United States FDA Assesses MSG As Safe As A Salt Substitute

Illustrations MSG (Panida Wijitpanya / Unsplash)

JAKARTA - One of the disease risks caused by consuming excess salt is hypertension. Hypertension is a condition when human blood pressure is above normal, which is 130/80 mmHg or more.

High blood pressure can also invite other complications, ranging from heart problems, kidney problems, to strokes. The only solution to prevent hypertension is to reduce daily salt intake, from 1 teaspoon per day to just half a teaspoon.

Citing the detikfood page, Friday, March 5, Prof. Dr. Ir. Ahmad Sulaeman, MS, C.Ht, Professor of Food Safety & Nutrition at the Faculty of Human Ecology (FEMA) IPB, explained that reducing salt consumption every day is one way to reduce the risk of high blood pressure.

"Reducing salt intake or a low-salt diet is an essential and easy enough effort to reduce the risk of hypertension", said Prof. Sulaeman.

It's definitely not easy to do this. The reason is, salt is a spice that enhances the taste of food. Without the added salt, the dish just tastes bland. To get around this, Prof. Sulaeman gave a solution to replace salt with MSG (Mononatrium glutamate).

As is well known, the use of MSG has become the pros and cons of the community. Reporting from the National Geographic page, this controversy began to lift in the 1960s, when several people began complaining of headaches, nausea, numbness radiating from the back of the neck to the entire arms and back, chest tightness, heavy sweating, palpitations, and body weakness after eating MSG foods.

However, after further investigation, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or the United States Food and Drug Administration (BPOM) has declared MSG a "safe for general use" food with the official GRAS label. This FDA decision was also approved by the World Health Organization (WHO), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), as well as the Indonesian Ministry of Health.

The sodium content in MSG is also much lower than table salt. So, it can be concluded that MSG can reduce the risk of hypertension. Also, the breakdown of MSG in the body is faster than trans fats. So that it does not also cause weight gain or decrease in brain function.

Although classified as safe, MSG still must be limited in use. One study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition states that the wider community must be aware of the health side effects that may occur due to the use of MSG and to wisely manage the portions.