Knorr, Maggi, Ajinomoto, Kitano – all these brands have been highly popular and the favorite choice of stock for millions of people. People buy these stock cubes considering them healthy, but rarely anyone knows that the flavoring used on them contains one very dangerous ingredient – monosodium glutamate.
Monosodium glutamate is a chemical additive that can cause nausea, skin allergies, tachycardia, vomiting, headaches, irregular heartbeat, dizziness and depression when ingested. Using industrialized spices on a daily basis can cause serious health problems, as glutamate stimulates the production of acetycholine in the endocrine system, a substance that reduces the glucose absorption in the body. Too much acetylcholine can result in weight gain and Alzheimer’s disease, and some experts have also linked it to other neurodegenerative conditions.
The famous taste of these brands is a sign of how powerful the chemical is. Sodium glutamate is added to almost any processed food nowadays, especially in chicken, beef and vegetable broth cubes. The compound makes us eat more by blocking the neurological function of the hypothalamus, which is responsible for controlling our appetite. This is why it’s important to avoid consuming the substance.
If you want a simple, cheap and delicious solution, you need to use fresh or frozen natural spices dipped in olive or coconut oil and then frozen in ice cube trays. In this way, you can just take out a cube and add it to the broth, which is far healthier that using the popular spices by the aforementioned brands.