Salt,salt,salt

[chiangmaikelly]

Salt and sodium are not used interchangeably, pure salt contains sodium as well as other minerals, it is the primary source of sodium for most people wheather it is in fishsauce, soysauce, ketchup, msg or bread. For many people it raises blood preasure to dangerous levels. nothing to fight about or use for American bashing, (though that doesn't require any motivation for some members).

Google " Too much sodium in diet" Now google "too much salt in diet" The words are used interchangeably on google.

google "yada, yada, yakety-yak bla-bla"

Did you understand what I meant when I said fish sauce had a lot of sodium in it? Do you think there was anyone on Thai Visa who did not understand that I was using sodium interchangeably with salt, the same as nine million five hundred and forty seven web sites use it interchangeably on the world wide web? What were you trying to prove? That the world is wrong and you are right? Do you actually know a human being besides yourself who would not understand me if I said, "I am on a low sodium diet?"

[partington]

I think all the salt has given you high blood pressure, and if you don’t calm down, something in your head is gonna burst.

Never seen them add salt, but plenty of fish sauce. Yum

There are 1190 mg of sodium in a tablespoon of fish sauce.

there's no "Sodium" in any food stuff even though this misleading expression is used widely in the U.S. of A. including ads and stickers on food and drinks.

Sodium (called Natrium in civilised countries) is a metal and chemical element. what is wrongly labelled as Sodium is actually Natrium Chloride (NaCl) = common table salt (aka Sodium Chloride).

this lesson is free of charge

This lesson is also absurd and ridiculous.

The sodium in sodium chloride is the metal element sodium, and it is the sodium ions contained in salt (or sodium chloride) that affect blood pressure. When people are advised to go on low salt diets it is to reduce the sodium their diet contains.

When salt is dissolved in water (or your blood) it converts into free sodium ions unattached to anything except water molecules and free chloride ions. There is no difference at all between the sodium ions floating around that come from dissolved salt and the sodium ions that would result if you dropped metallic sodium in water, where it would form a mixture of sodium ions and hydroxyl ions.

It is silly to claim otherwise.

Source: my Ph.D in Biochemistry

Edited November 9, 2012 by partington

[daoyai]

ok, now that is settled, can we all agree that Thai food is frickin salty ?

[Chittychangchang]

There is another white granualar substance called food enhancer that Thais load into food!

I carnt remember the chemical name off hand, just as unhealthy as salt though.

I have seen Thais eat raw salt with the assistance of a lemon slice, apparently it's the Thai cure for the common cold.

[JSixpack]

Solution works for me - shop at the fresh market and prepare your food at home.

Good god, man! Do you realize what you're suggesting? Here?

[chiangmaikelly]

There is another white granualar substance called food enhancer that Thais load into food!

I carnt remember the chemical name off hand, just as unhealthy as salt though.

I have seen Thais eat raw salt with the assistance of a lemon slice, apparently it's the Thai cure for the common cold.

You mean MSG?

[daoyai]

Solution works for me - shop at the fresh market and prepare your food at home.

Good god, man! Do you realize what you're suggesting? Here?

I try to limit myself to one Thai-made or resto meal a day, the fresh markets provide igredients for much healthier eating, but then again I enjoy cooking.

[BigJohnnyBKK]

Good god, man! Do you realize what you're suggesting? Here?

May seem impractical to some but it's certainly not an issue of cost if you've already got full-time live-in help.

Problem is that many members' maids are probably so spoiled you'd have to pay them extra to make the trip.

My girl takes a bus down to Klong Toei and a tuk-tuk back, 450 baht or so gets more fruit and veg than she can carry. Do that every 3-4 days, supplemented with B50-70 from the market 'round the corner and that's how this household feeds itself, currently 11 people at the moment - though our upcountry guests ATN are chipping in a bit extra, buying khanom for the kids etc.

The only salt or MSG in the food is what we're putting in it ourselves. I eat food prepared outside maybe an average of 2-3 times a month.

[JSixpack]

A Thai cook prepares Thai food the way she/he wants to, the way it should be prepared, with least effort. It's not about the customer; it's all about the cook.

