FOOD INTOLERANCE NETWORK
FACTSHEET
Heart
palpitations - MSG heart attack
This factsheet covers heart arrhythmias, palpitations, tachycardia, and
pseudo heart attack
An arrhythmia is any deviation from the normal rhythm of the heart.
Symptoms can include palpitations, breathlessness, fainting
and chest pain. Heart palpitations refer to an awareness of the beating of your
own heart. It may be normal, too slow, too fast (tachycardia) or irregular -
skipping a beat or with extra beats.
Some causes of heart palpitations include exercise, fear, disease, drugs
and food chemicals.
The food chemicals most often reported to us in relation to heart
palpitations are MSG and nucleotide flavour enhancers (627,631, 635), and a
smaller number reporting propionate preservatives (280-283) and salicylates,
all with corresponding medical journal articles (see below).
Palpitations can range from mild to extremely alarming with many people
rushing to hospital convinced that they are having a heart attack. “A feeling
of doom” is a common experience.
“I had been getting heart palpitations for about 18 months” wrote one
woman. “My doctor said it was anxiety attacks, but I started to take more
notice of the foods I was eating.” This
woman was able to work out for herself that her palpitations came on within
half an hour of eating flavour enhancers (627, 631, 635)
in certain foods such as corn chips, Sanitarium vegetarian sausages and some
Chinese foods, and lasted quite strongly for about 2-3 hours.
In a medical report of the Chinese restaurant syndrome, a 36-year-old
otherwise healthy man developed severe weakness, heart palpitations and
sweating 30 minutes after eating wonton soup. On admission to the hospital he
was found to have a potentially lethal arrhythmia called ventricular
tachycardia which was treated successfully with medication. His physicians
commented that MSG might produce potentially serious arrhythmias in susceptible
persons.
Reader Stories
[542] Palpitations and MSG
(January 2007)
Having suffered panic attacks and palpitations on-and-off for years I
started seriously looking at the foods and additives I was stuffing into my
system. I can now tell you that the prime trouble maker for me is flavour enhancers.
As others have done before me I visited doctors and hospitals after bad attacks
only to be sent home with a "nothing wrong with you" report. Then one
day, I had taken a double dose (flavoured corn chips and kebabs) which
well-and-truly landed me in hospital. The interesting point to this story is
the specific effect the MSG had. While I was on the heart monitor (for about 12
hours) the doctors and I could see what my heart was doing and we were able to
determine the safety of the situation.
The sinus node (the electrical trigger) was firing and was firing
regularly. This was a good thing! The troublesome aspect was the MSG was
somehow interfering with the distribution of the signal around the heart. This
meant that although the heart was beating/pumping, it
was doing so at a reduced flow rate. That is, the contractions weren't as
strong as they should have been. Although it was pumping enough blood to keep
me lucid/conscious, a beat could not be felt by me in my chest, nor could a
pulse be felt at my wrist. NOTE: it felt as if my heart had stopped but in fact
was just beating weakly. I tried to convince the doctors this was MSG-induced,
but they just closed their ears, their eyes glazed over, and told me they
couldn't understand why my heart was behaving the way it was.
Now I know what my heart is doing, I no longer have panic attacks
triggered by a few 'missed beats'. The difference is knowing that the ectopic beats aren't going to kill me, and even though I
can't feel the beats, I reason that if I'm still alive and not suffering chest
pain etc. then I'm just having another 'episode'.- by email
[458] 635: Irregular heart beat - “thought I was
dying” (September 2006)
I had suffered from a slight temporary problem now and again which
seemed like an extra beat of my heart but couldn't pin it down to anything so
put it down to probable after-effects of a cold or flu but one morning after
enjoying a very large multi-course Chinese meal while on a works outing dinner
the night before, I felt terrible and quite ill! I could sense an irregular
heartbeat that seemed to be every second or third beat, I was going dizzy and
feeling faint now and again, had a funny tingling feeling going up my neck into
my head and scalp and felt very weak. I honestly thought I was dying. It was so
bad I even wrote a quick note to the wife and kids. Obviously I sought medical
treatment, had various tests and an ECG which all showed up normal...the
irregular beats were intermittent now and I got to feeling a little better, the
doctor said everyone suffers from irregular beats now and again, it’s a benign
condition and no problem!
Anyway I decided it may have been to do with the amount of alcohol I had
drunk at this works dinner and gradually the beats got back to normal and I put
this down to my now 'sensible drinking' . ....a few weeks later my wife and I
arranged to meet up with a couple of friends and have a Chinese takeaway at
their house...you guessed it … in the night and next morning the same feelings
came back and the irregular beats ... I now dismissed the alcohol connection
and thought it could be something I had eaten, so being a bit computer literate
I looked up on a search engine the phrase 'heart problems after eating chinese food'. I was amazed at the search results, that so
many people suffered from this and that largely doctors were ignorant of this!
One web site even referred to it as Chinese restaurant sydrome!......so
knowing the problem and after extensive research on the net I know if I can
avoid MSG as much as possible I do not get these heart flutters!...even a
packet of hula hoops (potato snacks) can give me slight heart irregularities.
Two years later: I still get irregular beats even after a packet of corn
snack type crisps. I find that the irregularities with MSG kick in after about
12 hours and around 24 hours after eating 635, and that the 635 tends to hang
on longer than MSG. With me the effects of MSG last usually a day sometimes
two, and with 635 it’s usually two days sometimes three. – from the UK.
