Posted on: March 16, 2015 Posted by: Michele Lee Comments: 0

digestive system anatomy anterior view

Our penchant for processed food supplies us with many calories but few nutrients. And now a study led by researchers at Georgia State University shows that a common ingredient in supermarket food may be adding to our health worries.

Emulsifiers like lecithin often are added to foods to make their texture chewier and to help prevent spoilage. But an investigation of their intestinal effects shows they can eliminate beneficial probiotic bacteria that inhabit the digestive tract and cause intestinal inflammation while increasing the risk of inflammatory bowel disease and metabolic syndrome (a condition that often leads to diabetes, liver problems and heart disease).

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) like ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease plague millions of Americans and can be severely painful.

The researchers note that our probiotic bacteria include about 100 trillion bacteria living in the intestines that help control the immune system. Disturbances in these microscopic organisms previously have been linked to both metabolic syndrome and IBD. This study shows that the consumption of emulsifiers may be adding to these digestive problems.

“A key feature of these modern plagues is alteration of the gut microbiota in a manner that promotes inflammation,” says researcher Andrew T. Gewirtz.

“The dramatic increase in these diseases has occurred despite consistent human genetics, suggesting a pivotal role for an environmental factor,” adds researcher Benoit Chassaing. “Food interacts intimately with the microbiota so we considered what modern additions to the food supply might possibly make gut bacteria more pro-inflammatory.”

The lab tests examined the effects of the emulsifiers polysorbate 80 and carboxymethylcellulsose, demonstrating that they favored the proliferation of intestinal bacteria that lead to inflammation.

The researchers also believe that emulsifiers may make us more prone to overeating and gaining weight.

“We do not disagree with the commonly held assumption that over-eating is a central cause of obesity and metabolic syndrome,” says Gewirtz . “Rather, our findings reinforce the concept suggested by earlier work that low-grade inflammation resulting from an altered microbiota can be an underlying cause of excess eating.”

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