[Ronhutton]

Interesting paper dealing with the safety of MSG and aspartate in foods, in which more evidence is cited that the BBB plays a significant role in PD. Maybe the different amounts we each eat of mono sodium glutamate (MSG) and aspartate, account for our differing symptoms, due to a different level of BBB dysfunction.
See
http://new--start.blogspot.com/2008/...eneration.html
where it says,

An additional critical factor ignored by the defenders of excitotoxin food safety is the fact that many people in a large population have disorders known to alter the permeability of the blood-brain barrier.

"It is logical to assume that patients with the other neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and ALS will be made worse on diets high in excitotoxins. Barrier disruption has been demonstrated in the case of Alzheimer's disease.46

Recently, it has been shown that not only can free radicals open the blood-brain barrier, but excitotoxins can as well.47 In fact, glutamate receptors have been demonstrated on the barrier itself.49"

More information is given in
http://www.dr-jo-md.com/excitotoxins.html
Where it says

Pregnant women frequently eat large doses of MSG and other excitotoxins in their food. According to one study restaurants add as much as 9.9 grams of MSG to a single dish, enough to cause brain damage in experimental animals. In soups or other liquids, MSG is absorbed much faster and more completely, causing higher blood levels of MSG and greater toxicity to the brain.

Of all the neurotransmitters glutamate plays the most important part in the brain development of the fetus and the plasticity in the adult. In experiments on animals too much glutamate can cause the brain to be miswired. If MSG and aspartate (NutraSweet) pass from what mama has eaten into the fetus in the womb, baby's brain may be miswired.

Because the brain at birth is still going through an extensive rewiring process, newborns and toddlers who are fed these excitotoxins are at very high risk for abnormal brain wiring. Also, the brain develops in a certain sequence of events with critical timing of each sequence. Over stimulation with excitotoxins "may severely interfere with this delicate process and possibly lead to learning disorders, emotional illness, or even major psychological disease later in life."

The damage to neurons progresses over many years before people start to show the signs of Alzheimer's Disease, ALS, Parkinson's. etc.

This is good evidence of Rick's ideas on PD starting way back in the womb.
I intend to scan all manufactured foods for glutamate content in future. I always have avoided aspartate.
Ron

[lurkingforacure]

Dr. Blaylock is a neurosurgeon and his father died of PD. He is an expert on this subject. One of his books, "Exicitotoxicity" discusses MSG and aspartame at length, in fact, they form a huge part of the book. The BBB and MSG/aspartame relationship is all in there, including the documented fact that neurons in the brain die within two hours after MSG is ingested. Needless to say, we have combed our pantry and banned all MSG foods in our home (sadly, not much left in the pantry!), and no longer eat out hardly ever, and when we do, ask the restaurant if the foods we are considering have MSG in them. If you do this, you will be surprised what all you CANNOT have! On the flip side, you will eat better than you probably have in your life, and begin to feel better because your body is actually getting real food, not a bunch of unrecognizable chemicals made to taste good with MSG.

You have to read the labels on EVERYTHING. Our daughter's favorites, sour cream and onion pringles, and nacho chees doritos, both have MSG and we no longer allow her to eat these foods. Boo-hoo.

[reverett123]

Judging by this forum, I have an unusual situation with MSG and it has importance to all of us. Part of this importance comes from the fact that it first showed up three or four years ago and didn't exist prior, so it is reasonable to assume a place for it in the "PD progression."

The other reason for its importance is that the effect on me is about as subtle as being run over by a truck. And it is readily reproduceable.

When I take in MSG or its clones, within fifteen minutes I am in trouble and by thirty I am completely "off" and meds are totally ineffectual, even at triple doses! And there is absolutely nothing to do but wait out the four to six hours required for it to wear off.

I had assumed, for sensible reasons, that the MSG was working on the NMDA receptors and overstimulating them. But Ron's post makes me wonder. If the BBB fails, it could result in MSG in most any part of the brain. Combine that with its stimulatory nature plus its ability to interfere with normal neurotransmitters and you could have weird stuff happening.