It's useless to try to confuse things w/ bothersome and incomprehensible farang requests to make Thai food into something other than Thai food. In most cases they will be ignored. In fact, only a newbie would expect otherwise. Go w/ the flow or do it yourself.

Salt, BTW, may not be as bad as it's been portrayed: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/03/opinion/sunday/we-only-think-we-know-the-truth-about-salt.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

As for Naam and his sodium-salt pedantry and silly anti-American slurs, just ignore the usual trolling on his part.

[transam]

Good god, man! Do you realize what you're suggesting? Here?

May seem impractical to some but it's certainly not an issue of cost if you've already got full-time live-in help.

Problem is that many members' maids are probably so spoiled you'd have to pay them extra to make the trip.

My girl takes a bus down to Klong Toei and a tuk-tuk back, 450 baht or so gets more fruit and veg than she can carry. Do that every 3-4 days, supplemented with B50-70 from the market 'round the corner and that's how this household feeds itself, currently 11 people at the moment - though our upcountry guests ATN are chipping in a bit extra, buying khanom for the kids etc.

The only salt or MSG in the food is what we're putting in it ourselves. I eat food prepared outside maybe an average of 2-3 times a month.

11 folk in your castle , how come. ?

[Neeranam]

My gf has considered it too salty on more than one occasion,

i think you should drink more & take buddhas general advice for it:

there should be both salty & sour in life.

btw you havnt learn to pronounce salt, or glua, yet, it is quite difficult,

if i could type a german u in glua, i would

say 'geua' and they will understand. Say glua and they wont.

[Shot]

ok, now that is settled, can we all agree that Thai food is frickin salty ?

I prefer to say Thai food is fish saucy

[BigJohnnyBKK]

11 folk in your castle , how come. ?

Me and my spawn is three.

Maid's got her kids over at the moment 'cause Dad's ill, but they're actually more help than hindrance, very well behaved.

Rest are my "in-kind boarders" which I won't go into more in public since the whole topic sets off howls of sputtering outrage among some here, and a couple of their visiting family members.

I don't mind at all, since the Thais keep to the second floor and roof space only, the Thai TV/music is kept in a closed space and I've got two floors that are relatively private, three rooms completely so.

[BigJohnnyBKK]

say 'geua' and they will understand. Say glua and they wont.

Odd, I've been ordering "Naam manao mai sai gluea" with the L clearly enunciated and never had an issue.

How about "glooa gluea" as in "I'm afraid of salt!"

[BookMan]

There is another white granualar substance called food enhancer that Thais load into food!

I carnt remember the chemical name off hand, just as unhealthy as salt though.

I have seen Thais eat raw salt with the assistance of a lemon slice, apparently it's the Thai cure for the common cold.

You mean MSG?

I think he does mean MSG.

I understood that MSG can be used to reduce total salt in a dish yet retain the flavour.

I also understood that despite the bad name MSG has, it is no worse than table salt.

[BigJohnnyBKK]

I also understood that despite the bad name MSG has, it is no worse than table salt.

Many honkies here act as if it's completely poisonous even in small doses.

Here are some alternative names for this dreaded killer: monopotassium glutamate, glutamic acid, glutamate, vegetable protein extract, gelatin, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, hydrolyzed plant protein, sodium caseinate, calcium caseinate, senomyx, textured protein, yeast extract and autolyzed yeast.

[BookMan]

I also understood that despite the bad name MSG has, it is no worse than table salt.

Many honkies here act as if it's completely poisonous even in small doses.

Here are some alternative names for this dreaded killer: monopotassium glutamate, glutamic acid, glutamate, vegetable protein extract, gelatin, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, hydrolyzed plant protein, sodium caseinate, calcium caseinate, senomyx, textured protein, yeast extract and autolyzed yeast.

I like a bit of MSG for added flavour.

[Neeranam]

say 'geua' and they will understand. Say glua and they wont.

Odd, I've been ordering "Naam manao mai sai gluea" with the L clearly enunciated and never had an issue.

How about "glooa gluea" as in "I'm afraid of salt!"

