It’s cheap, tasty, and filling, but it can make you fat, be addictive and even be deadly. I’m talking about monosodium glutamate, commonly known as MSG, an ingredient in many packaged and fast foods. Food manufacturers use MSG because it’s a cheap way to flavor foods, but they don’t consider your health risks, but you should.

MSG “is an excitotoxin, a substance that overexcites neurons to the point of cell damage and, eventually, cell death” (The Link between Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) and Obesity). When MSG enters the brain it “creates a lesion in the hypothalamus that correlates with abnormal development, including obesity, short stature and sexual reproduction problems” (The Link between Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) and Obesity). Other reported health problems from MSG include headaches, including migraines, ADD, joint and bone pains, sleep disorders and heart irregularities.

So, you see, you should not take ingesting MSG lightly. You just may be suffering from migraines or other chronic issues because of MSG. Avoid fast food and junk food, and read labels. Just because a product says “No MSG” doesn’t mean it doesn’t contain MSG. Yes, that’s possible because the additive has different names, including yeast extract, autolyzed proteins and hydrolyzed vegetable proteins. Make sure when you read labels that you check for these names along with MSG and monosodium glutamate. Read here for a more comprehensive list of MSG names.

If MSG is so bad for us, why hasn’t it been regulated? I’ll let the conspiracy pundits answer that in detail, but let me say this: Systems, be they economic or political, often only care about their financial bottom line not the bottom line of your health. No one is going to care for your health the way you should. As Christians, it’s our responsibility to be a good steward over our body, the temple of the Holy Spirit. We need to seek optimum health so we can do the optimum work of building God’s kingdom. Watching what we eat always helps us to do that.