Chinese restaurant syndrome

Symptoms attributed to the Chinese restaurant syndrome are rather common and unspecific.

Chinese restaurant syndrome (CRS).

Although once associated with foods in Chinese restaurant syndrome, MSG is now used by most fast food chains and in many foodstuffs, particularly Food processing.

It broke forever the old Long Island Column A, Column B Chinese restaurant syndrome and introduced us to a culinary world beyond Cantonese.

With popularity, though, came Chinese Restaurant Syndrome, in which takeout becomes so lucrative that a restaurant degenerates into an assembly-line delivery operation, forsaking freshness for economy and speed.

In April 1968, Robert Ho Man Kwok wrote a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine, coining the term "Chinese restaurant syndrome".

Dr. Byck also helped to expose monosodium glutamate, or MSG, as the additive responsible for the flush and headache of what became known as Chinese restaurant syndrome.

To those who worry about the headaches and other features of so-called "Chinese Restaurant syndrome," Fleischman says that tomatoes pose just as great a threat, as they contain the same glutinates.

Mention it to Americans and their minds jump immediately to "Chinese restaurant syndrome," a malady of after-dinner headaches, flushing and dizziness for which MSG has long been blamed.

It is widely believed that MSG is the cause of "Chinese restaurant syndrome," the symptoms of which include headaches and tightening of the muscles of the face, neck and chest.

The "MSG symptom complex" was originally termed the "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome" when Robert Ho Man Kwok anecdotally reported the symptoms he felt after an American-Chinese meal.

The symptoms of a so-called Chinese restaurant syndrome or "Chinese food syndrome" have been attributed to a glutamate sensitivity, but carefully controlled scientific studies have not demonstrated such negative effects of glutamate.

The reaction to MSG is sometimes called Chinese Restaurant Syndrome because it is used widely in Chinese cooking, although MSG is now generally dispersed in the American food supply.

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) sensitivity (also known as "Chinese restaurant syndrome"): If you are sensitive to MSG, you might also be sensitive to glutamine, because the body converts glutamine to glutamate.

However, it also said that, based on Anecdotal evidence, some people may have an MSG intolerance which causes "MSG symptom complex" - commonly referred to as 'Chinese restaurant syndrome' - and/or a worsening of asthma.

Some people experience a flushed feeling and other discomfort after eating MSG, a condition not known to be hazardous and sometimes called "Chinese restaurant syndrome" because MSG is commonly added as a flavor enhancer to Chinese food.

And, ever since 1968, when The New England Journal of Medicine used the headline "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome" over a letter from a doctor complaining that Chinese restaurant food gave him numbness in his neck and palpitations, it has also been fingered with medical suspicion.

Although there have been inconclusive studies suggesting that from 1 to 30 percent of Americans experience flushing and other symptoms when exposed to very high doses of MSG - the so-called Chinese restaurant syndrome - such reactions are thought to be benign, short-lived and not reproducible, said Mr. Lake.

In 1969, symptoms of "Chinese restaurant syndrome" were attributed to the flavour enhancer glutamate (commonly found in Chinese food) largely due to the widely-cited article "Monosodium -glutamate: its pharmacology and role in the Chinese Restaurant Syndrome".