have already discussed obesity; brain damage and nervous system damage. Here are just some of the other harmful symptoms that are caused by flavour enhancers: migraines, asthma, fatigue, depression, insomnia, shakes, dehydration, brain fog, headaches, nausea, dizziness, numbness, heart palpitations and skin irritation. Sadly, many people carry out their lives dealing with symptoms like this every day and believing that it is just a normal part of life, but it really doesn’t need to be like that! Something as simple as beginning to eliminate nasty food additives, especially flavour enhancers can have such a huge, positive effect on your health.
- Its prevalence in our foods
With there being so many names and numbers that are or contain processed free glutamates it can seem like an impossible task to avoid it! This is why many people who choose to avoid MSG and other flavour enhancers are still consuming this toxic chemical without realising it. Here are many of the numbers and ingredients that are or contain processed free glutamates or flavour enhancers: 621, 622, 623, 624, 625, (627, 631, 635 all work with MSG, if these are in your food, it will be too), yeast extract, any hydrolysed oils or proteins, calcium caseinate, sodium caseinate, yeast food, yeast nutrient, autolyzed yeast, gelatine and textured protein.
There are also many other ingredients that often contain processed free glutamates, some of these are: carrageenan, bouillon and broth, stock, “flavours” or “flavouring,” maltodextrin, citric acid, citrate, “ultra-pasteurized,”Barley malt, pectin, protease, anything “enzyme modified,” malt extract, soy sauce, soy sauce extract, anything “protein fortified” and seasonings.
The fact that these toxic flavour enhancers are still found in our food and the food that is fed to our children really makes my blood boil, I feel like I could write all day long about flavour enhancers and why it is so important to avoid them but I have chosen to just give you a very quick and easy article today to keep it nice and simple.
As you can see by all of the ingredients that contain and are likely to contain processed free glutamates, it can seem like an overwhelming task to avoid them all together. My advice is to avoid 621, 622, 623, 624, 625, 627, 631, 635 yeast extract, any hydrolysed oils or proteins, calcium caseinate, sodium caseinate, yeast food, yeast nutrient, autolyzed yeast, gelatine and textured protein to begin with, when you have the hang of this, move on to cutting down the rest. I truly believe that even just eliminating these additives and ingredients can have a massive, positive impact on your health and your children’s health.
You can help us get this message to food manufacturers in 2 very easy ways! 1. Share this article with all of your friends and family to help spread the message. 2. Avoid MSG and other flavour enhancers as much as you possibly can. By not giving your money to the companies who choose to put these highly toxic additives in foods you are sending a strong message and hurting them where they care the most, their profit!
If you like this blog post and want to know more about products to avoid and which ones are better for you and your family sign up to our email newsletter. We deliver it monthly to your inbox and it is full of fantastic tips and tricks to help you on your additive free journey: Sign up here
My passion and mission is to work with families to reduce the overwhelm when going additive free. Moving to additive free living can bring back peace, calm and joy to families. I know it's possible and I've experienced it first hand with my 5 boys.
Hello,
Is there a cost involved with the subscription?
Regards,
Brian Toigo
Hi Brian
Subscription to our monthly newsletter is free 🙂
Kind regards
Francine
Thank you for such an educative and public health awareness article….
Everything here is true….
God blessed you
Could you please reference the Independent Studies you mentioned.
Hi! There are way too many to list here, however, you will find all the information you need here:
http://truthinlabeling.org/l-manuscript.html.
That is one study.
Can flavour enhancers make a child vomit later? Sometimes after excess junk or packaged food, even some takeaway foods he vomits at bedtime.
Hi Meg
Yes flavour enhancers could induce vomiting, however, colours could also induce this reaction.
Let me know if you require any assistance.
Kind regards
Francine
Looking forward to receiving the newsletter
Pseudoscience at its best! you better not eat tomatoes or cheese then as they both contain high levels of free glutamic acid which you seem to believe is some kind of brain melting poison.
If you have read my posts you will see that I have explained how the free glutamic acid in natural foods such as tomatoes and cheese are used by the body differently.
