re is msg sensitivity superstition frequently of late i have been reacting to something added to restaurant foods what happens is that the inside of my throat starts to feel puffy like i have a cold and also at times the inside of my mouth especially the tongue and lips also feel puffy the situations around these symptoms almost always involve restaurants usually chinese the most notable cases a cheap chinese fast food chain a japanese steak house i had the steak and another chinese fast food chain where i saw the cook put about a tablespoon or two of what looked like sugar or salt into my fried rice i am under the impression that msg enhances flavor by causing the taste buds to swell if this is correct i do not find it unreasonable to assume that high doses of msg can cause other mouth tissues to swell also as the many of the occurances including two of the above involved beef and as beef is frequently tenderized with msg this is what i suspect as being the cause i wouldn t be at all surprised if toxicity studies of msg in animals showed it as being harmless as it would be very startling to hear a lab rat or rhesus monkey complain about their throats feeling funny anyone who wishes to explain how the majority of food additives are totally harmless is welcome to e mail me with the results of any studied they know of i will probably respond to them however with a reminder of how long it took to prove that smoking causes cancer which the tobacco companies still deny dm if i sound grumpy it s because i had beef with broccoli for lunch today and now it hurts to swallow dan myers madman if the creator had intended us to walk myers usceast cs scarolina edu upright he wouldn t have given us knuckles
