Fat, Stressed, and Sick

MSG, Processed Food, and America’s Health Crisis

By Katherine Reid and Barbara Price

Fat, Stressed, and Sick makes the case that processed food compromises health not just because of added sugar, salt, and fat, but also because these foods contain significant amounts of glutamate—aka MSG, the additive that makes food deliciousy addicting.

In this book, Katie Reid details the research linking dietary glutamate to a suite of inflammatory diseases: obesity, diabetes, autism, addiction, depression, and cancer, to name a few. In what became an experiment in her home kitchen, Reid removed all items with MSG and relaced them with whole foods. The results were swift and undeniable. Reid’s discovery that what one ate mattered was the start of a program of food-based solutions to chronic inflammatory illnesses, through which now, a decade later, she has helped thousands of people.

The idea that large amounts of glutamate in the diet jeopardizes health is supported by decades of research, despite efforts by the glutamate industry to discredit the scientific evidence that MSG poses a risk. This book explains the science behind why we crave the MSG in processed food, why it is hidden, how it is making us sick, and what we can do about it.

Katherine Reid, PhD, is a biochemist and the founder of Unblind My Mind, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to improving health through informed food choices. Previously she worked in the Silicon Valley biotech industry in the development of cancer pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. She lives with her family in the Santa Cruz mountains.

Barbara Price, MS, MA, PhD, has studied topics ranging from climate change to protein biophysics and has turned her passion for science into a career as a science writer and editor. She lives in Northern California.

Shows how glutamate (aka MSG) in processed food fuels food addictions and makes us sick.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

September 2023

296 pages

16 illustrations

Hardback

978 1 5381 8076 1 eBook

978 1 5381 8077 8

Health & Fitness • Diet & Nutrition / Nutrition