There is evidence in the form of multiple reports in the literature of food ingredients and various chemicals resulting in cardiac rhythm abnormalities. Two of the supplements of concern have been sweetener aspartame and flavor enhancer monosodium glutamate (MSG). Both of these are prevalent in modern food items and both have been implicated as an epidemiological cause in the occurrence of atrial fibrillation. Physiologically, this is supposed to be resulting from glutamate and aspartame receptors that have been documented in cardiac muscle tissue. This report presents a physician, a teetotaler, with no previous history of food intolerances, other arrhythmias, ischemic heart disease, or heart failure, who had 8 recurrent episodes of atrial fibrillation over a course of few months of which 6 occurred within 2 hours of confirmed consumption of catered Chinese food. After conservative management failed, these episodes required ablation procedures. The presence of MSG and aspartame in modern foods, may need to be monitored, and warning signs posted, for those who are susceptible to these cardiac rhythm abnormalities.
Key words: Monosodium glutamate (MSG), exocitotoxins, cardiac rhythm abnormalities, atrial fibrillation, Chinese food
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