MSG (mono sodium glutamate) and Aspartame are at the top of the list of excitotoxins. What can we do? Stop using Aspartame, all artificial sweeteners, stop eating foods with MSG. Bottom line: we must simply stop consuming these substances.

Why? Let's take a look. Neurons exposed to an excitotoxin, such as glutamate, aspartic acid and cysteine, become over excited, firing very rapidly, and then die. Excitotoxins, like MSG and aspartame are amino acid types. Aspartame (Nutra-Sweet, Equal) is made up of two amino acids. Amino acids, of course, do occur quite naturally in real foods. This is why food labeling is permitted to state "natural" flavorings. MSG posing as harmless ingredients: plant protein extract, sodium casienate, calcium casienate, textured protein, hydrolysed oat flour, hydrolysed protein anything. These statements on the label are substitutes for what is MSG: natural beef or chicken flavoring, natural flavoring, seasoning, spices. These ingredients may contain MSG or excitotoxins: carageenan, soy protein concentrate, soy protein isolate, whey protein concentrate, protease enzymes.

Yes, there is glutamic acid in, say, a tomato. The tomato has naturally occuring amino acids, that our bodies need. They are bound up within natural substance compounds, the way they were created. These are decomposed and absorbed slowly in the gut. Amino acids can be isolated from their naturally existant states, complex protein chains.

Technological engineering developed by man can now artificially separate these more complex protein chain components from each other before our bodies do as part of our natural digestive process. Then when "stablized" by other added chemical manipulation procedures, they become more independent free-form amino acids. The same thing happens when any particular "drug" or single supplement is manufactured. The ingredients in some growing life form, say an herb, are studied, and then the independent chemical compound that is deemed the "active substance" in demonstrating the properites desired are chemically identified, separated, extracted, and synthesized with other chemicals for stability and market processing, then patented. The practice of splitting protein into its smaller component parts in labs, then synthesizing them into marketable form removes all the original natural "buffering" and complex chemical compounds that were needed for your body to recognize and utilize and move them most efficiently to where they are needed for use in own biological chemical reactions. Our bodies were created for and biologically dependent on recognizing the real natural food chemistry.

Now, the body has many glutamic receptors, from top to bottom, in the brain, outside the brain, in the electro-cardial system, all through the body. When glutamate is sent into the system in its free form, as in MSG, it is accepted into these receptors as an apparent fast "match" and greatly multiplies the glutamic acid levels in the blood. That is why the results of MSG are so varied, from severe migraines, to irritable bowl, to sudden heart death. Every body is a unique system of chemical reactions all interrelated and dependent on one another.

Glutamate can open the blood brain barrier. It has been demonstrated that people diagnosed with MS, Alzheimers, heat stroke, or some auto-immune diseases have compromised blood brain barriers. Excitotoxins such as a glutamate (stabilized and made marketable as now monosodium glutamate) or aspartame make their neurological conditions worse. Also, recent research has indicated that excitotoxins are found to dramatically increase cancer growth and then metastasis to other organ sites.

Aspartame breaks down into formaldehyde. Studies showed a rise in leukemia, lymphoma, lymphomas of the brain, organ and brain tumors when aspartame is administered. The breakdown of aspartame into formaldehyde becomes a primary carcinogen which binds with protein (DNA/RNA are the top essential proteins that control everything else in the body in each cell) and breaks these longer chains. Drinking diet beverages causes cummulative damage, then once a cancer (conglomerate mal-functioning body cells) forms, it increases rapidly. These substances are acidifying, changing/lowering the pH of the environment that any reaction requires to be completed correctly, on time. Every reaction must take place in the correct pH or it doesn't complete or proceed the way it was meant to.

The additive MSG has caused test animals to become grossly obese, have metabolic syndrome, appetite imbalance, noted carbohydrate preference to protein eating habits. Aspartame also promotes obesity, yet the American Diabetic Association supports it.

MSG was banned from baby food, but it is still there, existant in other synthesized forms; "casienate," "hydrolysed protein," "soy extracts." If MSG is not stated on other foods it shows up as "autolysed yeast protein," and "hydrolysed vegetable protein." Processing whey proteins produces MSG. Pre-made restaurant foods are loaded with MSG.

Soy plants have some of the highest levels of glutamic acid. Hydrolizing the soy frees up the glutamic acid. In a 25-year study of people who ingested the most soy had the greatest incidence of dementia and brain atrophy. Perhaps the most troubling is the popularity of infant soy formulas. Besides the MSG, soy mimics the female hormone, estrogen. The implications of the damage from excitotoxins and high estrogen levels in soy products in the bodies of growing children and infants have already caused grave concern. Men and especially boys are cautioned to avoid it as much as possible; completely is best. This topic has been a point of contention.

Children are more at risk, since they are more susceptible to excitoxcicity. Babies are damaged by one fourth the dose that it takes to damage an adult. It is suggested that light damage can show up as dyslexia, and sudden outbursts of anger. More severe damage is theorized to result in exacerbating autism, schizophrenia, seizures and cerebral palsy. Continuing exposure to these excitotoxins damage the hypothalmus, causing hormonal system malfunction later in life.

Again, MSG posing as harmless ingredients: plant protein extract, sodium casienate, calcium casienate, textured protein, hydrolysed oat flour, hydrolysed protein anything. These statements on the label are substitues for what is MSG: natural beef or chicken flavoring, natural flavoring, seasoning, spices. These ingredients may contain MSG or excitotoxins: carageenan, soy protein concentrate, soy protein isolate, whey protein concentrate, protease enzymes.

This is such an important subject, I have included the following links for those interested.

http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/
 http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/adverse.txt
 http://www.holisticmed.com/splenda/
 http://www.holisticmed.com/acek/
 http://www.wnho.net/aspartame_brain_damage.htm