Food additives linked to colitis, etc.

[Hopeful]

Article showing a correlation between food preservatives and emulsifiers and colitis, obesity, gut issues:
http://www.nature.com/news/food-preserv ... se-1.16984

[tex]

Hi Chris,

Someone posted about the study results on carboxymethylcellulose about a week or so ago. I'm thinking it was Greengoddess, but I could be wrong. The post was sort of hidden in a thread about a different topic, so thanks for posting about this in a new thread.

IMO the following quote from the article pretty much says it all, and it defines why the testing that the FDA uses as a basis for making decisions about approving food ingredients and medications causes so many problems for so many people. The FDA allows the petitioner (the company submitting the application and the supporting research) to select the subjects used in the study. In fact, the petitioner is required to do everything regarding the study — the FDA plays no part in that. And it's very common practice, especially in drug trials, to disqualify any subjects who show adverse reactions in pre-trial studies. So it's no wonder that the studies almost always come out so well, and the studies typically show overwhelmingly favorable results, with a negligible percentage of adverse events. They are designed to avoid participation by most people who might be adversely affected by the product Is that cool or what?

Gewirtz says that previous studies may have missed these links because newly developed food additives are tested in large swathes of the population, masking any subtle effects in people whose genetics or gut-microbe composition predispose them to these diseases. For regulators, he says, “the idea that a subset of the population may be sensitive isn’t on the radar.”

This lack of specificity could explain why nutritionists and public-health agencies are constantly revising their dietary guidelines — just this month, for example, an advisory council to the US government recommended eliminating guidelines on cholesterol consumption. “If you look over a 50-year perspective, you would see that the recommendations go back and forth, back and forth,” says immunologist Eran Elinav of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel. “No one is lying or cheating, many of these studies are well-designed studies, but they all look at large populations.”

When we think about it, it shouldn't be surprising that artificial or otherwise foreign additives in food would cause alterations in gut bacteria populations. Absolutely anything and everything in our diet has an effect on gut bacteria population balances because virtually all ingredients either enhance or handicap the health and vigor of every bacterium in the gut. And ingredients that enhance the health of any given species cause that species to thrive. By the same token, ingredients that hinder the development of specific bacteria populations (by not fulfilling their nutritional needs), promote a decline in the populations of those species.

So we shouldn't be surprised when artificial food ingredients promote an "unnatural" gut bacteria population shift. Right? It's really rather simple (and quite obvious), if we just look at it with a little common sense.

Thanks for the link.

Tex

[humbird753]

Thank you for posting this. I did read a similar article recently, and am not surprised by these findings. Seems common sense that the more whole foods people consume would be beneficial even without MC. I also agree that there are other factors that come into play. I didn't pay much attention to what was happening to our foods until after my diagnosis. It's surprising to find out what they actually put into foods - crazy.... Just thought the FDA had our backs on this one. Apparently not. Then, our doctors say food has nothing to do with our health?!? I try to eat only whole foods to not only eliminate gluten and dairy but also the chemicals. IMO it is pretty impossible to find the "perfect" diet, so I just do the best I can.

[Hopeful]

The weird thing is that I'm one of those "still a hippie after all these years" folks who have been avoiding processed foods for 4 decades! We grow and "process" most of our own food and I've always been careful about the ingredients in "store-bought" products.

So this information on food additives just confirms what I've thought for a long time. Obviously there are many other triggers to gut issues. But processed food is so pervasive now, this certainly needs much more research.

Sigh...
Chris

[Gabes-Apg]

My mother has crohns (has stoma bag now)
I told her about this study and the results and her reply was - well lucky I am not a mouse!!!

[Hopeful]

You could say she has her own ways of dealing with stress - blow it off!

[DebE13]

I wish I would have known what I do now when my son was younger. I feel guilty now for raising him with eating habits that now scare the pants off me. He has made changes to his diet now as a young adult but I wish all processed foods would be eliminated and sugary foods reduced.