Pinoy home-cooked meals are no longer free from MSG

We generally don't use any MSG when cooking at home. Our family is very much aware that every time we eat out, we probably get a lot of MSG from the cooked food we buy. We do make a conscious effort to avoid using MSG, so we worry a little less about health risks associated with it.


I do find a little disturbing this current trend of openly promoting the use of MSG. In past months I hardly ever paid attention to the advertising, but now that I stop to think about it, I do recall that Ajinomoto has been aggressively promoting the umami-taste concept that glutamates deliver, Maggi has been encouraging consumers to sprinkle Magic Sarap on fried egg and rice, and Knorr has been trying to create the impression that its Real Sarap product brings a “real” goodness to food owing to some real herbs and spices in its mix. The first brand tries to persuade you with science, the second brand with an unapologetic approach that simply extends to the home what is already happening in tapsilogans everywhere, and the third brand pitching “real” deliciousness even though the primary source of such deliciousness is still the MSG (i.e., if you remove the MSG and left only the “real herbs and spices,” will the improvement in taste still be significant or marginal?). At least the first two do not have any pretensions of being something they're not.


With products like these, who needs skills in the kitchen, right?


Kidding aside, this home invasion of MSG is not a good thing. It's the lazy way to make your family like your cooking. It's too much of a shortcut in trying to make your kids eat more. It certainly won't make you a better cook, parent or spouse.

Monosodium glutamate or MSG is a flavor enhancer that has caused adverse reactions known as MSG symptom complex on some individuals who have some degree of sensitivity to its presence in food. Throbbing headaches, a burning sensation at the back of the neck, even chest pain have been reported to follow the ingestion of MSG-laden foods. Though many people don't show any adverse reactions of this sort, concern over any risks MSG may pose on health still prevails partly because large doses have indeed been found to destroy brain cells in developing mice – the very reason why MSG is kept out of foods for babies.


The home is the only place left where today's children could avoid MSG and be healthier for it. Learn to cook better for them if you really love them.

(By the way, remember that post I wrote about the list of product ingredients telling you that there is more of the first ingredient than the second, there is more of the second than the third, there's more of the third than the fourth, and so on? Well, both Maggi Magic Sarap and Knorr Real Sarap have MSG second only to salt on the list out of many ingredients. So whatever herbs and spices are supposedly in these mixes, there's less of them than there is MSG.)

In case you didn't know, Best Foods Mayo Magic contains aspartame

If you have phenylketonuria, steer clear of Best Foods Mayo Magic. It contains aspartame, an artificial sweetener that is used instead of sugar because it has 200 times the sweetness of sugar.

Side effects from the use of aspartame have been clinically proven to occur even on those who do not have phenylketonuria, such as an increase in frequency and severity of headaches, and exacerbated depression in those who have it. Up to a hundred different symptoms of adverse reactions following aspartame consumption have been reported, and there have been studies that found aspartame use associated with increased cancer risk. There are also studies that did not find a link between aspartame use and cancer, so to this day it is hotly debated, but the risks cannot be ignored or dismissed. Aspartame is commonly used in “diet” beverages and sugar-free drinks as well.

Avoidance of aspartame entirely should give you peace-of-mind.

For more information on aspartame and health issues associated with this artificial sweetener, visit the following web pages:

http://www.medicinenet.com/artificial_sweeteners/page8.htm#aspartamecon

http://www.toddjumper.com/blog/2008/10/dangers-of-aspartame-research-paper.html

http://www.naturalnews.com/011804_aspartame_NutraSweet.html

New Pepsodent TV Ad Sneaky and Misleading

Have you seen the latest Pepsodent television commercial? It's the one that says Pepsodent is better than other toothpastes because it has more calcium. Next time you have the chance, take a good look at it and you'll notice a few odd things:

(1) They used computer graphics to show two pearls with cracks. One pearl retains its cracks, the other has its cracks filled up in a way similar to how grouting is done to fill gaps between tiles.

(2) You hear the ad mention more calcium at the same time you see the cracks filled on one pearl.

(3) Look at the pearl that stays cracked at that moment calcium is being mentioned while the other pearl's cracks get filled. There's a small caption saying that the pearl that keeps cracked shows what happens with toothpaste WITHOUT FLOURIDE.

See the problem?

While it was saying that Pepsodent is better because it has more calcium, it was using visual cues that refer to the benefit of FLUORIDE, not calcium. The visual was making this comparison: NO FLUORIDE versus WITH FLUORIDE, not LESS/NO CALCIUM (other toothpastes, supposedly) versus MORE CALCIUM (Pepsodent), yet the audio at that exact moment the cracks was pitching Pepsodent's greater calcium content.

Like a high tech sleight of hand, that was just misleading and plain dishonest on Pepsodent's part.

Plus, we already know that ALL of Pepsodent's real competitors DO HAVE FLUORIDE. Where's Pepsodent's edge now, honestly?

