‘What’s Hidden in My Ketchup’ Article Debunked

One of my missions on Culinary Lore is to debunk food and nutrition misinformation. But, rarely have I been as shocked by the sheer volume of misinformation in one article as I was by this piece on Medium.com called ‘What’s Hidden in My Ketchup?‘ Since the article appears at the top of Google results for a number of popular searches, I thought it was a good article to cover. It is representative of many such articles that claim to uncover hidden harmful ingredients in food products. Let’s break down the claims made in the article, one by one. 1

Before I begin analyzing the claims made in the article, I should point out that my purpose here is only to question whether the claims are reliable and whether they match known facts and scientific evidence.

This is not meant as an attack on the author of the article, their motive, or their personality. I am only concerned with the claims themselves and I would treat these claims the same no matter who made them.

Heinz Ketchup vs. Heinz Organic Ketchup

Here are the ingredients in Heinz Ketchup:

TOMATO CONCENTRATE FROM RED RIPE TOMATOES, DISTILLED VINEGAR, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, CORN SYRUP, SALT, SPICE, ONION POWDER, NATURAL FLAVORING.

The article begins by implying that the ingredients in a bottle of Heinz organic ketchup are markedly different from a regular bottle of Heinz. The ingredients in both are exactly the same, except for one. The source of sweetness. Regular Heinz Ketchup uses high fructose corn syrup and corn syrup and Organic Heinz Ketchup uses sugar.

High Fructose Corn Syrup is NOT an Artificial Sweetener

The article defines high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) as ‘a substance found in processed foods that is used as an artificial sweetener.’ HFCS is not an artificial sweetener. In fact, HFCS is made up of glucose and fructose, the same components in regular table sugar.

Regular white table sugar is 50% glucose and 50% fructose. These are chemically bonded through a glycosidic linkage and the resulting disaccharide (two sugars) is called sucrose.

However, while we think of sucrose, or table sugar, as sugar or real sugar, any monosaccharide or disaccharide is a sugar. These include glucose, fructose, galactose, mannose, arabinose, xylose, erythrose, as monosacharides; and sucrose, isomaltulose, lactose, maltose, trehalose, as disaccharides (two linked monosaccharides). Lactose, the major carbohydrate in milk, is also known as milk sugar.

Should You Not Store Ketchup and Mustard in the Refrigerator?

HFCS contains from 42 to 55% fructose and the rest is glucose. It, therefore, contains two sugars. These are the same two sugars saccharides found in table sugar. With HFCS, the two sugars are not chemically bonded. They are separate. This results in a sweeter taste and means that companies can use less HFCS, which is also cheaper.

As far as your body is concerned, however, they are identical. They are processed in the same way and they have the same impact on your health. The sugar can be used for energy but too much of either is not good for you. HFCS has been a food-media boogeyman for many years, but HFCS is no better or worse than sugar. Period. You can treat them the same in your diet. Eat them or avoid them equally.

There is no case made in the article that HFCS is bad for you. It is just assumed to be bad for you because it is processed. Regular white table sugar (sucrose) is also processed. It is derived from raw sugar cane or sugar beets.

The Surprisingly Worldly History of Ketchup

The article then states that you can find Heinz ketchup with real sugar by purchasing the organic version and that ‘real sugar’ in moderation, won’t hurt you. Well, now you know, since both sugar and HFCS have the same nutrition and energy impact on your body, HFCS, in moderation, also won’t hurt you.

Lest you think organic is still better, consider this article: Do Organic Crops Have Lower Pesticide Residue Than Conventional Crops?

The author has nothing negative to say about the other ingredients in Heinz ketchup except for one.

Natural Flavoring is MSG?

According to this article, if you see natural flavor on an ingredient list, it is MSG. MSG, as you may know, is the bad stuff responsible for Chinese Restaurant Syndrome.

Chinese Restaurant Syndrome is a myth and there was never any such thing. MSG is not all that bad for you and a little bit of it in your diet is no big deal, although it is certainly not perfect.

Everything the article says about MSG seems to be based on media-fueled, overwrought, and demonstrably false rumors rather than scientific data. However, MSG is not the issue. The issue is what does the term natural flavoring on the Heinz Ketchup ingredient list mean?

According to the FDA:

The term natural flavor or natural flavoring means the essential oil, oleoresin, essence or extractive, protein hydrolysate, distillate, or any product of roasting, heating or enzymolysis, which contains the flavoring constituents derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof, whose significant function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional.

Does Heinz Ketchup Contain MSG?