There are research out there that tells about the side effects of eating MSG, it is also called in the old days the “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome” after eating ingest a large amount of MSG and showing effects of this ingestion about 3minutes and unto 24 hours. I had an asthmatic attack and landed int hospital after ingesting MSG 15 years ago. Just last night (8/3/19) I had a severe acute asthma attack 2 hours after ingestion of flavour enhancer 635. I could have died but thank God I survived. Yes it is claimed that MSG and other glutamic acid occur naturally in nature, but there is a huge difference between natural and synthetic flavour additives. The explosion of allergy problems today, makes it imperative to go back to nature and the food that the Creator God had for Adam and Eve , food free from absolutely all artificial additives.
Hi Richard
So sorry to hear that you have had a severe reaction. There is a VERY big difference between natural and synthetic glutamic acid. Back to basics!
Great to have you in the AFK Community!
They also use the word toxic too freely. I do agree that enhanceners can indirectly cause obesity byvway of addiction.
Crazy! I have been eating these “foods” (word used loosely), for years. I was not really observant with regards to numbers, but always thought I ate well. Very rarely eating anything other than home cooked meals and only eating at good restaurants when eating out. Always preparing meals from scratch. Never packet mixes, but every time I ate chicken, I would get an upset stomach. So switched to organic chicken, but even then still got a stomach upset. Not enough to put me off mind you, as I love chicken. Now after all these years the penny has finally dropped. It’s the Gravox and stock cubes. This being the reason for the stomach upset and at the end of rather a large roast dinner, my partner and I would always want something else to eat an hour or so later. I could never understand why after such a big meal we would still feel hungry. 621, who would have known. I have just thrown the stock cubes out and luckily have run out of Gravox. Wont be buying that again.
Hi Lyn
This is very common. So many people believe they are eating very well and don’t realise that these additives are in everything we eat. It would definitely be the gravy / stock cubes. So happy that the penny has dropped for you 🙂
Please let me know if I can be of any assistance to you on your additive free journey.
Kind regards
Francine
Hi. I have a 3 year old son, who I can only describe as an almost perfect child. He is well behaved, intelligent beyond his age, has exceptional manners, and the sweetest nature. I couldn’t understand why when we went to stay at his grandparents on his father’s side, he literally became an unrecognizable monster. Screaming, hitting, scratching, breaking things, defiant, rude, irritable and unable to concentrate or listen to reason or discipline… Even his appearance would change, and he got this spaced out, zombified look to his face, with glassy, vacant eyes, that would suddenly spark up impulsively prior to him attacking someone or looking around frantically for something to destroy.
I come from a high allergy family, so decided it must be dietary, and was so sure msg 621 was to blame, as she gave him chips, CC’S, 2 minute noodles, cuppa soups, shapes biscuits, and cooks everything with vageta seasoning as most Ethnic women do. I never had any of these products at home, just because I don’t think it’s right to give them to children..
But I now suspect it may actually be 635, as I had banned all 621 from his diet, and Nona, who resisted initially and scoffed at me, saw the DRAMATIC changes in his behaviour when she would sneak him a few chips as a reward or bribe, only to have created herself an uncontrollable hard time for hours!!
I diligently scoured ingredients of processed anything to ensure no msg, but after giving him some arNotts blasts biscuits tonight, which have 635, which I haven’t heard of, his behaviour turned . I am going to be sure to keep an eye out for it now, and will be writing to government to ask them to reconsider it as a banned additive.
We are in the exact situation and we’re trying to come to terms with these numbers to avoid them completely our situations is a five year old going through the same which is so frustrating hope these food additives will stop 🛑
As an “ethnic” woman myself I can assure you that most ethnic women do not cook everything with vegeta seasoning….. so perhaps you should think twice before making racist generalisations when writing something in a public forum.
[
I tell people “avoid eating numbers in brackets”
since 25-words-or-less is how you reach the people
when you have a message that needs to spread. (25)
If a person can fit it on a T-shirt,
a person may have the right to expect
a person to be able to remember it. (50)
The numbers are in brackets on our food
so that someone will keep track of them,
using science, but real science was killed by industry. (75)
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (100)
{Please add something of your own, but make sure it is true, or you are in trouble, and I will dob you in to St.Peter. (125)}
======================================================================]
Like Emily’s son, my daughter always went hypo when she ate something with MSG 621. (but also Azo dyes – red, blue, eg blue makes white marshmallows) Chinese food has lots of MSG, I worked once in a ‘good’ Chinese Restaurant kitchen and thought the white crystals, the cook took out of a big bucket hands-full and threw into the veggies was salt, but was shocked when I read the bucket label as it being MSG. I was told this chemical tells your brain that it tastes good, not the taste of your taste buds, and it also makes the colour of the veggies brighter. Keep off MSG!
