He wrote a letter detailing his symptoms to a prestigious medical journal, pondering whether his illness had resulted from eating monosodium glutamate — also known as MSG.

他写信给份很有名望的医学期刊详述他的症状，怀疑他的不适是不是因为吃了谷氨酸钠，又名味精。

Monosodium glutamate is really bad for your health.

味精真的对你的健康有害。

Half a century ago, a letter published in The New England Journal of Medicine described a terrifying new condition whose symptoms — headache, sweating, heart palpitations — were associated with a common ingredient of dishes served in Chinese restaurants: monosodium glutamate, or MSG.

半个世纪以前，封发《英格兰医学杂》上的信描述了怕的性疾病，其症状——头痛、出汗、心悸——都与中餐馆中常见的调料有关：味精。

No one comes in with monosodium glutamate!

没人会带着味精进来！

Just like if you wanted your food to be saltier, you’d add salt, if you wanted to give your food a kick of umami, a more savory taste, you’d add monosodium glutamate.

就像如果你想让食物更咸， 你会加盐样，如果你想给食物增添些鲜味， 更浓郁的味道， 你会加谷氨酸钠。

The European Union has applied anti-dumping laws against bed linen from Egypt, antibiotics from India, footwear from China, microwave ovens from Malaysia, and monosodium glutamate from Brazil, among other products from other places.

欧盟对来自埃及的床单、来自印度的抗生素、来自中国的鞋类、来自马来西亚的微波炉、来自巴西的味精以及来自其他地方的其他产品实施了反倾销法。

Monosodium glutamate is the synthesized version, and it’s usually made by fermenting bacteria so that they excrete it.

谷氨酸钠是合成版本，通常通过发酵细菌来制造，使它们分泌出来。