Most large grocers carry pure MSG in their spices. If you are experiencing extreme symptoms you might "stress test" the possibility.

[Ronhutton]

The more you think about the ramifications of this, the more things fall into place. There has to be a reason for everything that happens to us. Take invidence figures. Why do incidence (prevalence) figures for PD worldwide range from 7 to 450? (See Mov Disord. 2008 June 25)
How can a poor African state like Tanzania with no healthcare have the lowest worldwide figures, whilst USA and Europe with such expensive healthcare have figures of over 200 per 100,000? It can only be diet.
It could explain why our symptoms differ between us. It could explain why we have good days and bad days. depending on how much of these artificial additives we consume.
It is rediculous that we have to take supplements like curcumin to help reduce BBB permeability, when the food we are sold contains substances to widen it.
Clearly we must have a higher sensitivity to MSG & aspartate, or everyone would develop PD
Ron

[annefrobert]

Dear Ron,


1.There has to be a reason for everything that happens to us.

Are you sure about that there is a reason, a rational evidence-based explanation for everything science would explain on its own, without any other type of approach, with its current lack of ethical values?


2.It can only be diet.

You’ll read some more details about the causes of the appearant low prevalence of PD in Tanzania in this article

Dotchin CL, Msuya O, Walker RW.
The challenge of Parkinson's disease management in Africa.
Age Ageing. 2007 Mar;36(2):122-


•.No healthcare, no study;
 “prevalence” data originated from an article published in 1963
 Currently one hospital in Moshi, 2 neurologists in Tanzania, both in ,8 hours drive from Moshi, for those with a car.
 Anyhow,most people go to the “medicine man”
• People over 65 represent less than 5% of local population
• 6.5% people having AIDS, Malaria is one of the big killer


http://www.fao.org/ag/agl/agll/carbo...opsenegal.pdf.

http://ci.nii.ac.jp/naid/110003710482/en/


• In Tanzania no or much less pesticide and herbicide,
and no Bovine Growth Hormone in Milk and no antibiotics in milk, because.........there is no milk.

• But the past decade, Mucuna pruriens is used as a cover plant to improve maize yields….and as in many poor countries where usually 30% of local peasants eat the Mucuna beans…….not to die with hunger.


3. Clearly we must have a higher sensitivity to MSG & aspartate, or everyone would develop PD.
That we may have a higher sensitivity to MSG & aspartate is possible,
but
 neither it has to be so
 nor any one may currently demonstrate it as only a cause –innate or acquired- or only a consequence.




The area of scientific knowledge has been enormously extended, and theoretical knowledge has become vastly more profound in every department of science.
But the assimilative power of the human intellect is and remains strictly limited.
Hence it was inevitable that the activity of the individual investigator should be confined to a smaller and smaller section of human knowledge. Worse still, this specialization makes it increasingly difficult to keep even our general understanding of science as a whole, without which the true spirit of research is inevitably handicapped, in step with scientific progress.
Every serious scientific worker is painfully conscious of this involuntary relegation to an ever-narrowing sphere of knowledge, which threatens to deprive the investigator of his broad horizon and degrades him to the level of a mechanic ...
It is just as important to make knowledge live and to keep it alive as to solve specific problems. (Albert Einstein, 1954)


Sorry, this post is quite a harsh criticism of yours,
but there is only good spirit in my words and positive contradiction
Hope you'll get it this way...........

Anne

[pacem]

Perhaps one of the reasons for the vast difference in Parakinson diagnosis between Africa and USA/Europe would be the record-keeping practices of the different countries. More record keeping = more Parkinsons - up to a point.

