Well, Which is It; a Neurotoxin or Superfood?

Macaroni and cheese, queso dip, chili cheese dogs, chicken and cheese quesadillas, chicken alfredo, broccoli cheddar soup, vegetables smothered in cheese--all forgotten loves of the past, until now.

I have stumbled upon the glorious realm of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a.k.a. Nutritional Yeast.

Who knew that Nutritional Yeast when mixed with flour, rice milk, earth balance "butter", mustard powder, a little salt, garlic/onion powder, and a little cumin to tickle your fancy could create a wonderful, creamy goodness that tastes exactly like CHEESE SAUCE? Definitely not I, and definitely not my oh so handsome and oh so allergic to dairy boyfriend, Jace, who had never even tasted anything like cheese before. Needless to say, last night's dinner was a plethora of macaroni and cheese and chips with Rotel and cheese sauce (which, might I add, tasted EXACTLY like Velveeta and Rotel). I slept well last night knowing that I had been the good girlfriend.

However, today I was prompted by a passing remark made by Jace in between shoveling chips and queso in his mouth to do some research into our glorious new find--" Watch this stuff be bad for us." For the past few days I have been fluttering about the internet, looking for information on Nutritional Yeast. The results are, indeed, troubling but unclear.

First, for the sake of my selfishness, lets cover the benefits of Nutritional Yeast. Well, according to the Whole Food's I purchased it from, the nutritional information can be found here and, if you are too lazy to click on that link, it tells us that Nutritional Yeast has in 2 tbsp: Calcium (1.4%), Iron (7%), Thaimin B1 (67%), Riboflavin B2 (293%), Naicin B3 (30%), Vitamin B6 (4%), Biotin (6%), Magnesium (5%), Panthothenic Acid (27%), Zinc (18%), Copper (6%), Maganese (8%). So, in basic English, Nutritional Yeast is basically 51.9% Protein. No wonder those vegans and vegetarians inhale this stuff! It provides a significant amount of protein (B12) that, without the consumption of meat, many vegans/vegetarians have deficiencies in. In addition, Nutritional Yeast contains chromium, a major YES for diabetics because it is a Glucose Tolerance Factor (GTF), meaning it helps regulate insulin in the blood as well as metabolism. And, relax ladies and those who are particularly sensitive to yeasts is not the same kind of that causes yeast infections or other harmful infections. That yeast is called Candida Ablicans and, besides, Nutritional Yeast is pasteurized, killing any living yeast so it can continue on in the afterlife making ghost bread while, here on earth, I commemorate its death by enjoying its delicious, cheesy taste.Even my favorite go-to place for all things nutrition, Natural News, had good to say about Nutritional Yeast. In this article, Dr. Hand Liers, the chief formulator of products sold by Health Products Distributors, Inc. discusses the benefits of a diet rich in RNA (ribonucleic acid). What is RNA? Well DNA makes RNA which makes protein. RNA is a carrier of information, and a catalyst for the synthesis of the peptide bond.In other words, it's important stuff. So important that Dr. Liers believes that it can be anti-aging when taken as a supplement. In his interview, he praises nutritional yeast as having about 6 percent RNA and uses it as a key component in his nutritional drink Rejuvinate!. Now, whether or not Nutritional Yeast makes me younger, I'm not eating it for the "youthful effects" but for the cheesy effects.

Yet, many sites, including my personal favorite, had rather bad things to say about my beloved cheese sauce! Apparently, the way nutritional yeast is created by growing the yeast on fermented beat sugar and sugar cane molasses is the exact same way MSG (monosodium glutamate) is created. For those who have not given MSG much thought, monosodium glutamate comes in many disguised forms: "natural flavoring", "artificial sweeteners", "artificial flavoring", " yeast derivatives", and "casienate" just to name a few. MSG, or free glutamic acid, is an "exitotoxin". Basically, what an exitotoxin does is "excite" or stimulate brain neurons to death. Sounds fun. Well, my non-active, or as I said before, "dead" Nutritional Yeast contains free-glutamic acid. MSG is no joke and I foresee a blog explaining MSG more fully sometime in the future. But to suffice you until then, for more information about MSG, visit here. Or the Mayo Clinic. Or, here--wait, the food saftey.gov took it down (hmm). Or see what the FDA says about it here (it's also down on my computer, but you may have some luck). Anyway, even Natural News had something to say about the connection between Nutritional Yeast and MSG, listing "yeast nutrition" as a hidden source of MSG. Creator and writer of Natural News, Mike Adams, has written several articles about the dangers of MSG and how the clever companies work with the FDA to get around not listing MSG on their labels.

So, after finding such troubling results from my own research, I decided to email Natural News last week to reveal to them their confusing contradiction with Nutritional Yeast and the controversy at large. Here was my response,

"Thank you for your email and inquiry. One amazing benefit of natural health is the many options people have. Everyone is different, so there is no one solution [...] Doing your own research and discovering what is right for you is part of the journey to optimum health."

Mmm. Somehow I did not get the "whatever floats your boat" vibe when I was reading Mike Adam's article on MSG. In fact, I kind of got the idea that he was blatantly warning his readers against MSG. On the other hand, I also got the vibe that the doctor he interviewed, Dr. Liers, was quite ecstatic about his new find in Nutritional Yeast, not at all concerned with harmful MSG. Needless to say, I was not at all pleased with this answer. I mean this is my CHEESE we're talking about goshdarnit!!! Needless to say, I have emailed Natural News yet again and this time I clicked the complaint or criticism button instead of the comment or request button.

Now the question remains: Is MSG a big enough deal to stop me from making delicious cheese? Sadly, yes. Seeing as MSG is in nearly everything we consume (whether we know it or not), why would I want to knowingly put more into my body and feed it to someone I care about? I guess to me, ignorance is not bliss.


Sources (You can click on underlined words, too):
http://www.naturalnews.com/026410_insulin_blood_health.html
http://www.naturalnews.com/025066.html
http://www.naturalnews.com/022197_RNA_superfoods.html
http://www.daystarbotanicals.com/nutritionalyeast.html
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/nutritional-yeast-benefits.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_4454257_benefit-from-nutritional-yeast.html
http://www.efn.org/~sundance/NutritionalYeast.html
http://www.thedailyplate.com/nutrition-calories/food/whole-foods/nutritional-yeast
**** http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/WhatWeDo/default.htm
http://vegetariancuisine.suite101.com/article.cfm/benefits_and_uses_of_nutritional_yeast
http://www.cliffsnotes.com/Section/What-exactly-does-the-RNA-do-.id-305406,articleId-7904.html