Reactions
Some authors and activists have attributed the negative perceptions around MSG to xenophobic or racist biases towards East Asians and East Asian cuisine, criticising the classification of alleged MSG-related symptoms as "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome".In 2020, Ajinomoto, the leading manufacturer of MSG, launched the #RedefineCRS campaign to combat what it said was the myth that MSG is harmful to peoples health. Following the #RedefineCRS campaign, Merriam-Webster announced it will be "reviewing" the term, which was added to the dictionary in 1993. Regulations
Regulation timeline
In 1959, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) classified monosodium glutamate as generally recognized as safe (GRAS). This action stemmed from the 1958 Food Additives Amendment to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act that required premarket approval for new food additives and led the FDA to promulgate regulations listing substances, such as monosodium glutamate, which have a history of safe use or are otherwise GRAS.Since 1970, FDA has sponsored extensive reviews on the safety of monosodium glutamate, other glutamates, and hydrolyzed proteins, as part of an ongoing review of safety data on GRAS substances used in processed foods. One such review was by the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) Select Committee on GRAS Substances. In 1980, the committee concluded that monosodium glutamate was safe at current levels of use but recommended additional evaluation to determine monosodium glutamates safety at significantly higher levels of consumption.
Diagnostic criteria
As affirmed by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition (DSM-5), the symptomology specifier "with mixed features" can be applied to manic episodes of bipolar I disorder, hypomanic episodes of either bipolar I disorder or bipolar II disorder and depressive episodes of either bipolar disorder or major depressive disorder, with at least three concurrent features of the opposite polarity being present. As a result, the presence of "mixed features" are now recognized in patients with bipolar II disorder and major depression; as earlier noted, however, although it is customary to withhold a diagnosis of a bipolar disorder until a manic or hypomanic episode appears, the presence of such features in a depressed patient even with no history of discrete mania or hypomania is strongly suggestive of the disorder. Nevertheless, the DSM-5s narrower definition of mixed episodes may result in fewer patients meeting mixed criteria compared to DSM-IV. A call was made by Tohen in 2017 for introducing changes from a currently phenomenological to a target oriented approach to DSM-5 mixed mood criteria in order to achieve more personalized medical attention.Two features of both mania or hypomania and depression may superficially overlap and even resemble each other, namely "an increase in goal-directed activity" (psychomotor acceleration) vs. psychomotor agitation and "flight of ideas" and "racing thoughts" vs. depressive rumination. Attending to the patients experiences is very important.