Nutritional yeast is a dried fungi species usually grown on whey, molasses, and/or sugar beets. Nutritional yeast is from the Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain, the same type of yeast that's used to brew beer and bake bread.

Are there excellent nutrients to be found in nutritional yeast, such as B vitamins? Frankly, most nutritional yeast acquires its impressive nutrient list the same way Super K breakfast cereal does: vitamin supplements are sprayed on (added) during the finishing process.

Yeast comes from the fungi family; its relatives include mold, mildew and mushrooms, all producers of mycotoxins. Yeast increases the inflammation in the human body which is a bad thing; as inflammation increases so does the incidence of autoimmune diseases, heart disease and cancer. For example, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis,(1) uveitis, autoimmune thyroid disease,(2) antiphospholipid syndrome, type 1 diabetes mellitus, rheumatoid arthritis, and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus,(3) all show elevated antibodies for yeast.(4) In fact, future Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis can be predicted from yeast antibody titer levels.(5)

Because many diseases result from elevated whole-body inflammation. The inflammation from yeast actually increases the severity of heart disease and heart attacks.(6) Even COVID severity was exacerbated in patients showing increased inflammation caused by yeast.

Cancer survival is much worse in patients with high anti-yeast antibody levels present, due to increased exposure to yeast.(7)

“Why is it that cheese is bad for us, but we can make everything taste like cheese with nutritional yeast?”, an audience member inquired of me of whom was attending a health lecture series I conducted on the east coast of the United States. I was caught off guard. We, as a family loved yeast flavored popcorn and ate it often.

“Good question, I don’t know”, I admitted, “I’ll have to look into that.” She had a point, and it made sense. But at the time, very little research was available to answer that question satisfactorily.

And why is cheese so appealing, so much so that we aspire to create a healthy alternative? Not wanting to be the bearer of bad news, but cheese is high in monosodium glutamate (MSG). Free glutamate, the dangerous part of MSG, is a major contributor to the flavor that is so valued in fermented dairy products.(8)

Incidentally, the process of fermentation of any food tends to release this free glutamic acid. “Glutamic acid is an abundant amino acid that lends a characteristic umami (MSG) taste to foods. In fermented foods, glutamic acid can be found as a free amino acid formed by proteolysis or as a non-proteolytic derivative

formed by microorganisms.”(9) As a fermenting microorganism, yeast can actually be used to produce large quantities of MSG.(10,11) Research reveals that the interiors of yeast cells are comprised of amino acids, peptides, carbohydrates, salts, and MSG.(12)

Food industry hides the otherwise objectional “MSG” in the food item fondly known as nutritional yeast. “In recent years, prejudice in society against MSG has directed food manufacturers to alternative sources. Yeast extracts are considered as ‘natural’ due to the production process and stand out due to their nutritional properties as well as giving a flavor similar to MSG.” As it turns out, 47.41 gm in every 100 gm of yeast’s protein falls in the excitotoxin category.(13) That’s nearly half of its content! So, for the most part, nutritional yeast is a substitute for monosodium glutamate, a neurotoxin, of which it contains a high concentration.

But, why should we care about the presence of a little flavor enhancing MSG in our food?

MSG is what has come to be known as an excitotoxin. Excitotoxicity is a complex process triggered by glutamate receptor activation that results in the degeneration of dendrites and cell death. All cell parts are affected by the excitotoxic process, with changes in the cytosol, mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum, and nucleus. Excitotoxicity is triggered by the overactivation of glutamate receptors, resulting in sodium ion and calcium ion influx across through the plasma membrane as the result of opening of glutamate receptor channels and voltage-dependent calcium ion channels.(14)

MSG increases psychiatric disorders and cancer. That’s right!

Psychiatric and neurological disorders that increase with glutamate include: depression, bipolar, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), anxiety, schizophrenia, epilepsy, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), migraine headaches and chronic pain.(15)

The list of cancers increased due to this super flavor is daunting: brain tumors, colorectal cancer, pancreatic cancer, hepatocellular cancer, gastric cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, lung cancers, thyroid cancer, oral squamous cell carcinoma, larynx cancer, prostate cancer, melanoma, osteosarcoma, leukemia and lymphoma. Glutamate can act as a growth factor and a signal mediator in tumor tissues. It has been also demonstrated that glutamate receptor subunits are expressed in a variety of cancer cell lines and tumors. They are there for a reason. Once stimulated, they make cancer grow.(16)

In conclusion, nutritional yeast, with its MSG content, poses serious health dangers, especially to your mental health, your risk of cancer and risk of an auto immune disease.

