Why yeast extract, a common food ingredient (also labeled as hydrolyzed or autolyzed yeast) can trigger symptoms for those sensitive to glutamate or MSG.
Chances are, if you glance through your pantry, you will find numerous foods that contain yeast extract. This ingredient is particularly prevalent in crackers and other carb-based food with a savory flavor.
Given the positive reputation of nutritional yeast and the widespread use of baker’s yeast in bread and pastries, most people never give this ubiquitous additive a second thought.
But what is hydrolyzed or autolyzed yeast extract really? Is it a friend or foe in the diet? To get to that answer, we must start at the very beginning, with the wiring of our biology to enjoy, even crave, the taste of glutamate.
Why We Love Glutamate
As a child, I remember our family holiday get-togethers. Platters of plates of food-filled every nook, cranny, and corner of my grandmother’s house.
The meal would last for hours, often well into the evening and even the next day! But one food never made it that long. Grandma’s Swedish Meatballs were always gone in a flash.
Perfectly formed, oven browned, then dropped into a crockpot to slow simmer for days on end. The family all fought over these as if they were manna straight from heaven!
But what made this one food so sought after among the dozens of others? What made little balls of meat irresistible to our bodies and brains? Part of it was the presence of natural glutamates.
The term “glutamates” refers to the many forms of glutamic acid. It is an amino acid (a building block of protein) found naturally in many foods and in our bodies.
What makes glutamates so powerful?
Glutamates, like sugar and salt, but to a higher degree, trigger a response in our brains that make us enjoy our food. This response is not necessarily bad, as a wide variety of foods and traditional dishes contain glutamates.
Some of these dishes contain them at high concentrations. Aged cheese, fermented vegetables, cured meats, slow-simmered stocks, and soy sauce all contain glutamate.
Glutamates don’t just taste good, they ARE good. It is an abundant neurotransmitter in the brain and is not only beneficial but essential for life itself.
In 1908, a scientist finally discovered that it is glutamates that form the fifth taste, called “umami,” that we love in so many traditional foods. But like many natural things, commercial interests tend to want to “improve” upon them.
The reason? To essentially make cheap food taste high quality. The result? Monosodium glutamate (MSG) a highly concentrated, synthetically produced, and ultra-potent form of glutamic acid, was born.
When public opinion turned against MSG starting in the 1960s (baby food used to contain it!), food manufacturers sought more natural alternatives.
This spawned the MSG industry with dozens of confusing names and slightly altered forms that still imparted the same flavors and sensations but without the same stigma and side effects.
And that brings us to yeast extract, also called hydrolyzed yeast or autolyzed yeast.
What is Yeast Extract?
The direct answer to the question of whether yeast extract is actually just MSG, google notwithstanding, is a resounding no.
I know I am going against a lot of wellness and health blogs on this one. But this is the reality of this much-maligned and misunderstood food additive.
Sorry friends, but yeast extract ISN’T MSG.
Now, this is not to say that autolyzed yeast extract (aka hydrolyzed yeast) is good or bad for you.
The point is that these are completely different things, made in completely different ways. Most importantly, they deliver very different forms and concentrations of glutamates.
Yeast extract contains glutamates, just like the natural glutamate in bone broth and aged cheeses. However, it also contains other compounds that contribute to its unique flavor.
MSG, on the other hand, is a highly concentrated, synthetic, and processed form of glutamic acid. It is currently made by bacterial fermentation, and nothing else.
The issues with the safety and side effects of MSG are well known including obesity and headaches among others. (2)
(Hydrolyzed) Autolyzed Yeast Extract is NOT MSG
But yeast extract isn’t MSG, just like moonlight isn’t sunlight. It contains sunlight but is a very different light. Whole Foods, while not a good authority on some topics such as canola oil, has an excellent article on hydrolyzed yeast (extract). It identifies the differences from MSG in very clear language.
The term “glutamate” refers to a number of forms of glutamic acid, an amino acid found naturally in many foods (and in our bodies). Cheese, milk, meat, peas, seaweed and mushrooms are a few of the foods containing the highest levels of natural glutamate, and this substance is largely responsible for the phenomenon of umami, the “fifth taste” of savory, meaty foods. In fact, the discovery of the link between glutamates and savory flavors led the Japanese food scientist Kikunae Ikeda in 1908 to the commercial development of monosodium glutamate. MSG is a synthetically derived and highly concentrated flavor enhancer that is almost completely made up of glutamates. It’s so powerful that just a few drops can drastically change the flavor of a dish.
As the 60 Minutes story exposed, it’s also so powerfully concentrated that it can cause severe reactions in people who are hypersensitive to it. While the scientific basis of the set of symptoms known as “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome” has been debated and doubted by many, the phenomenon has caused a lot of people to carefully and diligently avoid MSG. A number of consumer groups have claimed that certain food ingredients, such as autolyzed yeast and hydrolyzed protein, are MSG in disguise. They are not. Autolyzed yeast and hydrolyzed proteins, among other ingredients, are completely natural ingredients that happen to be have substantial amounts of glutamates, but nowhere near the concentration found in MSG. (2)
Glutamate vs MSG
So, what does this mean? Some individuals are sensitive to both MSG and various yeast extracts. But many people who are sensitive to MSG are not sensitive to yeast and other forms of glutamates.
