Monosodium glutamate (MSG) contributes to illness in two distinct ways: 1) It makes food that is bad for us taste really, really, really good, in essence compromising our health by tricking our taste buds and intuition into eating things that are intrinsically harmful, or harmful when eaten excessively. 2) It is a toxic chemical that directly damages neurological tissue, as well as inducing a generalized endocrine disruption throughout the body known as "metabolic syndrome," the symptoms of which include hypertension, insulin resistance, elevated blood lipids and/or elevated blood sugar.

So, What is Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)?

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is a commonly used "flavor enhancer," and so powerful that (arguably) you could spray it on roadkill and it would taste good. This omnipresent ingredient in modern mass market food takes advantage of our biologically hard-wired taste receptors, and makes it very hard to stop eating the foods "seasoned" with this ingredient. In fact, it is doubtful that without the MSG trick many of these mass market processed foods would be palatable enough to maintain their status as economically viable commodities.

Common "Tricky" MSG Synonyms

Technically MSG is the sodium salt of glutamic acid, a naturally occurring non-essential amino acid. Glutamic rich foods include wheat, dairy, corn, soy, seafood, etc. (Foods Highest In Glutamic Acid). The "YUMMY!" sensation that occurs immediately after ingesting a MSG (or various synonyms, e.g. hydrolyzed protein, autolyzed yeast) laced morsel the Japanese call umami (meaning: savoriness) and is considered one of five basic tastes. The problem is that when one isolates out of a complex food a singular amino acid, and increase the concentration to unnatural proportions (and without the hundreds of checks and balances Nature provides in the context of a whole food), glutamic acid can have devastating health effects, not the least of which is the generation of an insatiable appetite for more of the very same chemical stimulating the craving -- a vicious, self-amplifying cycle!

A new medical study from the Detroit Medical Center is recommending a remedy to staunch nosebleeds called "nasal packing with strips of cured pork". Yes, it is exactly what it sounds like, using salt pork in the nose, reports Marc Abrahams for The Guardian.

The unusual remedy, published in the Annals of Otology, Rhinology and Laryngology by Ian Humphreys, Sonal Saraiya, Walter Belenky and James Dworkin, details the treatment of a girl suffering from a rare hereditary disorder that brings prolonged bleeding.

"Cured salted pork crafted as a nasal tampon and packed within the nasal vaults successfully stopped nasal hemorrhage promptly, effectively, and without sequelae ... To our knowledge, this represents the first description of nasal packing with strips of cured pork for treatment of life-threatening hemorrhage in a patient with Glanzmann thrombasthenia."

This treatment, the Huffington Post is reporting, may sound like some joke making the rounds of the internet but it has a long history of use and was long considered a folk remedy, with medical professionals only intermittently recommending it.

A recent study conducted by a German university found very high concentrations of glyphosate, a carcinogenic chemical found in herbicides like Monsanto's Roundup, in all urine samples tested.

The amount of glyphosate found in the urine was staggering, with each sample containing concentrations at 5- to 20-fold the limit established for drinking water.

This is just one more piece of evidence that herbicides are, at the very least, being sprayed out of control.

Glyphosate in Monsanto's Roundup Impacting Global Health

This news comes only one month after it was found that glyphosate, contained in Monsanto's Roundup, is contaminating the groundwater in the areas in which it is used. What does this mean?

A mysterious disease has broken out at Matuku Basic School in Mkushi District of Central Province leaving 13 girls mentally unstable.

ZNBC 'S Lilian Kalaba Reports that Both Mkushi District Commissioner Jackson Mutale and the District Education Board Secretary Mwenya Mwamba confirmed the development.

Mr Mwamba said learning at the institution has been disturbed by the disease which has affected some girls in grades seven, eight and nine.

And Mr Mutale said the affected girls go in a trance and exhibit signs of being possed by evil spirits.

The cause of a mysterious condition that haunts its sufferers with sensations of crawling bugs and fibrous material embedded in the skin may be one step closer to being found, a new study suggests.

The condition, commonly referred to as Morgellons, does not appear to be contagious, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"This alleviates concerns about the condition being contagious between family members and others," said Mark Eberhard, Director of CDC's Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria.

People with Morgellons report having symptoms manifesting on their skin. These include non-healing skin lesions, the emergence of fibers or solid material from the skin, and disturbing sensations, such as crawling, stinging or biting. Some patients report fatigue, memory loss and a substantial decline in quality of life, according to the study.

A boy from the Guangxi autonomous region of China has been discovered to have the ability to see clearly in the dark.

Spending on cholesterol-lowering drugs like statins increased by $160 million in 2010, for a total spending of nearly $19 billion in the U.S., the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics reported in their Use of Medicines in the United States: Review of 2010.

In all, more than 255 million prescriptions were dispensed for these drugs in 2010, making them the most commonly prescribed type of medication in the United States.

Unfortunately, this excessive use is an artifact of a medical system that regards prescribing pills to lower cholesterol as a valid way to protect one's heart health -- even though the low "target" cholesterol levels have not been proven to be healthy ... and cholesterol is actually NOT the underlying culprit in heart disease.

Worse still, these drugs, which are clearly not necessary for the vast majority of people who take them, are proven to cause serious and significant side effects, including, as new research shows, definite nerve damage.

As a barrister, I seek justice for people and defend their rights. As a vegetarian, I like to think that I take a stand against injustice for those who happen not to have been born human and so are confined and killed for their flesh.

World Week for the Abolition of Meat - from 23 to 29 January - is a week when we are asked to reflect on that suffering and try switching to vegetarian meals. Nothing could be more appropriate at a time of political, economic and environmental meltdown. Like it or not our values and priorities must be reappraised lest our planet becomes utterly enveloped by the market forces of greed and avarice under the guise of growth and progress.

With today's manufacturing there are many chemicals and toxins that are both purposefully added to products, as well as those unintentionally added.

Mercury is one of those unintended additions to many of the products people consume and topically apply every day. In order to avoid exposure to this heavy metal, and in turn avoid the risk of any heavy metal toxicity, you need to know where the metal resides in order to avoid it.

Mercury Highly Present in Many Foods and Consumer Products

One of the most significant places you may find mercury is in processed foods.

In 2009, a study found that almost half of commercial high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) contained mercury - a carcinogenic chemical element that is toxic in all its forms to the human body.

A drug used to keep pigs lean and boost their growth is jeopardizing the nation's exports of what once was known as "the other white meat."

The drug, ractopamine hydrochloride, is fed to pigs and other animals right up until slaughter and minute traces have been found in meat. The European Union, China, Taiwan and many others have banned its use, citing concerns about its effect on human health, limiting U.S. meat exports to key markets.

Although few Americans outside of the livestock industry have ever heard of ractopamine, the feed additive is controversial. Fed to an estimated 60 to 80 percent of pigs in the United States, it has sickened or killed more of them than any other livestock drug on the market, an investigation of Food and Drug Administration records shows. Cattle and turkeys have also suffered high numbers of illnesses from the drug.

Growing concern over sick animals in the nation's food supply sparked a California law banning the sale and slaughter of livestock unable to walk, but that law was struck down by the Supreme Court Monday. Meat producers had sued to overturn California's ban, arguing that the state could not supercede federal rules on meat production. The court agreed.