Just like Kombu, Chicken contains natural glutamates. Nobody thinks Chicken is mislabeled because they don’t call it MSG. And celery contains sodium, but nobody thinks it’s mislabeled if they don’t call it salt.

The arsenic analogy is spurious. It’s not a question of organic vs inorganic, but rather naturally occurring food components vs synthetically produced additives. [For what it’s worth, inorganic arsenic *is* significantly more toxic than organic arsenic compounds (some of which are even considered non-toxic), but that’s a non sequitur to the discussion of stereoisomers.]

Natural glutamates are all the L form, such as L-glutamic acid. And yes, these react the same in the body, whether from a synthetic or natural source. This is the form which the body needs – and will manufacture as needed – if we don’t get sufficient quantities from the food we eat.

Synthetic glutamates, on the other hand, also contain the D form, such as D-glutamic acid, as well as other by-products of production, which the natural sources don’t. It is the D form, and many of the other by-products, which are toxic. Therein lies the difference between natural and synthetic glutamates, and why the synthetic is bad, whereas the natural isn’t.

Of course, as with any natural compound, it’s possible to get too much of a good thing. That’s a different argument, though. Even natural vitamins can be toxic in too large a dose. But that is rarely possible eating only foods in the raw state. It’s when we start creating extracts and use them as food additives that we generally run into problems. So a hypothetical shaker full of pure L-glutamic acid, while perhaps not as toxic as a shaker full of MSG, has the potential to be bad (due to its unnatural concentration). But adding a little seaweed to a can of beans isn’t likely to produce detrimental effects.

Sorry, it makes no difference if it’s “Natural” or “Synthetic” glutamate, it reacts the same. This is the same as saying Organic Arsenic is okay but Synthetic Arsenic is bad, it’s still going to damage your organs. I’ve never said that we should avoid all glutamates, this would be impossible and very unhealthy. The body needs glutamates to function correctly, However! An excess of glutamate such as MSG liberally added to our food supply in most grocery store items on the shelf is not healthy! Glutamates and amino acids are naturally bound by a peptide link, and the body can break these down slowly and naturally, when the link is broken as in MSG free form glutamate it is like a bum rush of glutamate that surges through the system, passing the blood-brain barrier and attacking all of the glutamate receptors throughout the body. Nobody has ever said we need to eat a glutamate-free diet. Please read through the site more to understand what we are saying rather than setting up a strawman argument against me that I’ve never said.

-Mike

Beyond that, it would be virtually impossible to avoid all naturally occurring glutamates, as they occur in so many foods. A glutamate-free diet would be a nutritionally deficient diet, because too many foods would be prohibited.

“Kombu has been used for centuries in asian cooking to add flavor to their cooking, however, just because it has been used for a long time throughout history doesn’t make it healthy. If this were true we could continue painting our houses with lead-based paint and eat the nutritious paint chips that flake off. Of course, we’ve learned over the years that lead-based paint is not a very good choice for the general publics health.”

Also on page 220 of Excitotoxins he writes “Kombu, miso, and soy sauce all contain MSG.” Also on page 33 he starts the chapter by saying the discovery of “glutamate” as we know it was found in Kombu or sea tangle.

And finally, in the preface of his book:
“For thousands of years Japanese cooks have added a special ingredient to their recipes to magnify the desired taste of foods. This ingredient was made from an ingredient known as “sea tangle” or kombu. Yet it was only in this century that the active chemical in this “taste enhancing” ingredient was isolated. Most of you will immediately recognize the chemical which has this almost magical property – it’s called monosodium glutamate or MSG.”

I can understand the thought process behind thinking that MSG (bad glutamate) can only come from “processed” foods, but it actually originated from a seaweed, the one that started it all. So yes, Kombu does contain MSG. You do understand that MSG in it’s most technical sense is glutamate with a salt added right? So when the doctor says that Kombu is MSG, he’s correct, minus the salt which is not the bad guy in this situation. Its’ the glutamate. I would recommend you read some of Dr. Blaylock’s books. They are all on Amazon and you can even search the book for key terms, like Kombu! Good luck.

-Mike