MSG Induces Pain , is it true?

MSG (Monosodium Glutamate) commonly known as "Vetsin" is used widely among Indonesian people, and may also all over the country, it is used commonly in cooking, to add a good taste in food, especially various Chinese food, so that we often hear about Chinese restaurant syndrome, where we can find people having headache, flashing, sweating, numbness or burning around the mouth, sense of facial pressure or swelling, rapid heart rate, even decreased air entry into the lungs. Some media even called it the poison in the pantry. There is finding lately that MSG can induce pain.

There is evidence that elevated tissue concentrations of glutamate may contribute to pain and sensitivity in certain musculoskeletal pain conditions. In the present study, the food additive monosodium glutamate (MSG) was injected intravenously into rats to determine whether it could significantly elevate interstitial concentrations of glutamate in the masseter muscle and whether MSG administration could excite and/or sensitize slowly conducting masseter afferent fibers through N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor activation.

The present results indicate that a 2- to 3-fold elevation in interstitial glutamate levels in the masseter muscle is sufficient to excite and induce afferent mechanical sensitization through NMDA receptor activation. These findings suggest that modest elevations of interstitial glutamate concentration could alter musculoskeletal pain sensitivity in human.

So if you experience unexplainable reason of muscle pain, remember what have you eat lately, is it contain MSG?

Related Article and Resources:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001126.htm
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0876/is_n49/ai_7648519
Picture Source
http://www.naturalcondition.com/2008/03/08/monosodium-glutamate-yumami/