I noticed that http://www.NaturalNews.com wasn’t mentioned in your article as a resource for cutting edge news. The site’s owner, Mike Adams “The Health Ranger,” is on top of most issues (because for him, “health” is a very comprehensive term!). Check it out.

As for Mike Adam’s coverage of Codex, I just did a search, and NaturalNews.com has 59 articles on this ill-conceived measure.

Also (twice) a story ‘How Powerful is the Tobacco Lobby’ written after I brought to media attention that polonium 210 is found in cigarettes (after Litvinenko was killed with it) published in the Natal Weekend Witness and whatreallyhappened.com.

All the additive (a lot of which are poisons) used in our food today carry “E-codes” rather than the names of the substances:

E numbers are number codes for food additives and are usually found on food labels throughout the European Union (also in South Africa). The numbering scheme follows that of the International Numbering System (INS) AS DETERMINED BY THE CODES ALIMENTARIUS COMMITTEE (caps mine, td). Only a subset of the INS additives are approved for use in the European Union, the ‘E’ prefix which stands for Europe. In casual language in the UK and Ireland, the term “E-number” is used as a pejorative term for artificial food additives, and products may promote themselves as “free of E-numbers” even though some of the ingredients (e.g. bicarbonate of soda) do have such a code.

MSG for instance is coded E-621 and that is what goes onto the food label rather than ‘msg’ or Monosodium glutamate.

Here is a note on msg:

Often referred to as MSG, Monosodium glutamate is a white crystalline substance, the sodium salt of the amino acid glutamic acid (E620).

It was first identified as a flavour enhancer in 1908 by Professor Kikunae Ikeda of Tokyo University, Japan, who found that soup stocks made from Laminaria japonica (a seaweed which had been added to soups for centuries in Japan), contained high levels of the substance.

Ikeda decided that the unique taste, which he called umami, (delicious), was so different from the four basic tastes (bitter, salty, sour and sweet) that it was in fact a fifth taste. This view is still widely held although others say it actually only enhances the four basic tastes.

His discovery led to MSG becoming the first flavour enhancer to be used commercially. Originally production was from seaweed although it is now produced using a bacterial fermentation process with molasses (around 90% of production) or starch (10%) as carbon sources and ammonium salts as nitrogen sources.

It is found in the majority of savoury foods products, such as broths, soups, flavoured (and occasionally plain) crisps and savoury snacks, flavouring and spice blends, gravies, cooked and cured meats, pork pies, pot noodles, sausages, sauces and in other combinations.

It is also used to enhance the taste of tobacco and has been used medically to treat hepatic coma.

MSG is an important ingredient in the cuisines of China and Japan.

There have been reports that monosodium glutamate may produce in some individuals a wide range of physical reactions including, but not limited to, heart palpitations, migraine, depression, rage and mood swings, anxiety attacks, hyperactivity, burning and tingling sensations, facial tightness or pressure, thirst, cold sweats, dizziness and nausea. The amount of MSG required to cause such reactions seems to vary considerably between individuals, however, for a given individual the trigger amount will not vary significantly.

The wide range of reported reactions coupled with the varying times of reaction, which can range from almost instantly to up to 48 hours, can help to hide the fact that MSG could be the cause. However, it is reported that although different individuals will react differently, a susceptible individual will react consistently, with the same two or three reactions over the same time scale.

The substance is naturally present in its bound state, the single amino acid L-glutamic acid, in plant and animal tissues, particularly in fish, meat, milk, poultry and at high levels in tomatoes and Parmesan cheese. It is alleged that it is because, as an additive, it is in a ‘free processsed’ state, which comprises L-glutamic acid and D-glutamic acid together with a variety of other chemical contaminants, that it gives rise to the reported problems. The contaminants vary depending on the method of manufacture but some, such as mono and dichloro propanols and heterocyclic amines are known to be carcinogenic.

This hypersensitive reaction, Kwok’s disease, first reported by Dr. Robert Ho Man Kwok in 1968, is commonly called “Chinese restaurant syndrome” because cooks in some Chinese restaurants were thought to use MSG extravagantly, (some 20% of production is used in restaurants and hotels). Some Chinese meals have been recorded as containing between 5 and 10g of MSG. It has been suggested by some research that a lack of Vitamin B6 contributes to these MSG symptoms.

However subsequent studies, including blind tests, have shown no conclusive link between the syndrome and the consumption of normal levels of MSG, around 2g daily, although tests have shown the possibility of brain cell damage in guinea pigs, hamsters, monkeys, rabbits and rats, particularly in the young. Some research appears to show that a lack of calcium appears to exacerbate the damage in adults.

