Friends have been advising me that its best to avoid msg - mono sodium glutamate - when pregnant. But most of the research online seems to suggest msg is safe. And in Singapore, how to avoid msg in your food?! Has anyone else been told that msg is not safe?

To date, there is no scientific finding of any direct harmful effect of MSG on a baby. MSG is derived from amino acid glutamate. It is used to help enhance the flavor of foods and is considered safe for consumption. It would become a concern if you have adverse reaction to it. People who are allergic to MSG (or also known as MSG complex) will experience one or more of the following symptoms: - Sweating and flushing - Headache, numbness and muscle tightening - Nausea and chest pain - Heart palpitation However, if you have been able to consume food that contained MSG prior to your pregnancy, it is unlikely that you will develop this allergy because of the pregnancy. The main reason to avoid or limit consumption of MSG during pregnancy will probably be due to the fact that it will add large amounts of sodium to your diet. This will lead to water retention and high blood pressure. So I would think it is wiser to watch your sodium intake, rather than just MSG per say. In all, I think you don’t have to worry too much about MSG. Maintain a healthy diet and drink more water. If you are really worried, try having more home cooked meals as an attempt to limit your MSG intake. For more information, you can refer to this article: http://www.livestrong.com/article/463348-is-msg-bad-for-pregnant-women/

Even if not pregnant, MSG is still one of those things that we've been told is bad for our health - causing hair loss, headaches etc. However MSG cannot be avoided completely especially in Singapore like what Evelyn mentioned. There's no point fretting too much about what to eat because that will cause undue stress which is not good for baby either. Just eat everything in moderation and if you are uncomfortable with MSG in takeaway food, cut down your usual intake. You can read more about MSG and pregnancy here: http://www.babycenter.com/404_is-it-safe-to-eat-foods-with-msg-during-pregnancy_2285.bc

I have not heard that msg is not safe for pregnant women. Living in Singapore where it's common to eat or take away foods from outside, it's quite hard to avoid food with msg. Most of us know that msg is unhealthy. For your own & baby's health, it's good to avoid msg by eating homecook food. However, I also believe it is important to stay happy during pregnancy so I did not control my diet during pregnancy. I ate a lot of unhealthy foods such as McDonald and KFC. My baby is borned healthy. I believe that happy pregnancy will lead to happy baby.

For me, i try to avoid MSG for cooking at home. Whether it is harmful or not I feel uncomfortable to add into my cookings since my children are sharing the food too. I use home made flavor powder such as garlic powder, ikan bilis powder, and etc to enhance the taste of food. When dining outside, I will ask restaurant not to add MSG too in their cookings. However for those ready brooth in hawker centre, normally they have already added in MSG. Occasionally taking in MSG I feel it is fine as long as not daily.

thanks