<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> Dear fellow list members, I have received many helpful suggestions and lots of support concerning my query about MSG. It seems that it's a much bigger problem than most people think (the web sites are very informative). Also, it can be irritating when the gut is inflamed from food intolerances (gluten and others). The overall consensus is to take things slow, engage in self-nurturing techniques, allow the gut to heal, and try to slowly reintroduce foods that may be OK when the GI tract is back to normal. Thanks, everyone, for all your helpful words. ---Liz ...Tuna may bother you because almost all tunas have casein (milk protein) to which you may be allergic.(I am allergic to the proteins in milk, not lactose intolerant) Soup is very gassy so that might give you a problem. I also have citrus fruit allergies, garlic and so many I can't even remember them all. Just a quick reply to your post - MSG is a definite no-no for me. I react almost instantaneously and severely to it. Nitrates are also a real problem for me. I know it is a nuisance always watching out for what we eat - but it is better to feel good and be able to function than take a chance. Hope this helps a little. I just finished a health class and MSG and asparatame was discussed. I have some of the symptoms so thought along with all the rest of the stuff I have to keep track of one more thing I guess won't be too hard especially if it helps. I can say that this morning but at the class I was very overwhelmed. I found 3 good websites that will give you both sides of the stories from professional people. They are www.mgsmyth.com www.magicnet.net/~btnature www.ificinfo.health.org/index9.htm The first two cover tomatoes, tuna, lists the hidden msg and those listed under different names. Hidden places they might be. As a celiac I thought American msg was okay. But after reading what it can do to some of us, most of my family will get headaches immediately upon eating a dose, it doesn't seem worth eating it. It sounds like you have many food intolerances. In tuna, they can include many vegetables to make the broth, but all three major brands are GF. They may use beans, however, which includes soy beans. This could be a culprit. Tomatoes are part of the nightshade family and many people are allergic to this. Perhaps an allergist can help. The following is an article from the Fall 1997 newsletter of the NOMSG group. It is copyrighted by the National Organization Mobilized to Stop Glutamate. They can be reached at: P.O. Box 367, Santa Fe, NM 87504 or 800-BEATMSG (800-232-8674). Or at http://www.nomsg.com/ Have you been getting MSG reactions even when taking pains to cook from scratch at home? One possibility is that you are using cooking methods that manufacture MSG right in your own kitchen! Hydrolysis of a protein is the process of breaking down its structure by using water, heat and an acid to produce a mixture of amino acids, including glutamate (MSG). This is easy to duplicate in the kitchen when making soups, stews and reduced sauces which require long cooking times. The addition of acid foods such as tomatoes, lemon juice or vinegar speeds up the hydrolysis. In commercial production, this process goes very quickly, achieving a 50% of protein in 2 hours. The amino acid mixture typically contain from 20% to 40% MSG and are added to our foods as "hydrolyzed vegetable protein" (HVP) or "natural flavors." Therefore, you should avoid any recipe that requires long cooking times. Soups can be made fairly safe by increasing the solid ingredients and reducing water in order to get more flavor in a shorter period of time. Do not use acid foods and cook for only 15 to 30 minutes maximum, at a low simmer and leave uncovered to promotes evaporation and concentrate the flavor. You can tell when it is done by tasting the vegetables to see if they have given up their flavor to the broth and have become tasteless themselves. Since meat and chicken contain much more protein than most vegetables (dried beans and lentils are the exception), make an all-vegetable broth to use in other soups and sauces. The best cooking methods are grilling and stir-frying, but baking and steaming at high temperatures for short periods of time are good also. Use as many foods in their natural state as possible, e.g. raw vegetables, lots of salads, raw vegetable sauces on pasta, etc. [recipe snipped....] Tomatoes are a common problem for me as well as other members of that family such as green peppers, eggplant and white potatoes..I would guess that this sensitivity is related in someway to celiac. They are of a family called solanacae or Nightshade and some members of the family include the belladonna and Deadly Nightshade. I found this information out long before finding out I was gluten intolerant, when I was using up my garden produce making a lovely dish with tomatoes, green peppers and potatoes and having bouts of breathing difficulty. Now I use only red potatoes and if I use green peppers I use them only in small amounts and tomatoes the same. And yes I have less reaction to fresh tomatoes because there is much more tomato in a cup of cooked down tomato sauce than a cup of tomatoes. I can help out with the tomatoes bit. I'm mid diagnosis, having been gluten free for a year after a gastroscopy suggested Coeliac and then had a 5 week gluten challenge before a second gastroscopy, which was negative. One of the things that showed up in the second gastroscopy was that my stomach and intestines had become inflamed. (snip) Talking it over with my ayurvedic herbalist, he pointed out that tomatoes are very acidic, especially after being cooked or digested, and that would probably irritate my inflamed gut. He suggested avoiding them for a while, or, if really stuck, sprinkling a teaspoon or so of sugar over them. ( I needed to do this a few weeks later and it seemed to work OK). My experience of twice recovering from long term gluten ingestion is that my digestive system just wasn't up to much for a while and that a time on really bland, simple food helped it to recover to the stage where I could manage most things again (last time it took about 8 months, this time about 5 weeks). Maybe you would benefit from trying it too? stick to simple meals of well cooked vegetables, white rice, maize-meal (polenta), pulses - its not nutritionally sound long term but it should help in the short term. Try to avoid raw things, fried foods, hot spices (though turmeric is very healing for the gut, and ginger can soothe indigestion). I cut out meat, too, 'cos I just couldn't manage it, and ended up staying vegetarian! Eat your main meal at lunchtime and just have a small snack early evening so that you're not still trying to digest when you go to bed. (I negotiated with my boss to take a longer lunch break two days a week so that I could go home and cook for myself!) Try not to eat out for a while because it's just too much to cope with at first - it will get easier as you feel better and get to know the ins and outs of the diet. If you can manage it, a short rest before you eat helps too.