Anyone prone to migraine should also studiously avoid exposure to MSG, monosodium glutamate. This popular flavor enhancer can also provoke a headache in people not prone to migraine. It is liberally used by cooks in Chinese restaurants. If you must eat in these restaurants, try to avoid beginning the meal with wonton soup, a small bowl of which typically contains 2.5 grams of MSG. Endeavor instead to eat some bread first, or any other food free of MSG, so that you do not consume the MSG-laden course on an empty stomach. Another food that may be high in MSG is hydrolized vegetable protein. Many Chinese restaurants will now serve food without MSG if you ask; it’s a good idea to do so.
An MSG headache is actually caused by free glutamic acid which stimulates taste receptors on the tongue. The headache begins 20 to 30 minutes after eating MSG and is experienced as an ache or throbbing pain over the temples, in the forehead area, and also in the cheeks and jaw. It is sometimes accompanied by a burning sensation in the chest and upper torso. In non-migraineurs, it usually disappears within an hour.
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