In this study rats were administered MSG which, in addition to damaging the liver and kidneys, also damages the thymus gland, which is important for your immune system. When rats were administered vitamin C, it counteracted the toxicity in the thymus gland. Now that’s great news except for the fact that the vitamin C was administered in extremely high doses. For an average person, it would involve taking 35 grams of vitamin C per day. I sincerely doubt anyone can ingest that high a quantity of vitamin C without some serious gastrointestinal issues, whether the vitamin C is buffered or not. So I would just consider adding vitamin C to the arsenal and not relying on it as your sole source of counteracting MSG.
 
Bratisl Lek Listy. 2009;110(4):205-9.

In this study, they used an ethanol extract of black pepper (the equivalent of 21g of pepper per day for a 70kg person) and looked at its protective effects against MSG toxicity. They found at that dose (which would be one really powerful peppersteak), there was
 
“significantly reduced level of lipid peroxides in serum, liver and kidney, serum AST activity, serum levels of triacylglycerol and total cholesterol. Though, there was an increase in the level of GSH in tissues it was not significant. However, the treatment failed to reduce the levels of ALT and urea.”
 
So, in other words, it did not provide complete protection but pretty good. So if you are making a pepper steak for example, you have to use a lot of beer with it. My cousin has an amazing beer steak recipe which I would share with you, except that he won’t share it with me, but it looks like he just puts a ton of pepper on there and pours a lot of beer on the steak as it cooks. If your vegetarian its much more likely that you will have MSG toxicity anyways so for vegetarians you could make a beer eggplant or something.
 
Indian J Exp Biol. 2009 Mar;47(3):186-92.

In this study they examined the effects of cows milk on mouse testicles. They found that Cows milk lowered serum testosterone levels and reduced the weight of the seminal vessicles. In general, dairy is not a great idea for male fertility in my opinion. For female fertility there is some support for using dairy, however, there is a lot of contamination in dairy products so unless you are getting pristine dairy, its best to avoid.
 
Biomed Environ Sci. 2009 Apr;22(2):161-3.

In this first study, researchers orally administered black pepper to male mice. They found that 0.5mg (the equivalent of 1 - 2 grams of black pepper per day in humans) was enough to induce testicular damage and resulted in a reduced litter size. The second study, researchers administered raw garlic and found that the rat germ cells (meaning the things that become sperm) would die off. This goes along with what we’ve been teaching for many years: many of the foods that are good at killing cancer cells, are good at killing your fertility as well…
 
Indian J Exp Biol. 2009 Sep;47(9):706-14.
Reprod Biol Endocrinol. 2009 Jun 24;7:65.

With serious lapses of hygiene in hospitals, we are now facing an epidemic of antibiotic resistant strains of potentially deadly microorganisms that are now being found outside of hospitals. One of these antibiotic resistant organisms is known as MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus). MRSA initially looks fairly innocent and may resemble pimples, boils or spider bites. However, they can then turn into abscesses and go into the body, causing potentially life-threatening infections. This is one of the reasons we are always wearing gloves in our clinic. MRSA is spread between patients very easily by doctors, nurses, etc. It is especially common on cell phones, ties, stethoscopes, pagers, etc. So if your doctor washes her hands and then checks her pager and touches you, that could spread MRSA or other organisms.
 
So it’s not a surprise that researchers are frantically looking for compounds that these bacteria are not resistant to and so they are turning to phytochemicals (plant-chemicals) for clues. In this study, they looked at Olive leaf extract and found that it was able to kill MRSA. Interesting it was also selective against Campylobacter jejuni, Helicobacter pylori.
 
Int J Antimicrob Agents. 2009 May;33(5):461-3. Epub 2009 Jan 9.

This recent study looked at both piperine and curcumin to examine their effects on breast cancer and both compounds were found to be potent inhibitors of breast cancer. Piperine is a compound found in black pepper and is responsible for the pungency, so if you are using black pepper for cancer prevention, freshly cracking it so you have the pungency is a good idea. It’s easy to add onto many foods. When you combine it with curcumin from tumeric for example, piperine can amplify curcumin’s effects by up to 2000%. They are very synergistic. However, keep in mind that piperine can affect drug metabolism, so if you are taking medications, use piperine very moderately.
 
Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2009 Nov 7. [Epub ahead of print]

A new study found that distal metastases for breast cancer tumors occurs through the action of a molecule called Transforming Growth Factor beta or TGFb. It turns out that when TGFb is expressed, single cells break off of the tumor and can metastasize through the blood stream. However, without TGFb, only chunks of cells can come off the tumor which are too big to get into the blood stream. Thus they travel through the lymphtaics which are much slower and tend to stay local. This is very interesting news and they are now looking into drugs to downregulate TGFb. However, we don’t need to wait to take advantage of this fascinating research because acupuncture and certain herbs like astragalus have already been shown to downregulate TGFb. Steve Gomberg and Brandon Horn published an article in a peer reviewed journal called Alternative Therapies in Women’s Health discussing research on how powerful Chinese herbal medicine can be in fighting breast cancers. With the new information from this study, we now have yet another mechanism by which acupuncture and Chinese herbs can help: in this case, in the prevention of distal metastases.
 
Nat Cell Biol. 2009 Nov;11(11):1287-96. Epub 2009 Oct 18.
World J Gastroenterol. 2009 Oct 7;15(37):4720-5.
Zhonghua Yi Xue Za Zhi. 2004 Sep 2;84(17):1412-5.