[Ronhutton]

Anne,
I agree that "it can only be diet" is probably too strong, just my way of expressing the point strongly. There may well be other reasons, but I believe diet is the most likely. All views are welcome, and I don't think your message is in any way harsh.
Regarding the comment, "There has to be a reason for everything that happens to us", I believe this is correct. Surely nothing happens without a reason, The tides move because of gravity pull from the moon. Alcohol in excess kills because it poisons the liver. I don't want to start an argument, but there is always a reason, even if the reason is unknown.
"Clearly we must have a higher sensitivity to MSG & aspartate, or everyone would develop PD." Again "must" is too emphatic, but this is surely again the most likely reason. You don't seem to be suggesting a different reason, but here again is another example of "there must be a reason..." LOL
Best wishes
Ron

[ZucchiniFlower]

Yes, MSG, the Secret Behind the Savor

" “It’s all the same thing: glutamate,” said Dr. Nirupa Chaudhari of the University of Miami, who was part of the first research team to identify human glutamate receptors.

In September Dr. Chaudhari will take part in the University of Tokyo’s centenary celebrations honoring Prof. Kikunae Ikeda’s 1908 discovery of glutamate flavor. The Japanese company Ajinomoto turned that discovery into crystalline powder form, MSG, and patented it in 1909.".........

"Since the 1970s, MSG has sidled back onto American supermarket shelves, under assumed names: hydrolyzed proteins, yeast extracts, protein concentrates and other additives that are not labeled as MSG but, according to nutritionists and the United States Department of Agriculture, are essentially the same thing: synthetically produced glutamates.

The whey protein concentrate and liquid aminos that many Americans buy at health food stores are also, essentially, pure glutamate, Dr. Chaudhari said.

According to U.S.D.A. guidelines, “labeling is required when MSG is added as a direct ingredient.” But other glutamates — the hydrolyzed proteins, the autolyzed yeasts and the protein concentrates, which the U.S.D.A. acknowledges are related to MSG — must be identified under their own names.

Alternatively, they may also be included under certain terms, like vegetable broth or chicken broth. Thus, these ingredients are now routinely found in products like canned tuna (vegetable broth is listed as an ingredient; it contains hydrolyzed soy protein), canned soup, low-fat yogurts and ice creams, chips and virtually everything ranch-flavored or cheese-flavored.

Thus, the richest source of umami remains your local convenience store. Grab a tube of Pringles or a bologna sandwich, and glutamic acid is most likely lurking there somewhere.

Nacho-cheese-flavor Doritos, which contain five separate forms of glutamate, may be even richer in umami than the finest kombu dashi (kelp stock) in Japan.

No wonder they taste so good. "

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/05/di...prod=permalink

[ZucchiniFlower]

Hidden Sources Of MSG

As discussed previously, the glutamate (MSG) manufacturers and the processed food industries are always on a quest to disguise the MSG added to food. Below is a partial list of the most common names for disguised MSG. Remember also that the powerful excitotoxins, aspartate and L-cystine, are frequently added to foods and according to FDA rules require NO LABELING AT ALL.


* Food Additives that ALWAYS contain MSG *

Monosodium Glutamate
Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein
Hydrolyzed Protein
Hydrolyzed Plant Protein
Plant Protein Extract
Sodium Caseinate
Calcium Caseinate
Yeast Extract
Textured Protein (Including TVP)
Autolyzed Yeast
Hydrolyzed Oat Flour
Corn Oil


* Food Additives That FREQUENTLY Contain MSG *

Malt Extract
Malt Flavoring
Bouillon
Broth
Stock
Flavoring
Natural Flavors/Flavoring
Natural Beef Or Chicken Flavoring
Seasoning
Spices

* Food Additives That MAY Contain MSG Or Excitotoxins *

Carrageenan
Enzymes
Soy Protein Concentrate
Soy Protein Isolate
Whey Protein Concentrate

Also: Protease Enzymes of various sources can release excitotoxin amino acids from food proteins.

http://www.rense.com/general35/hidd.htm

[reverett123]

....modern food processing robs flavor to extend shelflife. MSG is the solution since it supercharges the nervous system to increase sensitivity and the illusion of flavor.

You will not usually find it in foods such as hot pepper sauce. That would be too much.

You often find it, however, in foods that seem unusually salty. Boullion is a good example.

The more it was processed the greater the odds of MSG. And it is some evil stuff.