MSG as a trigger for ectopics?

[AP224]

I had a cryoablation in 2019 and thankfully have had limited heart related events since. I do, however, experience waves of ectopic beats. I did not experience these until 18 months ago. When they occur they last between 30-90 minutes and at their worst have been at 5 per minute (more typically 2-3). I have an Apple watch and the ECG function illustrates these nicely. I did send traces to the team at Papworth who performed my ablation but they seemed a little dismissive and were not concerned that this was a recurrence of prior AF events (which I am pretty comfortable with!).

I have read that in a number of cases irregular beats are triggered by food/drink. I started to keep a note of what I had eaten prior to these ectopic episodes. I then identified common ingredients. An ingredient that seemed to be present more often than not in relatively large quantities was monosodium glutamate (MSG). Subsequent research has suggested that MSG may be a cause.

I wanted to know if anyone who reads this forum has experienced ectopic episodes and if so if they have associated it with any specific triggers? I would appreciate any insight.....thanks

[BobD Volunteer]

MSG is the devil's spawn. Thought everbody knew that by now. Chinese food is a real problem if you like it. A bit like alcohol, best avoided completely.

[CDreamer]

Ditto to Bob’s reply - avoid MSG. There are some Chinese restaurants who don’t use MSG but best to cook everything from scratch yourself, then you are sure.

As triggers are so individual the only way to know for sure is by keeping a detailed food/symptom diary.

Black tea I can’t take or dried coffee but green tea is ok & organic freshly ground coffee I’m ok with. Good quality white wine fine as long as free of sulphides but red wine I can’t sleep, I get twitchy & more likely to get ectopics.

[cassie46]

I agree with Bob and CD avoid MSG but we do have a very good chinese takaway near us and we have one every two or three weeks and ask for no MSG and I have had no problems with it. I can only drink decaf tea or coffee and even chocolate I have to be very careful with. Alcohol is a no no - last xmas my neighbour gave some mince pies that she had made. I had one on boxing day it tasted lovely, half an hour later my heart was racing - eventually it dawned on me it must have been the mince pie, she had put brandy in it not a lot but enough to set me off. Cassie

[meadfoot]

Avoid MSG like theplague. I loved Chinese food but cant touch it now. A food diary may help isolate your food and drink triggers. Sugar, tea, coffee, chocolate are just a few of mine, plenty more but perhaps that is just me. Good luck.

[jeanjeannie50]

I avoid anything that contains artificial additives, especially sweeteners - they caused me so many PAF attacks at work.

I used to wonder why I never slept well on a Sunday night and put it down to having to go to work the next day. However, when I retired I still couldn't sleep on that night. I discovered it was the additives in the well known gravy powder I was using to make a roast dinner. I make my own now and the problem has gone.

Yes, I too thought everyone knew to avoid MSG.

Try to cut back on sugar too. Let us know if this advice helps please.

Good luck.

Jean

[IndiraK]

Yes, I agree with everyone above. MSG, too much sugar, alcohol, certain additives, too much caffeine and stress all trigger ectopics for me. It sounds very limiting but if you can identify what you can and can’t have it’s a new normal and worth doing to minimise your ectopics as much as possible. Well that’s how I feel anyway! Good luck. 🙂

[AP224]

Thanks all for your responses.... I obviously missed the memo about MSG 🤣 All others mentioned above I was aware can contribute and have determined some tolerance. Always interesting to hear the experience of others.... it helps to normalise or at least put into some perspective.

[sleeksheep]

I found that not all msg gave a reaction, Chinese food with msg I had to steer clear of but Filipino food never gave any reaction even thou it stated msg added.

The other ingredient that I am careful with is Soy sauce and Hoisin sauce , these vary such a lot but I think it comes down to how the soy was fermented.

Most of the bulk soy products have not been fermented to the old recipe and I think these are the problem ones.

[UK_5010]

I agree on MSG but also have an issue with Tyramine - mature steaks and cheese. Also, recently, I've begun to suspect Bicarbonate of Soda as large scones and cakes seem to trigger an episode as well. Does anyone else have a similar suspicion on "Raising agent"?