Philosophical Vegan Forum

I don't know if this is the right place to talk about that since it can affect both vegan and meat eater so it's more of an health question.

So when I eat something that contain monosodium glutamate I feel like I want to eat more and those food feel like they are addictive, even if they don't even taste that good. While when I eat food without this even if it's good I don't get addicted to it. Is this ingredient bad? Or does it really makes you want to eat more sometimes even at the point of overeating?

I have heard many conflicting ideas about monosodium glutamate. Maybe the jury is still out on it. It does seem to be associated with obesity though. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21471280
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3785512?dopt=Abstract&holding=npg

Cloppy wrote: ↑Sun Apr 23, 2017 2:35 pm So when I eat something that contain monosodium glutamate I feel like I want to eat more and those food feel like they are addictive, even if they don't even taste that good.

That's an interesting thought. It probably affects different people differently. It could be related to some kind of eating addiction, I think I know the feeling you're talking about.
Health-wise there aren't really any problems with it, beyond it being salty (salt is OK as long as you don't get too much), but if you feel like it makes you overeat food that isn't good (that has poor nutrition and doesn't even taste good), then maybe it's a good idea to avoid.
On the other hand, if sprinkling MSG on vegetables can help you eat more of them, maybe you can use those evil powers for good.

I have never really researched this in any detail and I don't have anything to add from scientific studies but I suspect it is associated with eating too much junk/processed food and not enough whole plant foods. I agree it's addictive and could make people over eat so might be worth avoiding/minimizing if you are overweight. I've no idea whether MSG itself is directly bad for you itself.

I don't see any problem as long as one puts it on top of healthful foods.