Also, some research has proposed that as it is an excitotoxin, excessive brain receptor cell activation, caused by too much glutamate, can destroy the cells. It has been further suggested that this could play a part in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntingdon’s but the part that dietary glutamates contribute is still controversial. (Excitotoxins are a class of chemicals that can produce brain damage by ‘over exciting’ neurons into firing their impulses very rapidly until they reach a state of extreme exhaustion. Several hours later these neurons can suddenly die. See also E951)

Recent Japanese research (October 2002) at Hirosaki University has shown that high levels fed to rats has shown vision loss and retina damage. Although these high levels would not be reached with normal additive levels, there is concern that these same effects could result from the cumulative effect of smaller amounts over a longer period of time. Lead researcher Hiroshi Ohguro says the findings might explain why, in eastern Asia, there is a high rate of normal-tension glaucoma, a form of the eye disease that leads to blindness without the usual increase in pressure inside the eyeball. The higher rate, however, could also be due to genetics.

Many food manufacturers voluntarily stopped adding MSG to baby foods.

This piece,compiled by one Melissa Kaplan, is also worth a look:

For some reason, some people think that I advocate the use of MSG in foods – I do not!. This article is here because it bodes ill for things to come: while it appeared for a while that manufacturers were getting MSG out of foods, this may encourage them to put it back in, or to put it into new food products they are developing. Not good news for those of us who are adversely sensitive to MSG. So, please: no nasty letters from those of you who are for or against the use of MSG!
The Fifth Taste
The Associated Press, June 28, 1997

MIAMI (AP) – There may a fifth taste to add alongside sweet, sour, salty and bitter. It’s a mouthful – scientists call it umami.

Two University of Miami researchers say certain taste buds in the mouths of animals react only to monosodium glutamate, or MSG, which is found naturally in almost every food.

So what does it taste like?

The Japanese word umami (pronounced oo-MOM’-ee) is difficult to translate, but many people use it for “delicious” or even “yummy.” It imparts a sort of meat-like flavor.

The food industry has known for years that adding MSG to snacks and meals makes you want to eat more – more chips anyone? Until now, scientists didn’t know why.

The researchers, Nirupa Chaudhari and Stephen Roper, said Friday that if you always want a second helping of tomatoes, grapefruit, potatoes, apples, oranges and mushrooms, it is probably because they have plenty of MSG. Many pet foods are loaded with it.

MSG, a salt form of the amino acid glutamate, was blamed at least as far back as the 1960s for various health problems and even death. The government in 1995 declared it safe for almost everyone to eat.

Ms. Chaudhari and Roper shared their research with other laboratories and will present their findings to an international symposium on taste next month. They said MSG triggers certain taste buds, which send electrical signals to the brain.

The brain, now aware that umami is in the mouth, then sends its own signals that make the body want more. Parmesan cheese? Loaded with glutamate.

Roper, a professor of physiology and biophysics, likened the effect of MSG on taste bud receptors to a key used to turn on a car’s engine.

“There are lots of things that happen in a car as a result of turning on that key,” he said. “MSG is like the key, and we are trying to find out what the intracellular machinery is doing.”

Understanding how this happens almost certainly will lead to nutritionists being able to stimulate taste buds in people who have no will to eat, the researchers said.

That could help mouth cancer patients who have lost their sense of taste or the elderly who waste away because of loss of appetite.

The average person has 2,000 to 5,000 taste buds, while some have as many as 10,000 and have a super sense of taste. The researchers said their tests have been limited to rats, but that taste buds in virtually all animals are like those of humans.

The findings solidify umami as a fifth taste, said John Teeter, a physiologist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia.

“Is this (taste) something that’s mixed together from the others? It’s quite clear that glutamate taste is different,” Teeter told the Sun-Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale.

Of course, the food industry will be interested and is helping to fund the research, along with the National Institutes of Health.

Ms. Chaudhari, an associate professor of physiology and biophysics, said food companies hope to get people to eat more of their products.

“There could be other benefits to umami,” Ms. Chaudhari said with a smile. “What if you could get little kids to eat broccoli?”

http://www.powerofcommunity.org/cm/index.php

Cuba adapted, survived, and thrived because they mobilized their entire culture. They made changes requiring cooperation, adaptability, and openness to alternatives. As one Cuban in the film remarks, “When told they needed to reduce energy use, everybody did it.”