May 31/Raleigh, N.C./American Journal of Clinical Nutrition -- According to Reuters Health, researchers at the University of North Carolina have found a modest correlation between MSG intake and weight gain.
Researchers measured the MSG consumption of more than 10,000 adults in China over the course of roughly 5.5 years, weighing each participant before and after they were tracked for the study. On average, those with the highest MSG intake were 30% more likely to become overweight by the end of the study than those who consumed the least of the flavoring agent. After excluding those who were overweight at the beginning of the study, that figure rose to 33%.