Is MSG Bad for Your Health?
17:08 minutes
Few food ingredients carry the toxic stigma of MSG, also known as monosodium glutamate. But does this food additive deserve its nasty reputation for causing everything from headaches to brain damage? Katharine Woessner, an immunologist and allergist, explains what science tells us about MSG’s effects on health, and food writer Fuchsia Dunlop explains why perceptions of the additive might be different in Asian countries. Read more about how MSG got its reputation.
Segment Guests
Katharine Woessner
Katharine Woessner is an allergist and immunologist at the Scripps Clinic Medical Group in San Diego, California.
Fuchsia Dunlop
Fuschia Dunlop is a food writer and author of Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese Home Cooking and Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China (W.W. Norton, 2013, 2008) based in London, England.
Meet the Producer
About Annie Minoff
@annieminoffAnnie Minoff is a producer for The Journal from Gimlet Media and the Wall Street Journal, and a former co-host and producer of Undiscovered. She also plays the banjo.