Why? Should we even be worried about glutamates, to begin with? Industry (of course) says no, but the issue is more complicated than that.
As mentioned above, glutamates are naturally occurring in a wide range of foods, especially if fermented or slowly cooked, or simmered.
Also, traditional cultures sometimes prepared foods in such a way to purposefully INCREASE the concentration of glutamates. Clearly, ancestral societies recognized the benefits of natural glutamate in the diet.
Risks of Too Much Glutamate
However, the widespread presence of MSG in processed foods allows us to unnaturally INCREASE the amount of glutamate (both synthetic and natural) we can consume at one time.
In other words, processed foods containing MSG permit us to get addicted and/or “overdose” for lack of a better word.
There are a few risks with this increase. One, as Stephan Guyenet discusses in his book, The Hungry Brain, is that such high reward foods can short circuit our brain’s appetite and body weight regulatory systems.
Dr. Russell Blaylock MD talks about this in his book Excitotoxins. MSG kills brain cells, most notably in the hypothalamus located in the brain stem. The hypothalamus is a significant player in the overall control of metabolism and the endocrine system.
But lots of foods can do that, many of which don’t contain any glutamates. Second, some people are sensitive to glutamates, even if they are not sensitive to MSG.
Glutamate-sensitive individuals can react badly to a wide range of foods, such as strong aged cheeses, long-simmered homemade stocks, and foods that contain yeast extracts.
This inherent sensitivity, particularly for those with leaky gut, is why the GAPS Diet includes only briefly cooked meat stocks for a period of time until some healing has occurred.
What to Do if you are Sensitive
Besides gut imbalance, why else would a person be sensitive to glutamates? Genetics appears to play a large role as well. Some of us are better at handling glutamates than others, just like some are better at converting beta carotene to vitamin A than others.
Note also that glutamate sensitivity can develop with excessive exposure.
Someone who is otherwise not overly sensitive may become so after a week of eating lots of foods that contain it. After the body works through the backlog after a period of avoidance, the sensitivity is likely to lessen or even disappear.
To Eat or Not To Eat?
What does all this mean in the final analysis? Is it wise to avoid common foods containing yeast extract, autolyzed yeast, or hydrolyzed yeast?
For those who are not sensitive, foods that contain yeast extracts or other natural forms of glutamate are not a concern in moderation.
The main issue is that a lot of foods that contain MSG or yeast extracts are highly processed pseudo foods. And, these are the types of foods that people tend to have problems with portion control anyway.
For this reason, avoidance is a smart idea if you find it difficult to eat small amounts only occasionally. No doubt, these types of foods can be quite addictive.
In other words, yeast extract and its variations as additives in processed foods can trigger overeating even if no other symptoms are experienced.
For already sensitive individuals, an individualized call about what foods to eat and which to avoid is necessary and important. The assistance of a trained practitioner is a good idea if you are having trouble identifying this on your own.
The tricky part is that a reaction to natural glutamate and/or synthetic MSG can sometimes be delayed by up to 24-72 hours. This can make it difficult to assess sensitivity accurately.
For healthy individuals, glutamate plays a vital role both in good health and good hearth (food).
Avoiding only the synthetic type of MSG is necessary in most cases, which yeast extract is most definitely not.
(1) New Propaganda About MSG
(2) Glutamic Acid – It Is Not MSG or Monosodium Glutamate
(3) The Hungry Brain
(4) Excitotoxins by Russell Blaylock MD
brinkworth – sorry to break you these news, but doctors don’t know sh*t these days. I have been to handful with no results and no help. And it took 6 years on my own to finally detect MSG and it’s brothers as a reason to kill my life (guts). So please, take your ignorant opinion for a walk cause MSG DOES create health issues!!!!!!!
More than once I have ended up in the hospital from eating MSG. So, ‘proven safe’ or otherwise, I can say that both myself and some of my friends can immediately tell if we’re eating MSG, and some have very unpleasant effects, and most stay away from it. They’re not all delusional. Nor am I. Nor are the doctors who are trying to help me breathe,
Hello and thank-you for the very informative article. i’m still a bit confused about yeast in, for example bread and yeast extract. If one has a sensitivity/reaction with yeast extract will yeast also affect them? Migraines for my whole life and have had to cut out so many foods. I was really hoping I wouldn’t have to cut out bread as well. I have kept a food/migraine/headache diary for years but still is very difficult to narrow down a food trigger. Would love to go to a naturopath but I am unable to afford them. Again thank-you.
It has been proven time and time again that there is no medicaly diagnosed problems with MSG.
Fermented products are one of the oldest natural food products.
Chinese food syndrome started what can only be described as racist comments about MSG in the60s .
Thank you for posting this. Great article! Indeed it goes against much of the plethora of health blogs out there, but most often the truth does. I’m all about health and turning to nutrition for preventative and even curative medicine, but REAL health and facts and it’s alarming how quickly misinformation spreads on the internet, yet sadly, unsurprising.
