The Hidden Dangers of Emulsifiers in Your Food
Understanding the Impact of Emulsifiers
Emulsifiers are commonly used in a wide range of food products to improve texture and prevent the separation of oil and water. From ice cream to baked goods, these additives play a crucial role in shaping our favorite foods.
However, recent research has shed light on the darker side of emulsifiers. Studies have linked these substances to a host of health issues, including altered gut microbiome, inflammation, and an increased risk of conditions like heart disease and cancer.
Despite their common presence in many foods we consume daily, emulsifiers pose a significant threat to our health and well-being.
The Role of Emulsifiers in our Diet
While emulsifiers are often associated with junk food, they can also be found in seemingly healthy options like low-fat dairy products and nut bars. These additives are pervasive in the food industry, with over 100 different types of emulsifiers being used to enhance the texture and shelf life of various products.
Certain products, like fat-free cream and cheese, are packed with emulsifiers to replace the fat content, making them potential health hazards despite their seemingly healthy label.
The Health Implications of Emulsifiers
Research has shown a clear link between high consumption of emulsifiers and an increased risk of cancer and other chronic conditions. Studies on French adults revealed a concerning association between emulsifier intake and elevated cancer risks, particularly in breast and prostate cancer.
Further investigations have highlighted the harmful effects of emulsifiers on gut health, with synthetic additives like polysorbate 80 disrupting the balance of intestinal bacteria and triggering inflammation.
Protecting Your Gut Microbiome
As we unravel the harmful effects of emulsifiers on our health, it becomes crucial to take proactive steps to safeguard our gut microbiome. Avoiding processed foods and opting for homemade meals can significantly reduce our exposure to these additives.
Reading food labels diligently and choosing products with natural emulsifiers like lecithin can help mitigate the risks associated with synthetic additives. By being mindful of what we eat, we can prioritize our gut health and overall well-being.
Conclusion
Emulsifiers may seem like harmless additives in our food, but their detrimental effects on our health cannot be overlooked. By staying informed, making conscious food choices, and advocating for safer alternatives, we can protect our gut microbiome and lead healthier lives.
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April 12, 2024: Creamy, thick and velvety: no emulsifiers, your favorite ice cream or muffin may not taste the same. However, research warns that these substances have a darker side, from polysorbate-80 to carrageenan. Evidence links emulsifiers to altered gut microbiome, inflammationand various conditions, from heart attacks to breast cancer.
That‘it’s more, emulsifiersDon‘It does not necessarily equate to junk food. These substances can be found in many foods that are often considered healthy, such as some low-fat Greek yogurts, nut bars, or oat milk.
There is more than 100 different emulsifiers that can be added to foods. They prevent the separation of oil and water, improving the texture. TO study 2023 They found emulsifiers in up to 95% of cakes and pies in British supermarkets, 55% of breads and 36% of meat products.
Certain products containing emulsifiers may not fit neatly into traditional dietary categories. Low-fat dairy products are a good example, he said. Benoit Chassaing, PhD, microbiologist at the French National Institute for Medical and Health Research (INSERM). “Yeah [producers] To remove the fat, they need to replace it with something else. So, very often, if you buy fat-free or low-fat cream or cream cheese, it will be loaded with dietary emulsifiers,” he said.
From a health perspective, that’s bad news. In 2024, Chassaing and his colleagues published a study based on 92,000 French adults who provided detailed records of the foods they ate, including brands. The results revealed that people who consumed the highest levels of emulsifiers had a significantly elevated risk of cancer. For carrageenans, which are emulsifiers derived from seaweed, the risk of breast cancer increased by 32%. Another type of emulsifier, mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids, increased the risk of prostate cancer by 46%. a related study 2023 linked dietary intake of emulsifiers to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Among the worst offenders were mmicrocrystalline cellulose and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), which can be found in ice cream or processed cheeses.
While population studies suggest a link between food emulsifiers and poor health, they do not prove that the additives directly cause negative health outcomes. What can help are laboratory studies. For such experiments, researchers typically use a human intestine simulator, a machine that can They look like a row of old school milk bottles connected by tubes to a telephone switchboard. The bottles contain intestinal microbiota extracted from human feces, to which scientists add various emulsifiers (it is true that the laboratory can smell quite bad). In one of those studies published in 2024Researchers in Belgium showed that polysorbate 80, a synthetic emulsifier often used in dairy products and salad dressings, reduces the number of beneficial intestinal bacteria, such as Faecalibacterium prausnitziiwhile increasing the number of those associated with inflammation.
Andrés Gewirtz, PhD, a microbiologist at Georgia State University, said emulsifiers have long been considered safe for consumption because many of them pass through the body without being absorbed. “Therefore they are not supposed to do anything negative,” he said. This view began to change when we recognized the importance of the intestinal microbiota for health. Now, the fact that emulsifiers could reach the gut almost unchanged made them “the prime suspects for disrupting the microbiota,” Gewirtz said.
