A couple of years ago I lived opposite a chinese restaurant and as a result I became quite a regular; I couldn't resist the distinctive whiff of cooking chinese food whafting through my lounge window.
Over the period of a few months I realised that whenever I had a chinese meal I would experience extremely profound, vivid and easily memorable dreams during the night; this led me to contemplate why.
After a quick scout on the internet I discovered that the principle ingredient in most chinese food, and that which gives it its distinctive taste or "umami," is monosodium glutamate - or msg!
Now, we all know the peculiar and amusing history that cheese has when it comes to dreams. Many people believe that cheese enhances dreaming and there are, dotted about the net, forums and message boards devoted to cheese and dreams.
This recent article in the hindustan times highlights some of the facts about dreamcheese:-
"A new research claims that different types of cheese can give you different kinds of dreams. Hence, if you wish to bring on nostalgia, do not forget to eat Red Leicester before you retire for the night.
The British Cheese Board, which conducted a study on 200 volunteers, found that while 'Red Leicester' brings on nostalgia, 'Stilton' leads to the oddest, and eating 'Cheshire' means no dreams at all, reports the Mirror.
Around eight in 10 who ate 20g of 'Stilton' before bed had bizarre visions in their sleep?
A typical one involved a vegetarian crocodile upset because it could not eat children, and another was of troops fighting with kittens rather than guns.
Almost seven in 10 who had 'Cheddar' dreamt of celebrities, while 'Red Leicester' brought back the past memories to six in 10.
More than six in 10 on 'Lancashire' cheese had visions of work while half who had the Cheshire variety dreamt of nothing.
Though conventional belief claims that eating cheese before bed brings nightmares, researchers today promote this habit as they feel it's good for health.
"One of its amino acids reduces stress and induces sleep," the paper quoted The Dairy Council's Dr Judith Bryans as saying. "
The key that links this topic together is the quote from Judith Bryans at the close of this article. What is the amino acid reponsible for inducing such vivid and sometimes crazy dreams?
Why, off course, it's our friend glutamate. The amino acid glutamate, appearing naturally in our brains is the major excitory neurotransmitter. In fact, cheese contains the highest amount of glutamate than any other food. Hence, the link is completed between the chinese food and the cheese for providing enhanced dreaming.
Cheese also contains abundant trytophan - another amino acid precursor to serotonin. Actually, tryptophan is one of the amino acids linked to the causes of schizophrenia. Food for thought!?
Despite the ongoing controversy over the safety of msg and glutamate in our foods there is, as yet, no hard evidence for its danger. As Alex Renton from The Observer commented: "If MSG is so bad for you, why doesn't everyone in Asia have a headache?"
Here is a list of those foods containing the magic...and I hope that you may enjoy them..**bites into a chunk of roquefort**
Sweet Dreams!!
Free glutamate content of foods (mg per 100g)
roquefort cheese 1280
parmesan cheese 1200
soy sauce 1090
walnuts 658
fresh tomato juice 260
grape juice 258
peas 200
mushrooms 180
broccoli 176
tomatoes 140
mushrooms 140
oysters 137
corn 130
potatoes 102
chicken 44
mackerel 36
beef 33
eggs 23
human milk 22
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