This includes over 3000 different food additives, not just MSG. There is no way of knowing, based on this term alone, whether Heinz Ketchup contains MSG.

The natural flavoring may well be more than one component that makes up a proprietary blend that Heinz doesn’t want other manufacturers to know about, and for good reason. Heinz is at the top of the ketchup heap. They don’t want anyone to be able to duplicate their product.

If Heinz ketchup contains MSG, they are not saying. But let’s pretend that it does contain MSG and look at the specific claims made.

MSG appears as a white crystalline powder, similar to table salt

What is MSG?

Monosodium glutamate is the sodium salt of glutamic acid. Glutamic acid is an amino acid that, in its ionic form, is known as glutamate. It is responsible for the umami flavor in foods.

This amino acid is found abundantly in protein foods and is naturally present in the body, where it performs various important functions, including in nitrogen homeostasis, as a neurotransmitter, a building block for proteins, and as an energy source in the brain. It is present in high amounts in muscle tissue.

Glutamate and Glutamic Acid is Not Used On Labels Do Disguise MSG

Despite the claims in the article, you will not find the terms glutamate or glutamic acid being used on a food label to disguise the presence of MSG.

You are exposed to very high levels of glutamate in many foods. It is found in all protein-contain foods, including plants. In addition to glutamate that is bound to proteins in foods, it occurs in a free form many common foods, including fermented foods, seaweeds, cheeses, tomatoes, mushrooms, cured hams, scallops, tuna, green peas, fish, beef, soy sauces, and more.

Glutamate in any form, including MSG, is highly metabolized in the body and it is not possible for you to ingest enough of it to have deleterious effects, even with added glutamate being used in the foods you eat.

In addition to MSG, the sodium form, glutamate is also added as other glutamic salts, such as potassium, calcium, ammonium, and magnesium salts.

All of these freely break down (dissociate) in an aqueous solution and will end up behaving the same as free glutamate in the body. The intake of glutamate naturally occurring in foods is far and above the intake of glutamate from added MSG.

MSG Causes Headache and Other Symptoms

Although more research is needed, especially ones with proper blinding, the preponderance of evidence from studies done with human subjects has failed to demonstrate convincingly that MSG ingestion causes a significant incidence of headache. 2

In fact, there has never been any scientifically valid research linking MSG to any of the symptoms associated with ‘Chinese Restaurant Syndrome’ and this includes research subjects that themselves identify as suffering from this reaction to MSG.

Allergic reactions notwithstanding, the symptoms variously reported to have occurred as a result of MSG-containing Chinese food are purely anecdotal and without merit. Chinese Restaurant Syndrome simply does not seem to exist. 3

MSG Causes Addictive Behavior Toward Food

The author claims that MSG makes people keep eating and eating. When a food contains MSG, “you can’t eat just one.” The potato chip slogan ‘Betcha can’t eat just one!” is mentioned. This is the slogan of Lays Potato Chips. The article claims that the reason you can’t eat just one is because (Lays) chips are full of MSG. Here are the ingredients in Lays potato chips:

Potatoes, Vegetable Oil (Canola, Corn, Soybean, and/or Sunflower Oil), and Salt.

No MSG. I theorize that the reason you can’t eat only one potato chip is because they are potato chips, although naturally accruing glutamic acid will be present.

The question remains. Does MSG cause addictive behavior? Does it make people keep eating? The available evidence is mixed. According to one study, MSG produces the umami flavor and this certainly increases appetite. However, it has been shown to increase satiety. You fill fuller, longer. 4 Another study showed the opposite 5, and a third showed no influence on the desire to eat. 6

Another study found that “a month-long diet high in umami stimuli attenuates perceived umami taste and appetite for savory foods in a young, healthy population.” 7 In other words, prolonged exposure to MSG in the diet decreased their overall appetite for savory foods.

This study showed that repeated exposure to umami taste diminishes perceived umami intensity, at least in women. The same was found to be true of salt, a result that is not surprising and this aligns with previous evidence that any repeated exposure to certain types of food, sweet, salty, or fat, tends to attenuate the perceived intensity of that taste associated with that food and cause a shift to other taste preferences where the taste intensity is higher.

The same is true of diets low in sugar, salt, and fat. Even if prolonged exposure to ‘savory’ foods with MSG caused a person to shift toward, say, sweeter foods with empty calories, there is no reason to believe that a subsequent shift toward a different food preference wouldn’t also occur.

There is a very complex relationship, according to the study authors, between diet, umami taste, food preference, and appetite. The evidence to date does not support the idea that MSG causes addictive eating behavior!