My mother in law constantly feeds “footy franks” to my 16 month old and 4.5 year old. As she’s not my mum, it’s hard to talk to her about it as she’s too defensive and angry and my husband won’t talk to her. Could you tell me whether the preservatives in this is part of the banned list for kids? I’d like some reassurance of any kind! Cheers, Anna.
There are many ingredients in here that I recommend avoiding in Footy Franks: Soy protein, Emulsifiers, Dextrose, Antioxidants, Thickeners, Nitrites (Presevatives),Flavours, Yeast extract (same impact as MSG), Spice extracts, and colours. Definitely not a product that you want to be giving to young growing bodies! This isn’t real food unfortunately. See if you are able to visit your local butcher and order sausages that are real sausages, 100% meat. You may also be interested to read: https://www.additivefreekids.com.au/do-you-know-what-is-in-the-sausage-your-child-eats/
I was about to put my meal out for dinner when I decided to check the ingredients . There among it, was 627 &631, food enhancers . These cause my tongue to swell , so it’s a no-no. MAYBE soup is on my menu tonight. Why are companies allowed to put these on the supermarket shelves to cause upsets in people’s health???
Unfortunately, the government and manufacturers don’t believe there is a problem. That only a minority of the population is effected. I encourage you each time you have an issue to notify the manufacturer. Feel free to let us know too. The more examples we have, the better chance we have of achieving change.
My husband is realy allergic to MSG. His throught swells and he takes cortesons tables which i beleave is not good
Sorry to hear that….I hope he is able to avoid it most of the time!
I notice many foods now contain “NATURAL FLAVORS”. Be aware, this is MSG
Technically it isn’t MSG. MSG is required to be declared. However, natural flavours can contain ingredients that have the same effect as MSG. Thank you for your comment.
The Damora (from ALDI) rice crackers have “No added MSG” printed on the pack but have Flavour enhancers (627,631) Listed in the ingredients. What does this actually mean? Do the crackers contain MSG? Thanks Cheers Leah
Technically their labelling is correct. MSG is 621. However 627 and 631 are flavour enhancers which can have the same effect as MSG.
Could Flavour Enhancers be the cause of Diarrhea ?
Hi Alan
It has been known to cause a host of gastrointestinal ailments.
Kindest regards
Frankie
I have a bad reaction to MSG (621): stomach cramps within 10 minutes and diarrhea within the hour. If the product containing 627 and/or 631 is close to its use-by or beyond the effect is the same. Michael Pollan in his important small book ‘Food Rules’ makes the number 1 rule: ‘Eat Food’. Anything with a number is not food.
Couldn’t agree more with the rule: Eat food!
I am from India and I was eating a “Too Yumm” chips. It tasted me like eating something mixed with onion and garlic which I never take in my food due to religious reasons. But I was surprised to see that it didn’t have any onion or garlic in the ingredients list, rather it contained flavour enhancers (INS 627 and INS 631) which were unknown ingredients in the list. So I came online to check the origin of these flavour enhancers and landed on this article. It has just opened my eyes and I decided not to take any food item having numbers in bracket. But I know, I will be overwhelmed when I go searching food items without numbers in bracket. Yet I decide to give it a try.
Hi Pranjal
That is wonderful that you are giving it a try! Unfortunately these additives are appearing in ALL the food we eat. Feel free to join our Additive Free Kids community group, a great support for those starting the transition.
You can find the link here: https://www.additivefreekids.com.au/join-the-community
I look forward to chatting with you more soon 🙂
Frankie
wow.this article just made me more aware of the effects of MSG and flavor enhancements. Thank you
Hi Samu
So glad! You are welcome.
