Using MSG increases the risk of obesity

People who use monosodium glutamate, or MSG, as a flavour enhancer in their food are more likely than people who don't use it to be overweight or obese even though they have the same amount of physical activity and total calorie intake, according to a University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill School of Public Health study published this month in the journal Obesity.

Researchers at UNC and in China studied more than 750 Chinese men and women, aged between 40 and 59, in 3 rural villages in north and south China. The majority of study participants prepared their meals at home without commercially processed foods. About 82% of the participants used MSG in their food. Those users were divided into 3 groups, based on the amount of MSG they used. The group that used the most MSG was nearly 3 times more likely to be overweight than non-users.

"We found that prevalence of overweight was significantly higher in MSG users than in non-users," said Ka He, MD, UNC School of Public Health, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. "We saw this risk even when we controlled for physical activity, total calorie intake, and other possible explanations for the difference in body mass."