MSG and Obesity

Part and parcel with addictive behavior, according to the article, is MSG’s correlation to obesity. Studies show mixed results. One study found no association between obesity and MSG over a 5-year period in Chinese adults. 8 While another study showed an association between MSG intake and risk of being overweight.9

An association is not causation and more research is needed to show whether there is a causal link between MSG and obesity, while subsequent results, again, show contrary findings. Many other food behaviors are positively correlated to obesity.

In the latter study, the MSG users had higher intakes of animal protein, fats, cholesterol, and calories than non-MSG users. The link between habitual MSG use and increased weight gain in this study purports to be strong. As the authors state, however, further studies are needed “to determine reproducibility of these findings, elucidate their etiopathogenetic pathway, and amass the evidence needed to assess whether the relation between MSG intake and body weight is causal.”

This study was called into question by Shi, et al. 10 In this study, MSG intake and body weight were quantitatively assessed in 2002 and followed up in 2007. According to the authors, MSG intake was not associated with significant weight gain after adjusting for age, sex, multiple lifestyle factors and energy intake.

When total glutamate intake was added to the model, an inverse association between MSG intake and 5 % weight gain was found (P = 0.028), but when the model was adjusted for either rice intake or food patterns, this association was abolished.

The authors concluded that when other food items or dietary patterns are accounted for, no association exists between MSG intake and weight gain. It seems that the former study may have suffered from an interpretation bias, as it did not adjust for the fact that total fat intake increased, along with energy intake. You can read a much deeper analysis of these studies, along with others, here. 11

Different Names for Hidden MSG On Food Labels?

The article repeats a typical misunderstanding of how MSG is listed on a food label and how other ingredients may contain MSG. It asserts that MSG goes by many names on food labels. It does not.

If MSG is added to a food then the label, by regulation, must list MSG on the ingredients panel. There are no other acceptable names for MSG on labels.

The author additionally claims that food companies can say that their food does not contain MSG by calling MSG something else. This is clearly false. The article provides a list of purported names for MSG:

Ajinomoto
Vetsin
Ac’cent
Textured Protein
Autolyzed Yeast
Yeast Extract
Yeast Food
Glutamate
Glutanic Acid
Autolyzed Plant Protein
Sodium Caseinate
Calcium Caseinate
Natural Meat Tenderizer
Hydrolyzed Protein
Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein
Hydrolyzed Plant Protein
Soy Protein Extract … and of course …
Natural Flavors

You will never see Ajinomoto, Vetsin, or Ac’cent listed as an ingredient on a food product label as these are all trade names for MSG products.

As for the rest, none of these are alternative names for MSG. Instead, some of these items contain naturally occurring MSG. Hydrolyzed vegetable (plant) protein, autolyzed yeast, hydrolyzed yeast, yeast extract, soy extracts, and protein isolate all contain some level of naturally occuring MSG. Tomatoes and cheeses do as well.

The FDA does not require food makers to declare that the food contains naturally occurring MSG. Food contains many other naturally occurring compounds.

Most products sold as natural meat tenderizers contain bromelain, which is a proteolytic enzyme found in pineapple juice. It helps to break down proteins and so can be used to tenderize meat. Meat tenderizer itself has no relation to MSG although a product sold as a meat tenderizer that is flavored (most are not) may contain MSG as a flavoring ingredient.

Sodium caseinate is the sodium salt of casein, one of the two proteins found in milk (the other is whey). It is the form of casein most often added to foods or used in protein supplements. The source of the claim that it represents hidden MSG or contains MSG seems to be various web sources stating that sodium caseinate is a hydrolyzed protein and hydrolyzed proteins naturally contain MSG.

Sodium caseinate may or may not be hydrolyzed. Hydrolysis is a means of breaking down a whole protein into its constituent amino acids and peptides.

Sodium caseinate cannot be used on a food label as an alternative name for MSG, and as above, a food containing hydrolyzed sodium caseinate with naturally occurring MSG cannot list ‘No MSG’ on the label.

I think that you, the reader, can figure out the truth about the remaining items on the list based on what I’ve covered here, so there is no need to continue belaboring the point.

Now that you’ve reached the end of this article, I hope you can see why I decided to debunk this particular article and use it as an example of food misinformation.

It seems that not one single statement made in the article is correct! This is, unfortunately, typical of such food-related content and represents the preponderance of what you are exposed to on the web. This food (and nutrition) misinformation consists of erroneous, incomplete, or misleading science, or of claims made without any scientific basis at all.