That's a lot of MSG!
MSG used to be made primarily from wheat gluten, so it absolutely shouldn’t have been included in your diet if you were trying to go gluten-free. But nowadays it’s mostly made from bacterial fermentation, so most gluten-safe food lists say MSG is acceptable. So, in most cases, MSG probably won’t spark up your gluten allergies like they would have in the past.
But even though it doesn’t contain gluten anymore, that doesn’t necessarily mean MSG is good for your health! Many people with gluten sensitivity also report sensitivity to MSG, though it may not be directly related.
I’m no doctor, and I’m not sure if there is any sort of causation involved or if it’s just a correlation that people who are allergic to gluten also tend to be sensitive to whatever is in MSG. So my advice would be to make sure your diet is on track and you’re feeling good. Then, if you really want to use MSG, try it for a little while and let your body tell you if it’s going to make you miserable or not (if you have full-blown celiac disease or other dietary health issues, talk to your doctor first!).
And remember, a lot of people don’t eat MSG for health reasons that have nothing to do with gluten allergies! So you might want to read up on MSG and how it will affect your body in other ways before you start using it a lot.
I don’t know a lot (scientifically) about MSG, so please don’t consider my opinion to be expert. But I will say this: MSG isn’t found exclusively in Chinese takeout. In fact, it’s even more prevalent in the packaged and processed American foods that you find on the shelf at the grocery store. So if you decide that MSG is something you want to avoid, avoid the center isles at the grocery store and stick to fresh foods.
Here are some resources to read if you want more opinions about MSG:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monosodium_glutamate
http://www.truthinlabeling.org/
http://www.msgtruth.org/
Photo credit: caffeina