[457] 635: Heart palpitations
from 635 (September 2006)
I have been getting heart palpitations for about 18 months. Saw a doctor
who said it was anxiety attacks. Rubbish. So I started to take more notice of
the foods I was eating. I noticed that it was instant after certain foods -
corn chips, Sanitarium vegie sausages and some chinese
foods (fried rice etc.).
I know its 635 because the palpitations come within half an hour of
eating those foods, and are quite strong for about 2-3 hours. I'm still trying
to figure out if it lasts to a lesser degree for a few more days, or if I've
eaten something else in the meantime that I don't react well to. – by email.
[456] Heart palpitations and
buzzing sensation (September 2006)
Some time ago I found some corn chips (Viva brand) that advertised
having no MSG. I bought them a few times
before connecting with them a very uncomfortable feeling of restlessness,
agitation and panic, heart palpitations, hot flushes and a "buzzing"
sensation; I thought I was having a panic attack. Since recognising
the link I bought the chips once more to test the idea that this was the cause;
after about 5 chips I started to feel the ‘buzzing’ and threw the rest of the
packet away. - Kathy from Adelaide.
[116] 282: Fast heart beat (tachycardia) (August 2001)
I have suffered for years from episodes of fast heart beat. It can be
very strong and disturbing, and I have ended up in hospital but it goes away
after a few hours and they could never find anything wrong. For a while I was
getting it every afternoon. Eventually I worked out it happened on the days I
ate bread. A friend suggested it might be the preservative in bread. When I eat
Brumbys' bread I have no problems, but when I ate
some preserved bread without thinking at my mother's place, I had another
episode. - NT
[197] 282: the bread preservative and heart rhythm (September 2002)
Q. Thanks for interesting article on the effects of
bread preservative. I went to my heart specialist a couple of weeks ago and
told him I that when I eat bread, it makes the rhythm of my heart go absolutely
crazy. It misses one beat in four and makes me feel quite unwell. He told me
that was absolute nonsense, but he would get me to wear a 24 hour heart
monitor. So I did that and when they analysed the
data, sure enough, 35 minutes after I ate four slices of bread, the graph went
wild. But he still doesn't believe that it was caused by bread. So I'm going to
look for another heart specialist who will listen to me. It was a real comfort
to realise that there is a doctor (Dr David Brewster)
who does believe beyond the textbook. Have you had any experience in 282 adversely
affecting heart rhythm? I would be really interested to know whether you have
had any other reports of 282 having other health side effects. - by email
A. See above for a report of fast heart beat
(tachycardia) linked to 282.
[339]
635: Meals on wheels disease (Sept 2004)
TO
WHOM IT MAY CONCERN
Six months ago, I was rushed off to hospital after
waking in the middle of the night feeling edgy and hot with swelling of my
face, heart palpitations and welts of hives all over my body. Afterwards, I
questioned was it something I ate - the wine, the peanuts?
These awful experiences went on for a period of about
four months until my brother saw a segment on A Current Affair about reactions
to flavour enhancer 635 (also 627 and 631, ribonucleotides).
I had missed the show but immediately got onto the website and as soon as I
started reading I knew that was exactly what I had. This information is
provided by Sue Dengate at http://www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info/
on the factsheet called "Ribo Rash".
I read everything I purchase, I do not eat anything if
I do not know exactly what is in it, and before I go to a function I speak with
the chef or caterers. When dining I choose a meal and then request that the chef
can assure me that there is no 635 added. I went through my pantry and
discarded any foods with 635 in the ingredients and have not had a reaction of
any kind for about two months which is a wonderful breakthrough for me, after
experiencing reactions 3-4 times a week.
I request that you please take the time to read the
attached information, as my parents are both experiencing similar reactions. My
stepfather has a chronic rash and my mother gets hives at least one night a
week. They receive "Meals on Wheels" and my stepfather says it is
usually after rissoles, stew or soup. Therefore I request that you read the
ingredients that you are adding for flavour to these meals. Purchased chickens
from Woolworths have the additive in the stuffing, Coles marinated fresh
chickens contain 635, Red Rooster have in on the outside, some chicken salt has
it as well as some stocks, tinned and packet sauces and soups and it is even in
some butter blends. Potato chips, CC's and other flavour enhanced foods are all
to be avoided but there are plenty of substitutes, it just means being more
vigilant as to what is served.
The elderly in aged care facilities and even patients
in hospitals are experiencing these reactions due to flavour enhancer 635.
There are plenty of natural herbs and spices that can be added to food for
flavour instead of an additive which is causing a lot of suffering and possibly
even death.
-
letter from
In the medical Journals See
abstracts at www.pubmed.com
Gann D. Ventricular tachycardia in a patient with the
"Chinese restaurant syndrome". South Med J
1977;70(7):879-81.
Mukerji V, Alpert
MA, Flaker GC, Beach CL, Weber RD. Cardiac conduction
abnormalities and atrial arrhythmias associated with salicylate toxicity.
Pharmacotherapy 1986;6(1):41-3.
The information given is not intended as medical advice. Always consult
with your doctor for underlying illness. Before beginning dietary
investigation, consult a dietician with an interest in food intolerance.
© Sue Dengate update January 2007