For so long I avoided things with yeast extract like the plague and ordinarily this wasn’t extremely hard to do as I don’t eat many refined foods anyway, but sometimes it lead to some unnecessary deprivation and some VERY annoying inconveniences during the holidays!
Despite learning to see what the real science has to say about things as opposed to just reading those “8 reasons why *food product* is good/bad for you” type of blogs, I never readdressed the whole yeast extract thing and still had all those scary headlines and articles in my head loudly proclaiming that yeast extract is a guise for MSG. But I finally decided to look it up after learning a while ago that glutamates are natural and in some of the healthiest foods on the planet such as mushrooms, tomatoes, and nutritional yeast. And learning how differently natural glutamic acid acts in the body compared to the synthetic man-made food additive MSG. Since I know that yeast is one of the foods that naturally contains glutamic acid, I was finally like “well duh, it’s a yeast extract, it contains glutamic acid is all!” It feels so liberating! Lol, seriously… I’m a vegan and my diet is generally whole foods plant based but it will be nice to allow myself to use Simply Organic vegan gravy packets or not worry so much about this or that here and there. I don’t mind being cautious about what I eat, but I don’t want to be SENSELESSLY cautious and not enjoy life over it. Goodbye a fraction of my stress, and good riddance!
This reply is for Traci T. Who commented above. I believe you, like me, are allergic to nitrates and nitrites as well as msg. That you’ll be why deli meats a mung others make you feel sick after eating.
Nitrates and nitrites are “curing salts” (labeled POISON) in their concentrated form. Used to prevent cured or smoked red or pink meets from producing botchulism (sp).
I have suffered from migraine headaches since before I could even talk. It took me almost 30 years to figure out that nitrates and nitrites and msg were major factors in lowering my headache threshold, as the affect would not be experience for about 36 hours post consumption.
( sorry for reply like this, my android would not allow me to reply under Traci’s post)
I was diagnosed with Hydrogenitis-Supprativa. Had the disease for almost 27 years. I went to specialist and it was determined that MSG aggravated my disease to the point where I needed injections from inflammation. It was painful. I am telling you that I don’t know where or how you determined that hydrolized or even autolized yeast extract is NOT harmful….believe me, I ‘m living proof that it IS.
Yes, it is a problem for some people who have become sensitized to even natural glutamate. This occurs from the large amounts of synthetic MSG in processed foods as well as gut imbalance. I hope you get better soon! Fixing your gut will likely allow you to enjoy foods containing natural glutamates again.
I just ate about 10 Goldfish Whole Grain Chedder Crackers The .75 oz tiny snack bag says it contains less than 2% of Yeast Extract. I AGREE with Josephs comment August 2017. I ate 10 crackers, I am hurting all over right now and my tounge is burning. 20 years ago a doctor told me I I had fibromyalgia…it was not that in ANY way…Autolyzed yeast, yeast extract was and STILL is the problem. I truly believe the manufacturers of these products are all about down playing the side effects. I felt so awful 20 years ago that I began reading how to apply for disability and was worried sick as a single mother of two how I was going to physically care for them when I was hurting and sick. I cut out about two things in my diet and autolyzd yeast was one of them, I felt like a brand new person. Please stop saying it’s natural, there is nothing natural about it.
I tried the taste of pure yeast extract and had a delayed reaction 3 days later when I used powdered beef gravy in a stew. My first reaction was sickness, but I removed most of the sauces from the stew and ate the rest without being sick. Strange, I still can’t get rid of that taste. ???? I guess like you say I need to avoid using for a while till I fully adjust to it
Thank you for this article, it was another light-bulb in a long and frustrating experience. I don’t get headaches from MSG I get heart palpitations that trigger 2 heart arrhythmias I have and it can send me to the ER to get back into sinus rhythm. It started when I was a kid but I would spontaneously recover back then so doctors could never make sense of it and labeled it panic attacks until it got so severe it was constant and life threatening. It took me decades to figure out that MSG was a major trigger for it and the doctors still scratch their heads about that link. My nieces were getting terrible headaches and I advised them to watch for MSG and it’s helped them too.
I was watching labels like a hawk and it helped a lot, but I was still having unexplained episodes. Broth, crackers, mushrooms, tomatoes, aged cheese, deli meats, breads, seasonings, etc without MSG were doing it too. Since it wasn’t MSG and I don’t always react to those foods or I go through periods when my body is so sensitive it starts getting really difficult to find anything I can actually eat, I was in the dark again. I didn’t understand how yeast extract tied into glutamate and why I didn’t always react to it. Thank you for the insight, it gives me a new direction to investigate..
I have often suffered from nausea after eating (since I was a teenager, it was also a problem doctors thought was in my head) and now that my kids and nephews/nieces are becoming teenagers they’re starting to have the same nausea issue. Is it possible that nausea is related to glutamates and leaky gut? (I don’t know much about that)
Yes indeed. Gut imbalance is the usual reason for reactions to natural glutamate and its synthetic form MSG.