Meat Is Murder

When I was a kid barely out of elementary, I had the unfortunate experience of witnessing the actual slaughter of a pig. It was a violent sight and really quite messy.

I wasn't able to eat meat for at least a month after that.

Just a couple of weeks ago, my doctor advised me to cut down on my meat consumption and to have more vegetables in my diet. I think I just might follow her advise especially after seeing the following.

Annotated by Sir Paul McCartney, who happens to be vegetarian, the following video provides a peak into the brutality that goes on in slaughterhouses.

WARNING!
The video you are about to see can be quite disturbing. Viewer discretion is advised. 


Find out more at Meat.org.

Lady's Choice brand recycles another mayonnaise brand's slogan

For a number of years we've become accustomed to the following taglines from leading mayonnaise brand Lady's Choice:

• It's time for real.
• I choose real.

Sounds like a Lady's Choice-led revolution, a step away from the usual, something to stand up for and believe in, right? Then what's this?

Hellmann's Mayonnaise is Unilever's substitute brand name for Best Foods in other countries, and we find here that it uses the same slogan. There is no revolution, no movement, no paradigm shift. Other than milking the slogan, I don't know what to call it. (I don't see this as any different from the false revolution another big company is trying to enjoin mothers with, saying that kids these days don't get enough fruits and veggies based on the food pyramid. So what do they do? They tell moms to buy their milk brand. Huh?!)

Is it really about eating healthy, "real" food? Last time I checked, mayonnaise is used on hotdogs and other types of sausage, and even coldcuts from odd parts of the animal that people wouldn't eat any other way. Mayonnaise is used as dip for french fries, hashbrown, anything deep fried. It even fattens up an otherwise healthy salad. Nothing "real" there except the struggle between Unilever and Kraft to try and OWN the word "real" in the mind of consumers when they think of dips and dressings.

When consumers complain, companies should listen -- well.

While looking for additional information on underarm deodorants and antiperspirants, I stumbled upon an interesting comment thread.

It's about a specific variant of Dove deodorant formulated for people with sensitive skin, which as some users noticed seem to have been reformulated much to their "irritation".

What got my attention here is the story about how the product manufacturer, Unilever, responded to a user's complaint.

Here's the story from The Consumerist.

It's worth noting that most of the commenters on that thread we're really pissed about having a difficult time finding a deodorant that doesn't irritate the skin.
I think deodorant makers should seriously consider phasing out their antiperspirants in favor of milder deodorants.

Laines
August 11, 2010 9:52 AM
Moderate |Flag for review

I'm pissed about the changes in this product, also. It was the only one I had found that didn't leave my kid looking like a burn victim under her arms. We'll be searching for a new deodorant that doesn't have all the additives and perfumes.

If you happen to be an antiperspirant user, do consider switching to milder deodorants. Those antiperspirants are bad for you. Love your underarms. Don't kill your kili-kili.

BIR Plans To Steamroll Vat on Toll Without Regard For Consequences

BIR plans to immediately steamroll toll tax without regard for consequences.

I came across a news article today saying that Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares of the Bureau of Internal Revenue insists on pushing through with slapping the EVAT on toll fees beginning August 16, 2010. Chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means Senator Ralph Recto on the other hand spoke against the planned toll taxation saying that besides deviating from newly elected president Mr. Noynoy Aquino's campaign promise of not imposing new taxes, taxing toll is impractical, so much so that it was not covered by the EVAT Law, hence there has never been a tax on toll up to this point.

Senator Juan Ponce Enrile who is himself an expert in tax law, takes the same stand as Recto, saying that imposing tax on toll, which is different from taxing common carriers on air and sea, has no legal basis. I am glad to see Recto and Enrile call on BIR to make a more thorough evaluation of its plan to tax highway toll rather than steamrolling its haphazard implementation by the beginning of the coming week.
Recall that the operator of the South Luzon Expressway had already announced its plan to hike its non-EVAT toll rates by 250 per cent on the same day the BIR wants to see the toll tax implemented, which means road users will be paying three and a half times what they used to pay for toll, PLUS the proportionate EVAT applied to before the tax rate is applied. This will raise the logistical costs required to transport any and all products that have to traverse the SLEX, which in turn will effect a spike in the net prices that end-consumers will have to bear.

What worries me is how the BIR, clearly “under new management,” takes noticeably Machiavellian approaches to fulfill its role as tax collector. At first it thoughtlessly floated the idea of taxing micro-vendors – pedicabs, tricycles, street vendors – clearly without a critical eye on the largest tax evaders and looking at the exact opposite direction. Now the bureau wants to go full speed ahead on this toll tax without considering how its amassing of extra funds will succeed by subjecting the Filipino people to hiked prices on food, necessities, everything. The wealthy won't feel it much as usual, but the poor will see more people join their plight in hunger. If only the per capita income of this country can jump that high that fast as well. If only.

Way to go, BIR and the second Aquino administration! Way to go.

Woe is the Pinoy consumer.