Ranking of emulsifiers/thickeners and other problematic additives?

[Stressedmom]

Are there some that are worse than others? I assume maltodextrin and carrageenan are some of the worst. Are the gums and sunflower lecithin as bad?

Our son's doctor is letting us try any research-based non-medication intervention we want before trying a new med since inflammation has gone down to borderline and he has been off steroids for quite a while. Calprotectin was never higher than 150ish. No official Crohn's diagnosis, but there was mild inflammation at terminal ileum and illeal cecal valve-common Crohn's locations. Biopsies suggested not Crohn's "at this time," but another doctor thought he would definitely develop it. CE found small ulcers and erosions in distal ileum-not enough to be Crohn's and steroids got rid of most concerning symptom. Other symptoms persist.

We are doing turmeric supplements, already on anti-inflammation/ Mediterranean diet, will try Visbiome and trying to avoid processed foods even more. Dr's handout mentions emulsifiers and thickeners, but doesn't say which are the most toxic. Have any researchers determined which may be the worst?

(Also, we are aware of the other diets researched, but feel most comfortable with anti-inflammation Mediterranean with mostly whole foods since he enjoys it (and so do we) and it seems to agree with him.)

 

[wild_one353]

It's mainly synthetic emulsifiers that have been altered chemically, so something like soy lecithin isnt going to be a problem. some pretty bad ones are carboxymethylcellulose, hydroxylproplmethylcellulose/hpmc/aka hypromellose, polysorbate, modified starch, and perhaps a few more.

Unfortunately these substance are in every oral medication and food supplement, and many foods, so its tough to avoid. Ive been doing it for 7 years though.

here is some more info, i recall a few interviews of people who live to very old age and are asked what they attribute their longevity to, sometimes they brag about never taking any medications, now I wonder if there is some truth to this, because many elderly are on multiple meds. Now the lifespan of americans is declining for the first time in decades and people wonder why, and this decline is even more apparent in the white population who interestingly enough, have been insured more frequently, and likely, use more medications then the uninsured. African americans have historically mistrusted scientific medicine and are interestingly the least likely to be disabled in old age, so I wonder if synthetic emulsifiers will someday be an explanation for some of these differences in health statistics.

So taking the microbiome and interactions with synthetic emulsifers into account for health issues, we probably don't want to expose ourselves to things that will supress the growth of good bacteria in the gut and slowly render important microbes extinct only to speed up the process of old age, disease and loss of functionality.

 

[D Bergy]

I have not been symptomatic in over a decade and can eat anything without problems. There is one exception though. In some root beer there is quillaia extract and it upsets my stomach. It took me a while to nail down the ingredient but root beer without it doesn’t bother me.

if you do some reading on quillaia You will wonder why it is put in a beverage. It is similar to soap and is also an emulsifier.

Another problem ingredient for some people even without Crohn’s is a thickener called carrageenan. Might want to avoid that one.

Titanium dioxide is a flow agent in a lot of supplements and in some food. Not good for your guts.

 

[kiny]

Are there some that are worse than others? I assume maltodextrin and carrageenan are some of the worst.

Maltodextrin differ somewhat depending on the length of the hydrolysis process. But they all have one thing in common, they get taken up proximally.

The researchers who do these in vitro maltodextrin studies in their lab in small petri dishes, should ask themselves how much, if any, maltodextrin even reaches the small intestine beyond the jejunum.

The second question they should ask themselves, is how one explains the large reduction in inflammation we see in people with crohn's disease consuming EN, where the main ingredient is maltodextrin.

 

[kiny]

will try Visbiome

There have been quite a number of studies on probiotics and prebiotics. They have all failed to show any benefit for crohn's disease. I would be careful with probiotics because these supposedly harmless bacteria can cross the epithelial barrier in inflamed tissue.

 

[Stressedmom]

There have been quite a number of studies on probiotics and prebiotics. They have all failed to show any benefit for crohn's disease. I would be careful with probiotics because these supposedly harmless bacteria can cross the epithelial barrier in inflamed tissue.

Thanks! Our son does not have a Crohn's diagnosis, though one doctor considers it Crohn's light so far and predicts it will become Crohn's. He had inflammation at typical areas for Crohns at scopes, but biopsies indicated not yet at Crohn's level and then with pillcam small ulcers were found in small intestine but not Crohn's level. Antibody testing was positive (though there is debate about whether doctor should have used that test). Calprotectin was bottom of high range, but again not considered high in Crohn's world. So according to one top docor who was seen a lot of kids like ours, some with his presentation go on to develop Crohn's others don't. So now that calprotectin is down we are treating this more as IBS. Note that calprotectin went down to top of normal range after several months of Visbiome and turmeric, but we don't know if those 2 things caused it to go down. The symptoms of concern have not decreased, but that is another story. Also, Visbiome and tumeric were done with blessing of physician (but not under physician supervision since this practice sticks to the major meds).