Gli additivi alimentari (emulsionanti) da evitare!

Un nuovo studio, pubblicato sulla rivista Nature (vedi estratto in inglese sotto), dimostra che alcuni emulsionanti possono contribuire in maniera significativa a contrarre obesità, diabete di tipo 2 e infiammazioni intestinali poiché interferiscono sull’equilibrio microbico del tratto gastro-intestinale.

Gli emulsionanti giudicati “pericolosi” sono i seguenti:

carbometilcellulosa (CMC)	E 461-462-463-464-465-466
carragenina	E 407
pectina	E 440
gomma di xantano	presente in molti prodotti per celiaci) (E 415)
amidi modificati	E1404 - E1410 - E1412 - E1413 - E1414 - E1420 - E1422 - E1440 - E1450 - E1451 - E1452
maltodestrine	aumentano la permeabilità intestinale e rischio m. Crohn
polisorbato-80	E 433

A destare preoccupazione sembrerebbe essere il ruolo importante di questi emulsionanti in elenco, nella sindrome metabolica, che comporta l’innalzamento di tutti i fattori di rischio cardiovascolare (obesità, ipertensione arteriosa e ipercolesterolemia) dovuta ad un’alterazione dell’equilibrio microbico intestinale che queste sostanze riescono ad apportare.

Estratto:

Dietary emulsifiers impact the mouse gut microbiota promoting colitis and metabolic syndrome. The intestinal tract is inhabited by a large and diverse community of microbes collectively referred to as the gut microbiota. While the gut microbiota provides important benefits to its host, especially in metabolism and immune development, disturbance of the microbiota-host relationship is associated with numerous chronic inflammatory diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease and the group of obesity-associated diseases collectively referred to as metabolic syndrome.

A primary means by which the intestine is protected from its microbiota is via multi-layered mucus structures that cover the intestinal surface, thereby allowing the vast majority of gut bacteria to be kept at a safe distance from epithelial cells that line the intestine.

Thus, agents that disrupt mucus-bacterial interactions might have the potential to promote diseases associated with gut inflammation.

Consequently, it has been hypothesized that emulsifiers, detergent-like molecules that are a ubiquitous component of processed foods and that can increase bacterial translocation across epithelia in vitro, might be promoting the increase in inflammatory bowel disease observed since the mid-twentieth century.

Here we report that, in mice, relatively low concentrations of two commonly used emulsifiers, namely carboxymethylcellulose and polysorbate-80, induced low-grade inflammation and obesity / metabolic syndrome in wild-type hosts and promoted robust colitis in mice predisposed to this disorder.

Emulsifier-induced metabolic syndrome was associated with microbiota encroachment, altered species composition and increased pro-inflammatory potential.

Use of germ-free mice and faecal transplants indicated that such changes in microbiota were necessary and sufficient for both low-grade inflammation and metabolic syndrome.

These results support the emerging concept that perturbed host-microbiota interactions resulting in low-grade inflammation can promote adiposity and its associated metabolic effects.

Moreover, they suggest that the broad use of emulsifying agents might be contributing to an increased societal incidence of obesity / metabolic syndrome and other chronic inflammatory diseases.

Altro articolo completo da leggere, sull'interazione tra Crohn e Maltodestrine.

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0052132