Frankie
Hi, unlike probably most that have commented, I don’t have children but stumbled across your blog when looking up flavour enhancers… thanks for providing all this info… we all know these enhancers are bad for us but after reading this blog, I thought sh**, I didn’t realise how many symptoms I suffer in my daily life (thinking it’s just normal), that can actually be caused by enhancers, including getting a swollen tongue from some that I eat (not regularly obviously but I guess I wasn’t putting two and two together). I will be trying to avoid all the 6 enhancers from now on… Cheers Jacki
Hi Jacki
So glad that this blog post has helped you! So many people are in the same boat as you. No one talks about how our food can impact us in this way. Hope you have some relief now!
Frankie
These flavour enhancers are indeed toxic. We got to know about this when one of my brothers whose suffering from schizophrenia became so violent that he turned the dining table turtle.
Such violent behavior was observed most of the times when he ate foods containing MSG.
Needless to say why mental disorders are growing at an alarming rate in the 21st century.
The impacts of these additives are far reaching. Very sad to watch. I am glad you were able to identify MSG as a trigger.
A great article.. What about the Fetal tissues and the different parts of the unborn, that produce different flavors.. Something worthwhile saying most of these “enhancers”, are completely hidden as to what they really come from..
Patricia on 9/11/2018 at 21.52
I came across this site when I was looking up E621. I suffer from Diverticulitis and certain foods can trigger it. I have tried to avoid Monsodium Glutamate and it helps a lot. From a recent visit to Scotland we brought back some square steak sausage. I have never took much notice of its ingredients as its one of my partner’s favourite foods. This time I read the label and it had E621 in it and I am shocked to realise Monsodium Glutamate was in it. My son is grown up now but in the late 70’s when he was about 3 he had lots of problems with diahorreah. To cut a long story short it was because of additives but they could not tell us which ones it was trial and error and lots of food had it added. It is easier now but I obviously need to be more observant with the E numbers. I am so glad I came across your site. Thank You.
Hi Patricia
Thank you for taking the time to write a comment. I’m glad you have found us! It’s great that you have identified that MSG is a trigger. It can be tricky identifying which additives cause problems. Have you joined our community? It’s a great resource to help you along your journey. You can register here: https://www.additivefreekids.com.au/join-the-community There are thousands of women on the journey all ready and willing to assist you on yours too. Frankie x
Maltodextrin isnt harmful its actually a prebiotic. read proper research on it, it helps good bacteria grow in your digestive system and doesnt kill it like some stupid misinformed sites try to claim it does…
Hi Shannon
Thank you for taking the time to comment. My research has shown that it can be harmful for sensitive individuals.
Frankie
thankyou for your informative site. i came across it as i’ve started suffering from hives and tight throat and nausea and have narrowed symptoms so far down to corn chips and coated fried chicken ive bought from takeaway stores. an eye opener to say the least when you do some research on these things. the sooner we put pressure on these companies who are making us ill the better. thankyou
You are welcome Jason. Sorry to hear you have had these symptoms. It definitely is an eye opener once you start delving into the ingredient world! Together by voting with our dollars we will see change!
thank you for your valuable information …..it is very useful for my exhibition topic “product awareness”.
You’re welcome
Wow! Here i am, laid up in bed with body aches and chills, upset stomach/bowels and feeling like im hungover. Ive had this before after eating the yummiest chinese food ever many years ago and have been mindful of it since. Last night i ate supermarket brought yum cha.
During the early hours of the night i was awoken with a nauseating head ache along with body aches and shivering and my skin was extremely sensitive to contact. Then, all of that was closely followed by an acidic feeling in my stomach, vomiting and upset bowel.
I checked the packet from the yum cha and found it had everything from 620 to 637!
I think i found my culprit.
For me, this just reaffirms that what is best is what Nature/God has provided us with!
Sorry to hear that you have had these effects. It is great that you know what your trigger is now though. Thanks for sharing your experience with the AFK Community.
Frankie
x
You are extremely right i was researching ingredients on a seasoning my mother bought and saw these flavor enhancers so i decided to research on them( duckduckgo.com) and stumbled on your post and i think u did at great job analysing it all…good job
Good on you researching the ingredients! Glad you found us! Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment 🙂
Nowadays consumers are more concern about health and some research shows that the use of flavor enhancers in our food has bad effect on our health. This article definitely help many of us while purchasing food items from grocery store.
Thank you for useful information.