Almost every day, we hear about a new danger posed by a common food or ingredient we’ve always considered ‘safe’. Now, science has discovered an association between food emulsifiers in childhood and later obesity and gut problems…
In home-made Italian vinaigrette (left), oil and water naturally separate. In the
factory-made, supermarket version (right), they blend smoothly
and remain stable in that state… Thanks to emulsifiers…
Emulsifiers are additives in processed and ultra-processed foods that enable other ingredients to blend smoothly into each other – even of they don’t naturally do so. One familiar example is oil and water.
The mice speak…
In early mouse-based studies, researchers at Insyiyuy Pasteuar (France) have discovered that ex-posure to a common food additive – emulsifiers – can seriously affect kids’ gut metabolisms and promote obesity.
I know. It’s only mice. But long ago, researchers discovered that many medicinal and biological reactions in mice translate very closely to humans. Mouse-based experiments are the de facto fist step when investigating human medical issues.
What they did
According to an abstract of the study report, “In the study, female mice were given two commonly used emulsifiers, carboxymethyl cellulose (E466) and polysorbate 80 (E433), starting ten weeks before pregnancy and continuing through pregnancy and breastfeeding. The researchers then examined the gut microbiota of the offspring, which had never directly consumed these emulsifiers themselves.”
What they found
The results showed that the young mice experienced noticeable changes in their gut bacteria within the first weeks of life. This period is especially important because mothers naturally pass part of their microbiota to their offspring through close contact.
As the animals reached adulthood, the offspring developed an overactive immune response and chronic inflammation, significantly increasing the risk of inflammatory gut diseases and obesity. Thus, the study links early-life microbiota changes in mice, even without direct emulsifier consumption, to a higher likelihood of developing these chronic conditions later on.
The takeaway
“It is crucial for us to develop a better understanding of how what we eat can influence future gen-erations’ health. These findings highlight how important it is to regulate the use of food additives, especially in powdered baby formulas, which often contain such additives and are consumed at a critical moment for microbiota establishment.”
“We want to continue this research with clinical trials to study mother-to-infant microbiota trans-mission, both in cases of maternal nutrition with or without food additives and in cases of infants directly exposed to these substances in baby formula,” comments Dr. Benoit Chassaing, a co-author of the study.
My take
Another gut punch to processed foods! Next time you pick up a package of supermarket cookies or a bottle of salad dressing, check the ingredients list. You’ll almost certainly see poly-sorbate 80 and/or methylcellulose down near the bottom, with the other unpronounceable chemicals.
But more importantly…
So much new science on obesity, inflammation and related metabolism disorders lately! It’s high time someone in the learned community collected all these new discoveries and created a guide to the layperson as to what they mean, and what’s next…
~ Maggie J.