A Whole-Food, Plant-Based Diet Is Not a Diet of Vegetables. You may have heard that people living this way eat lots of spinach, kale, and collard greens, and that this is, in fact, the primary basis for many of the meals. You may even think we live only on leafy and raw vegetables.
Subsequent experiments have helped dismantle the MSG-is-bad-for-you theory. For instance, in one study from 1993, researchers tested 71 subjects for reactions to MSG in relation to CRS, concluding that ârigorous and realistic scientific evidence linking the syndrome to MSG could not be found.â.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has given MSG its generally recognized as safe (GRAS) designation. A popular belief is that large doses of MSG can cause headaches and other feelings of discomfort, known as Chinese restaurant syndrome, but double-blind tests fail to find evidence of such a reaction.