By studying the intestinal microbiota, French scientists have managed to show that sensitivity to a widely used food additive, which promotes chronic intestinal inflammation, varies from person to other, which opens a track for personalized nutrition .
Sauces, ice creams, cookies, sliced bread, brioches, chocolate bars, but also lightened or stamped products “good for health”, such as oats or organic almonds: used by the food industry to improve the Texture and prolong the conservation time of products, the emulsifier E466 -Ou carboxymethyl cellulose of sodium- is everywhere.
“In all that is lightened in fat, from the moment you remove the fat, we must replace it with something else to keep the texture: fresh creams 0% fat -which is still a Aberration- are responsible for emulsifying agents, ”explains the researcher Inserm Benoît Chassaing to AFP at the head of a research team at the Institut Pasteur.
“Likewise, to have the creamy texture of oat or almond milk, there is an industrial transformation where we add additives”, including in organic products, “it is very widely used”, Complete- he.
However, the E466 emulsifier is “very very negative” for our intestinal microbiota, known as the researcher, who has been studying him for several years. This additive decreases the diversity of bacteria that make it up and promotes chronic intestinal inflammation, have demonstrated previous studies.
“People who consume many emulsifying agents have an increased risk of developing a whole bunch of pathologies: certain cancers, cardiovascular disease … Epidemiological studies show it clearly,” explains the scientist.
Predict sensitivity
Published Monday in the British journal Gut, the study piloted by Mr. Chassaing suggests that the additive E466 has a negative impact on the intestinal microbiota in some people, but not in others, and that it would be possible to predict the sensitivity of a person to food emulsifiers.
“We are not all equal in the face of these additives: some would be very sensitive, others very resistant, and above all, it is possible to predict whether an individual is one or the other,” sums up the researcher, who continues his research, with nutritionists and dietitians, to identify the reasons for this sensitivity.
“And to know if you can convert a sensitive individual by resisting to be protected against the negative impact of these additives, that too we work there,” he adds.
-This sensitivity could be observed by analyzing the microbial community of the intestine, by reproducing the microbiota in the laboratory and by means of metagenomic analyzes of sample samples – techniques which make it possible to finely study the intestinal microbiota.
By transplanting in mice the microbiota of a human fecal sample, it appeared that some people have a microbiota very sensitive to the E466 emulsifier, causing strong intestinal inflammation, while others have a microbiota resistant to this food additive .
The study thus suggests that it would be possible to predict the sensitivity of a given person to food emulsifiers thanks to microbiota analyzes.
It remains, for researchers, to verify their ability to predict this sensitivity by a study with “a much wider cohort of Crohn’s patients and patients”, specifies Mr. Chassaing.
Future work will also have to elucidate the role of bacteria involved in the sensitivity to emulsifying agents, as well as the mechanisms responsible for the variations in sensitivity from one individual to another.
These discoveries could allow, in the near future, to “tell patients at risk of developing a Crohn disease or in whom it was diagnosed, after an analysis of their stools or a sequencing of their microbiota: +you are very Sensitive to this additive, it is better to stop consuming foods that contain+, ”sums up Mr. Chassaing.
If it is unlikely to see the agrifood industry give up the use of additives, research could allow it to guide it to those that our microbiota tolerates the best.
