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Food additives widely used in the food industry, emulsifiers are found in many processed dishes, such as sauces or ice creams. They are accused of deleterious effects on intestinal health. But according to a study published by Inserm, CNRS and Paris Cité University at the Cochin Institute in Paris, repopulating the intestines with a particular bacterium would prevent the damage caused by these emulsifiers on the Digestive.
Packaged cakes, sauces, ice creams… Here are some examples of industrial products containing emulsifiers, widely consumed in France. Emulsifiers are food additives, used to prolong the shelf life of foods but also to improve their texture. Yet these benefits are small because these products have demonstrated adverse effects on gut balance.
Fortify the intestinal epithelium with the bacterium Akkermansia muciniphila
In a new study, researchers from Inserm, CNRS and Université Paris Cité at the Institut Cochin in Paris looked at the bacterium Akkermansia muciniphila.
They gave emulsifying agents to groups of mice through their diet. The latter was supplemented or not with a daily dose ofAkkermansia muciniphila.
NO to diets, YES to WW!
A “total protection” of mice
Results: the researchers observed that mice receiving Akkermansia muciniphila were completely protected from the effects of emulsifiers, which consist of chronic inflammation associated with alterations in metabolism and hyperglycemia.
“This work supports the notion that the use of Akkermansia muciniphila as a probiotic could be an approach to maintaining metabolic and gut health against modern stresses such as emulsifying agents that promote chronic gut inflammation, and the adverse consequences resulting” explains Benoît Chassaing, last author of the study. “In addition, this suggests that intestinal colonization by Akkermansia muciniphila could predict the individual propensity to develop intestinal and metabolic disorders following the consumption of emulsifiers: the greater the presence of the bacterium, the more the individual would be protected from harmful effects. food additives on the microbiota” concludes the researcher.