When you eat something that contains emulsifiers, the nutrients and water in the food will be absorbed throughout the digestive tract. However, several additives will remain relatively intact. “We think they may reach a higher concentration in the intestine,” Chassaing said. Once there, some emulsifiers can change the composition and function of the microbiota, which causes intestinal bacteria to emit pro-inflammatory molecules. This, in turn, could lead to a variety of chronic inflammatory diseases, from diabetes to cardiovascular disease.
One of the strongest arguments in favor of the negative effects of food emulsifiers came from a 2022 test carried out by Gewirtz, Chassaingand his colleagues. For that experiment, 16 volunteers were randomly assigned to eat a diet without emulsifiers or one containing high doses of CMC. For 11 days, the participants were housed in a local hospital and fed an identical diet, with one exception: some of them received desserts made with CMC. The results showed that eating the emulsifier was linked to more complaints of abdominal discomfort, as well as the loss of health-promoting metabolites released by gut microbes, such as short-chain fatty acids.
“It confirmed the idea that emulsifiers are impacting the gut microbiota, changing species composition.” Gewirtz saying.
For two of the participants, things got particularly bad: Their gut bacteria invaded the normally sterile inner mucosal layer of the intestine, a condition that can lead to Crohn’s disease or Crohn’s disease.lcerative colitis. A follow-up study from 2024 revealed that this was likely due to the gut microbiome composition of the two participants.
They had “a microbiota that was very sensitive to disturbance,” Chassaing said. If you transfer intestinal bacteria from these patients to mice, “you can cause very bad colitis,” she said. However, the trial was small and, as Aaron Bancildoctor, a gastroenterologist At King’s College London, participants were fed fairly high doses of CMC: 15 grams per day. While some people can get this type of dose with their regular diet, “it’s not going to be something that’s consumed frequently,” she said.
Meanwhile, other research suggests that emulsifiers may directly affect the human intestine. When Italian researchers applied dietary emulsifiers to human cells derived from colon cancer, found which made these cells proliferate faster. This could indicate a role for emulsifiers in gastrointestinal tract cancers, confirming the results of French population studies. Emulsifiers could also act as a gateway to other potentially harmful chemicals. In experiments Performed on both human and rat cell lines, polysorbate 80 damaged the mucosal barrier in the intestine, causing it to increase. permeability — the infamous “leaky gut.” This was helped by phthalates, chemical compounds that are commonly added to plastics and that, once ingested, can be transformed. in endocrine disruptorsso that the body absorbs it more easily.
Animal research shows that consuming emulsifiers may also cause anxiety. Mice fed CMC and polysorbate 80 showed changes in Areas of the brain responsible for stress. response, like the amygdala. And if you feed mice with emulsifiers During pregnancy, such effects can also be transferred to your offspring. However, according to Bancil, while animal models are informative, “we can’t completely translate those things to humans.”
What’s more, not all emulsifiers seem equally harmful. When Chassaing, Gewirtz and their colleagues tested 20 common dietary emulsifiersThey found that some, like carrageenans, guar gum and xanthann chewing gum, had surprising harmful effects, while others, such as lecithin, were less harmful. Lecithin is a natural emulsifier, commonly derived from eggs and soy. As such, Gewirtz said, it does not reach the intestine unabsorbed like synthetic emulsifiers do. On the other hand, “polysorbate 80, carrageenans“And also a lot of gums, xanthan gum and guar gum, are really aggressive for the microbiota,” Chassaing said.
There may be ways to protect the gut microbiome from the harmful effects of dietary emulsifiers. When researchers fed mice mucus-fortifying bacteria, Akkermansia muciniphila, prevented the harm caused by consuming CMC and polysorbate 80. However, Gewirtz cautioned that this does not mean we should all rush to stock up on tokkermansia pills, since such supplements “are simply not very well tested.”
The safest bet to keep your gut healthy would be to eat homemade foods and avoid emulsifiers altogether. However, Bancil said, for some people, especially those with a busy lifestyle, this can be difficult. As such, checking the labels might be a better solution. “Very often there is an alternative,” Chassaing said. “There are a lot of dietary emulsifiers in ice cream, but you can find some brands that will make ice cream without emulsifiers,” she said.
Counterintuitively, cheaper foods are sometimes less loaded with emulsifiers than more expensive options. “There may be branded ketchup or there may be a supermarket’s own brand. The brand name, which might be more expensive, might contain emulsifiers, but the brand itself might not have them,” Bancil said.
The same goes for foods marketed as healthy, he said. Megan Rossi, PhD, nutritionist at King’s College London. “Let’s be cautious and not automatically assume that they are better for you,” she said.
However, the study of labels is not without challenges. This is because “emulsifiers can be labeled as different things,” Bancil said. So carboxymethylcellulose could appear on a label such as CMC, cellulose gum, modified cellulose or, in Europe, as E466. carrageenan could be called irish mossEucheuma extract or E407.
According to Gewirtz, taking into account the results of animal research and in vitro studies, as well as preliminary human trials, the food industry should be encouraged to look for safer alternatives, in particular to synthetic emulsifiers. Chassaing hopes that “in the future we will be able to select and favor the use of additives that are much better tolerated by the microbiota.” However, he stated, “that is not yet the case.”
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