In a study relayed by Inserm, researchers revealed that a widely used food additive, called “carboxymethylcellulose (CMC)”, could alter the human intestinal micobiota and promote the onset of chronic inflammatory diseases.
- Ingesting carboxymethylcellulose, a food additive used in processed foods, could alter the bacterial composition present in the gut.
- In the long term, consumption of carboxymethylcellulose could promote the onset of chronic inflammatory diseases.
Carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) is an emulsifier, i.e. a food additive. Since the 1960s, this molecule has been used in processed foods to improve their texture and extend their shelf life. This substance is thus widely consumed. However, it could have an impact on our intestinal environment, according to research carried out by scientists at the Cochin Institute (Inserm/CNRS/University of Paris), including the results were published in the medical journal Gastroenterology last november.
This food additive would disturb our intestines
In previous work carried out on mice, the team of researchers had discovered that this molecule deteriorated the composition of the intestinal microbiota and led to the aggravation of many chronic inflammatory pathologies, such as colitis or colon cancer. For the purposes of this new study, the scientists recruited several healthy people and followed them for two weeks. The participants were divided into two groups. One had to consume a diet without any additives and the other had to eat food supplemented with the emulsifier.
The study authors found that consuming carboxymethylcellulose disrupted the composition of the gut microbiota, in a way that reduced its diversity. In addition, participants who consumed foods supplemented with the molecule presented “changes in the faecal metabolome”, especially reductions in fatty acids and amino acids.
The molecule could lead to chronic inflammatory diseases
“While the consumption of CMC did not lead to any inflammatory pathology in this relatively short study, these results confirm the data from animal studies and suggest that the long-term consumption of this additive could negatively impact the intestinal microbiota and therefore promote the chronic inflammatory diseases as well as metabolic deregulation in humans”, can we read in the Inserm publication.
The researchers concluded that further studies need to be performed to characterize the long-term impact of carboxymethylcellulose.
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