Dietary Emulsifiers Directly Impact AIEC Gene Expression to Drive Chronic Intestinal Inflammation

[kiny]

Dietary Emulsifiers Directly Impact Adherent-Invasive E. coli Gene Expression to Drive Chronic Intestinal Inflammation

Center for Inflammation, Immunity and Infection
Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA.

Université de Paris, Paris, France.

Emilie Viennois, Alexis Bretin, Philip E. Dubé, Alexander C. Maue, Charlène J.G. Dauriat, Nicolas Barnich

October 06, 2020

 

[kiny]

 

[Pangolin]

Interesting! Has any connection been found previously between emulsifiers and Crohn’s in humans?

 

[kiny]

Yes, I've posted about Polysorbate-80 before, it helps AIEC invade intestinal tissue. The study above is not the first to point it out.

Epidemiological studies have also shown rising incidence of crohn's disease during industrialisation in previously untouched parts of the world. One of the dietary changes that happens during industrialisation is the increased access to foods containing emulsifiers. But many other things happen too, the freezing of food for example (crohn's cold chain hypothesis). But it's very possible that emulsifiers have something to do with the increase in crohn's incidence in developing countries.

 

[kiny]

The strongest evidence we have for dietary factors that might be affecting the disease is probably Emulsifiers (especially polysorbate 80) and Fructose. The diagnostic ASCA crohn's disease test checks for Saccharomyces cerevisiae, so you could argue that products with baker's yeast might be related, but we don't really know why someone with crohn's disease has those antibiodies, it might be a direct response to baker's yeast, it might be cross reactivity, no one really knows at the moment I think.

All other dietary studies are all over the place. High-fat diets are implicated in one study, not in the next, animal-protein was thought to be involved in early studies, but not in some recent studies. Besides emulsifiers and likely Fructose, there is very little data that is worth actually reading, it's too contradictory.

 

[waywardcaptain]

Carrageenan is known to cause intestinal inflammation, and that's an emulsifier too, iirc. Reading about that is why I only drink the powder form of ensure when I need to do that, since all the pre-mixed liquid forms I looked at have it as an ingredient. I think it's used to induce colitis in mouse studies as well. Does it fall under this same category?