Dr. Russell Blaylock reveals secrets of MSG toxicity (excitotoxins)

J. D. Heyes
Natural News
March 14, 2012

(NaturalNews) Health Ranger Mike Adams sat down recently with Dr. Russell Blaylock, noted neurosurgeon, author and foremost authority on excitoxins such as MSG and aspartame, to discuss the dangers of these substances for NaturalNews TV.

In the interview, Blaylock talks about monosodium glutamate (MSG), aspartame and other dangerous excitotoxins that can cause neurological diseases, as well as the importance of good nutrition and its effect on the brain and recovery from brain injuries. Also, Adams and Blaylock talked about just what “MSG Syndrome” really is, how toxic MSG can be and what the substance does to the brain and brain function, especially in young children.

Blaylock talked about how MSG has become a major contributor to the obesity epidemic in America and American children, and how food companies hide dangerous food additives under many different names.

How does nutrition play a role?

The neurosurgeon said he became interested in the nutrition aspect of neurological disorders during his residency.

“I wanted to know what caused all of these neurological diseases,” he said. “That naturally led to looking into what produced these problems.”

As he researched the subject, Blaylock said he eventually came across a book by author George Schwartz titled In Bad Taste: The MSG Symptom Complex, which laid out the dangers of MSG and how prevalent it was in processed foods.

“I started researching what [MSG] did to the brain and I was absolutely astounded by what I found,” Blaylock told Adams, discoveries which led him to write his own book on the subject in 1994.

A d v e r t i s e m e n t

MSG is a form of concentrated salt added to foods to enhance the flavor. It’s dangerous because, as Schwartz found, it can cause migraine headaches and balance difficulties, precipitate severe shortness of breath, asthma attacks and heart irregularities, cause disabling arthritis, and even serious depressions, not to mention behavioral problems in children.

“What we’ve discovered is, this is a very toxic substance, particularly to the developing brain,” Blaylock said. At particular risk is the developing fetus.

“The amount in the food has doubled every decade” since it was first used in the 1940s, he said. “Of all the life forms on earth, humans are the most sensitive to MSG.”

‘Silent damage’ to the brain

Blaylock said MSG was first used in military rations to give them better taste, but soon after the substance was adopted by the entire food industry, to include baby food.

He said the first evidence that the additive was harmful was the development among some of the “MSG syndrome,” in which people affected “would have flushing of their face, heart palpitations, sometimes pain going down their arms and episodes of GI discomfort and diarrhea.”

“Those were the obvious symptoms,” he continued. “What was discovered after that … is that there was silent damage to the brain in which there were few symptoms. But over time, we saw destruction of major portions of the brain – things that could cause Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s” and other brain ailments.

And he said that, while it wasn’t possible to see that kind of damage with the naked eye, the evidence of damage shows up under the microscope.

Keeping it secret

Adams said it was difficult to believe that the food industry has been able to successfully lobby the federal government and its health agencies to keep the dangers of MSG and other additives out of the public eye.

Blaylock said the food industry has a tendency to simply rename the substances in order to keep the public guessing, but rest assured, he says, these ingredients are in “just about every processed food.”

Watch the entire video here.

Sources for this article include:

http://tv.naturalnews.com/v.asp?v=8C501468CA914ABEE2D9395667D5F200

http://www.naturalnews.com/034272_MSG_monosodium_glutamate.html

http://www.amazon.com