Glutamate flavoring the neck, gradually radiating to both arms and the back, general weakness and palpitations... The syndrome is often abbreviated as CRS and also became known under the names Chinese food syndrome and monosodium glutamate symptom complex. Symptoms attributed to the Chinese restaurant syndrome have been determined to be false. Although many people believe that monosodium glutamate (MSG) is the cause of these symptoms, an association has never been demonstrated under rigorously controlled conditions, even in studies with people who were convinced that they were sensitive to the compound. Techniques used to adequately control for experimental bias include a placebo-controlled double-blinded
Chinese food therapy "Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon" as precursors of the "dietary therapy" tradition, the former because it recommends food products as remedies for various illnesses, the latter because it discusses the impact of food on health. The "materia medica" literature, exemplified by the "Shennong Bencao Jing" (1st century CE), also discussed food products, but without specializing on them. The earliest extant Chinese dietary text is a chapter of Sun Simiao's "Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold" (), which was completed in the 650s during the Tang dynasty. Sun's work contains the earliest known use of the term "food (or dietary) therapy" ("shiliao"). Sun