References

(1) Annese V, Andreoli A, Andriulli A, Dinca R, Gionchetti P, Latiano A, Lombardi G, Piepoli A, Poulain D, Sendid B, Colombel JF. Familial expression of anti-Saccharomyces cerevisiae Mannan antibodies in Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis: a GISC study. Am J Gastroenterol. 2001 Aug;96(8):2407-12.

(2) Temajo NO, Howard N. The mosaic of environment involvement in autoimmunity: the abrogation of viral latency by stress, a non-infectious environmental agent, is an intrinsic prerequisite prelude before viruses can rank as infectious environmental agents that trigger autoimmune diseases. Autoimmun Rev. 2014 Jun;13(6):635-40.

(3) Rinaldi M. Anti-saccharomyces cerevisiae autoantibodies and autoimmune diseases: the sweet and sour of baking yeast. Isr Med Assoc J. 2014 Oct;16(10):616-8.

(4) Rinaldi M, Perricone R, Blank M, Perricone C, Shoenfeld Y. Anti-Saccharomyces cerevisiae autoantibodies in autoimmune diseases: from bread baking to autoimmunity. Clin Rev Allergy Immunol. 2013 Oct;45(2):152-61.

(5) van Schaik FD, Oldenburg B, Hart AR, Siersema PD, Lindgren S, Grip O, Teucher B, Kaaks R, Bergmann MM, Boeing H, Carbonnel F, Jantchou P, Boutron-Ruault MC, Tjønneland A, Olsen A, Crowe FL, Peeters PH, van Oijen MG, Bueno-de-Mesquita HB. Serological markers predict inflammatory bowel disease years before the diagnosis. Gut. 2013 May;62(5):683-8.

(6) Rinaldi M, Perricone R, Perricone C, Shoenfeld Y. CH42 antimyocardial auto-antibodies (AMCA). In: Shoenfeld Y, Meroni PL, Gershwin ME, eds. Auto-antibodies. 3rd edn. Oxford: Elsevier, 2014: 349-55

(7) Ramoner R, Rahm A, Gander H, Stollenwerk B, Falkensammer C, Leonhartsberger N, Thurnher M. Serum antibodies against Saccharomyces cerevisiae: a new prognostic indicator in etastatic renal-cell carcinoma. Cancer Immunol Immunother. 2008 Aug;57(8):1207-14.

(8) Xiang Q, Xia Y, Song J, Nazmus Saqib M, Zhong F. Characterization of the key nonvolatile metabolites in Cheddar cheese by partial least squares regression (PLSR), reconstitution, and omission. Food Chem. 2023 Mar 1;403:134034.

(9) Frerot E, Chen T. Identification and quantitation of new glutamic acid derivatives in soy sauce by UPLC/MS/MS. Chem Biodivers. 2013 Oct;10(10):1842-50.

(10) van der Merwe GK, Cooper TG, van Vuuren HJ. Ammonia regulates VID30 expression and Vid30p function shifts nitrogen metabolism toward glutamate formation especially when Saccharomyces cerevisiae is grown in low concentrations of ammonia. J Biol Chem. 2001 Aug 3;276(31):28659-66.

(11) Avendaño A, Deluna A, Olivera H, Valenzuela L, Gonzalez A. GDH3 encodes a glutamate dehydrogenase isozyme, a previously unrecognized route for glutamate biosynthesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. J Bacteriol. 1997 Sep;179(17):5594-7.

(12) Dubey, R.C., D.K. Maheshwari, and R. Saravanamurthu. Industrial Exploitation of Microorganisms. New Delhi: I.K., International Publishing House Pvt. Ltd., 2010.

(13) Demirgül F, Şimşek Ö, Bozkurt F, Dertli E, Sağdıç O. Production and characterization of yeast extracts produced by Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Saccharomyces boulardii and Kluyveromyces marxianus. Prep Biochem Biotechnol. 2022;52(6):657-667.

(14) M.P. Mattson, in Stress: Physiology, Biochemistry, and Pathology, 2019.

(15) Miladinovic T, Nashed MG, Singh G. Overview of Glutamatergic Dysregulation in Central Pathologies. Biomolecules. 2015 Nov 11;5(4):3112-41.

(16) Stepulak A, Rola R, Polberg K, Ikonomidou C. Glutamate and its receptors in cancer. J Neural Transm (Vienna). 2014 Aug;121(8):933-44. doi: 10.1007/s00702-014-1182-6.

God bless you.  Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you.

The Clark Family