Must be my Scottish accent. Actually in Bangkok, I thought it sounds more like 'Greua'.

You would have problems saying 'gleua' in Isarn(well I do). They say 'geua' and even 'gia'.

If you were trying to hide the fact that you were scared of salt you'd be "glop gleuan glua gleua"

or scared of gargling or swallowing salt water - " glua glua kaw gleun nam gleua"

[partington]

I also understood that despite the bad name MSG has, it is no worse than table salt.

Many honkies here act as if it's completely poisonous even in small doses.

Here are some alternative names for this dreaded killer: monopotassium glutamate, glutamic acid, glutamate, vegetable protein extract, gelatin, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, hydrolyzed plant protein, sodium caseinate, calcium caseinate, senomyx, textured protein, yeast extract and autolyzed yeast.

You are completely and utterly wrong about this. All these are different things. You have even got the name wrong in the one item that could be correct

M = mono

S = Sodium (not potassium!!!)

G = Glutamate

Glutamates are salts of glutamic acid, so you can have potassium, sodium, iron, magnesium and other metals. This is a very simple single molecule compound.

Proteins are composed of 20 different amino acids, linked together in massive long chains of different numbers of which glutamic acid is only one. Saying MSG is the same as "hydrolyzed vegetable protein" is as wrong as saying a single red housebrick is the same thing as a country house. Calcium caseinate is a completely different substance to plant protein. Caseins are a family of different proteins found in animal milk!

Are you telling us you think that "plant protein" and milk protein (the casein in "calcium caseinate") are the same thing??!!!!

The rest of the things you list are also just incorrect. Christ knows where you got this from but whereever it was...BEWARE - it is utter, utter nonsense!

Edited November 9, 2012 by partington

[partington]

Incidentally, if anyone is interested in actual facts, MSG (monosodium glutamate), as its name implies , also contains sodium, and therefore could contribute to high blood pressure in sensitive people.

However gram for gram it contains less sodium than common salt. If you eat 1 gram of salt, you are eating 0.4 grams of sodium. If you eat 1 gram of MSG you are eating 0.14 grams of sodium, or nearly 3 times less. So for blood pressure concerns MSG is better.

The bad effects of MSG in normal food additive amounts appears to be a pseudo science myth - little evidence exists for the reality of adverse reactions. Many natural foods contain MSG , for example tomatoes.

(see if you are interested at all the Guardian article here: http://www.guardian....t-syndrome-myth

sample quote below:

"What is amazing about the publication of this research is not that it concludes MSG allergy is a myth, but that a scientific journal still needs to bother debunking such pseudoscience at all. As the New York Times put it in an article by Julia Moskin published last year, "'Chinese restaurant syndrome' has been thoroughly debunked (virtually all studies since then confirm that monosodium glutamate in normal concentrations has no effect on the overwhelming majority of people)".

[BigJohnnyBKK]

I also understood that despite the bad name MSG has, it is no worse than table salt.

Many honkies here act as if it's completely poisonous even in small doses.

Here are some alternative names for this dreaded killer: monopotassium glutamate, glutamic acid, glutamate, vegetable protein extract, gelatin, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, hydrolyzed plant protein, sodium caseinate, calcium caseinate, senomyx, textured protein, yeast extract and autolyzed yeast.

You are completely and utterly wrong about this. All these are different things. You have even got the name wrong in the one item that could be correct

M = mono

S = Sodium (not potassium!!!)

G = Glutamate

Glutamates are salts of glutamic acid, so you can have potassium, sodium, iron, magnesium and other metals. This is a very simple single molecule compound.

Proteins are composed of 20 different amino acids, linked together in massive long chains of different numbers of which glutamic acid is only one. Saying MSG is the same as "hydrolyzed vegetable protein" is as wrong as saying a single red housebrick is the same thing as a country house. Calcium caseinate is a completely different substance to plant protein. Caseins are a family of different proteins found in animal milk!

Are you telling us you think that "plant protein" and milk protein (the casein in "calcium caseinate") are the same thing??!!!!

The rest of the things you list are also just incorrect. Christ knows where you got this from but whereever it was...BEWARE - it is utter, utter nonsense!

