Sammy:

It's easy to forget that the purpose of life is to get enough to eat so that we can continue to live -- and only then, perhaps, reproduce.  All the other stuff is recreational inessentials -- or nerga, as the gnolls say.

pzo:

Great video!  It's heartening to see that sort of success, especially at a young age when her daughter was able to recover and catch up on her developmental schedule.

I suspect that the problem isn't just free glutamate.  Gluten (actually the gliadin fraction) causes gut permeability, and the known biological effects of restricting gluten aren't limited to decreasing glutamate intake.  Also, like food coloring and many other things, added free glutamate is generally a marker for processed, nutrient-poor junk food containing all sorts of suspicious ingredients...and they're replacing these processed foods with nutrient-rich real foods.  I think it's very likely that a diet of gluten-free, casein-free junk food wouldn't have the same beneficial effects -- nor would a diet of low-glutamate junk food, if it existed. 

I suspect the root cause is that there is substantial genetic variation in the ability to absorb, process, and use nutrients, and the ability to process and eliminate antinutrients.  Result: Dr. Reid's other daughters did OK on the SAD, but Brooke came up short on a few and in excess on some others, and requires a much more nutrient-rich, antinutrient-poor diet in order to function properly.  And I suspect that, as Brooke stays gluten-free and her gut heals, she'll be more able to tolerate foods that would otherwise set her back.

Anyway, thanks for the link.  Definitely food for thought.

JS

Bob:

No, glutamate is glutamate.  It's a very simple molecule.

That's why I'm not on the "MSG IS EVIL" bus that became so popular a few decades ago...there are lots of natural flavorings high in free glutamate, and no one who claims to be "MSG-sensitive" has been able to actually tell the difference in blind taste tests.

That being said, if something contains MSG (or its avatars "hydrolyzed soy protein" or "hydrolyzed wheat protein"), it's probably junk food and not good to eat anyway.  And I'm sure it's possible to put so much MSG on something that it becomes harmful...so sticking to natural sources keeps you from consuming pathological amounts.  Fish sauce is extremely strong, and there's only so much soy sauce you can put on food...

Personally, I think people spend way too much time worrying about trace additives, and not enough time remembering that diet soda and microwave burritos aren't food to begin with.

JS

Kim:

That's a good rule of thumb. As I put it long ago, "Eat anything you could pick, dig, or spear. Mostly spear."

JS

Tim:

The statistics are robust.
* Even as real income stays flat to decreasing, people are spending less of their money on food.
* This is because grain-based non-foods are indeed becoming cheaper and cheaper - and we are indeed consuming more of them.
* In contrast, the price of Real Food has gone up dramatically just in the last few years. For instance, based on my local supermarkets, meat prices have jumped over 50% in the last three years. (This increase is not reflected in the official inflation "statistics", which don't count food!)

You are correct about the squeezing of both farmers and the consumer, and I've written at length about that previously, in these articles:
"You Are A Radical, and So Am I"
"Real Food Is Not Fungible"

Yes, health seems expensive -- until you compare it to the alternative. Type II diabetes costs thousands of dollars a year...dollars that most people don't realize are coming out of their own pockets, since ACA ("Obamacare")-compliant health plans usually have deductibles well into four figures.

More importantly, I am stronger, sharper, and healthier than I've ever been at an age where the average American is already on multiple prescription medications. Having experienced both chronic pain and excellent health, I can state with confidence that the value of excellent health far exceeds the amount I spend on real food.

JS