Does anyone else get these? I've found that any free-glutamate food causes me to twitch (in moderate doses) and fatigue (in high doses)

The worst offender so far was a packet of chips (yeast), and a very MSG-laden Italian restaurant meal.

I realize that the mayo-MSG myth is half based off racism, but I think there's a kernel of truth, which is that too much free-glutamate just causes cellular excitation. Meaning the cell is expending energy faster than it can create it.

  • crime [she/her, any]
    ·
    2 years ago

    What do you propose the mechanism for this excitation is? Have you done any double-blind experiments on this? What quantity of glutamate causes twitching?

    • sooper_dooper_roofer [none/use name]
      hexagon
      ·
      2 years ago

      IDK what the mechanism is but it's common knowledge in medical literature that glutamates are "excitatory". While certain other agents (zinc, magnesium, among others) are "inhibitory".

      I don't know what the quantity of glutamate actually is bc that's not on the nutrition label. But in order of decreasing intensity, for a "sensible, moderate" dose:

      Torula yeast containing chips > soy sauce > baby oyster mushrooms (adults are fine) > really chunky (aka concentrated) tomato sauce

      I've never used MSG, only eaten it in restaurants, so idk what the dose is. But obviously it's the easiest to get wrong because of the high concentration, and the worst case I had was at an Italian restaurant

      • TerminalEncounter [she/her]
        ·
        edit-2
        2 years ago

        Im pretty sure glutamate is metabolized first pass, like biologically it's unlikely to be causing cns excitation just from eating it unless you're eating like a SHITLOAD of glutamate or have some kind of sensitivity. I think I've mightve heard about glutamate metabolites being associated with alzheimers - I dunno, I'd have to check. I wonder if your reacting to something else in common with those foods.

        You should probably talk to a doctor about that stuff you shouldnt be getting tremors or fatigue out of nowhere especially if youre younger than 45.