Didn't mean to imply they are actually the same - these are the "cover story" ingredients listed when the manufacturer wants to bypass the market's irrational fears about the substance.

I'm sure only applies in countries that don't actually enforce ingredients listings by independent analysis. . .

[partington]

I also understood that despite the bad name MSG has, it is no worse than table salt.

Many honkies here act as if it's completely poisonous even in small doses.

Here are some alternative names for this dreaded killer: monopotassium glutamate, glutamic acid, glutamate, vegetable protein extract, gelatin, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, hydrolyzed plant protein, sodium caseinate, calcium caseinate, senomyx, textured protein, yeast extract and autolyzed yeast.

You are completely and utterly wrong about this. All these are different things. You have even got the name wrong in the one item that could be correct

M = mono

S = Sodium (not potassium!!!)

G = Glutamate

Glutamates are salts of glutamic acid, so you can have potassium, sodium, iron, magnesium and other metals. This is a very simple single molecule compound.

Proteins are composed of 20 different amino acids, linked together in massive long chains of different numbers of which glutamic acid is only one. Saying MSG is the same as "hydrolyzed vegetable protein" is as wrong as saying a single red housebrick is the same thing as a country house. Calcium caseinate is a completely different substance to plant protein. Caseins are a family of different proteins found in animal milk!

Are you telling us you think that "plant protein" and milk protein (the casein in "calcium caseinate") are the same thing??!!!!

The rest of the things you list are also just incorrect. Christ knows where you got this from but whereever it was...BEWARE - it is utter, utter nonsense!

Didn't mean to imply they are actually the same - these are the "cover story" ingredients listed when the manufacturer wants to bypass the market's irrational fears about the substance.

I'm sure only applies in countries that don't actually enforce ingredients listings by independent analysis. . .

Sorry but this is also wrong. There is no way that a manufacturer putting "calcium caseinate" OR "gelatin" OR "senomyx" is using it to "cover up" the addition of MSG because these things do not contain MSG.

The rest of the protein ingredients you list, since they are made from whole plants, yeast or milk, may or may not contain small amounts of monosodium glutamate, but only in the sense that so do all the cells of your body, and this would not be enough to count as adding MSG, any more than adding tomatoes would. Since all proteins contain glutamic acid as one of the 20 amino acids that make up proteins, using this reasoning you could say that all proteins that have been partially hydrolysed (or "broken up") contain glutamate. This is however crazy, as it would apply to any and every protein that you have ever eaten, and so digested (=hydrolysed )in your gut, e.g a pork chop or a cheese sandwich.

This "cover up" theory could only possibly apply to the names you quote that contain the word glutamate, understandably enough , since these are in fact just abbreviations of the actual name "monosodium glutamate".

So again I have to say, your information is wrong, I'm totally guessing here, but likely obtained from a website devoted to perpetuating the myth that MSG is harmful. These kind of websites are notoriously inaccurate and deceptive.

If you see a site with: What the medical establishment DON"T WANT YOU TO KNOW!!!!

flashing in multi coloured letters at the top, and the prominent repeated mention of a single doctor who has discovered something miraculous or profound that the powers that be are desperate to keep hidden, this is the sure sign of a scam and fraud , and should be ignored.

Edited November 9, 2012 by partington

[BigJohnnyBKK]

So again I have to say, your information is wrong

Entirely possible, don't claim to have the expertise you appear to have.

However I was trying to reinforce the fact that it's (usually) harmless other than those avoiding sodium. The "poison" part was intended to be sarcastic.

[partington]

So again I have to say, your information is wrong

Entirely possible, don't claim to have the expertise you appear to have.

However I was trying to reinforce the fact that it's (usually) harmless other than those avoiding sodium. The "poison" part was intended to be sarcastic.

Fair enough...

I'm find I'm wrong too about part of this, not being a food scientist. In fact reading up a bit, as it's kind of interesting, it seems that yeast extract contains quite a lot of (naturally occurring, not added) free glutamate, so counts as a food with significant amounts of what you could call MSG.

So does human milk by the way...wonder why nature has put an ingredient that millions of people believe is harmful into that?