Posted on 08/27/2023 5:10:05 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
A study in mice shows that consuming emulsifiers—a common ingredient in ultra-processed foods—during pregnancy or breast-feeding is associated with mild health risks for offspring.
Emulsifiers help to preserve the texture of many ultra-processed foods, including some ice creams, breads, cake mixes, soups, salad dressings, and more. Prior research has linked consumption of emulsifiers to increased risk of gut inflammation, obesity, and other health conditions. In addition, unbalanced nutritional habits by pregnant or nursing mothers has been linked to long-term health risks in offspring. However, the specific effects of maternal consumption have been unclear.
To help clarify these effects, Milà-Guasch and colleagues provided laboratory mice with water containing two kinds of emulsifiers commonly found combined together in human food—carboxymethylcellulose and polysorbate-80.
From before pregnancy until the nursing offspring, female mice received the maximum concentration of each emulsifier allowed in human food products by the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization. For comparison, other mice received water without any emulsifiers.
The researchers found that the offspring of mice that consumed emulsifiers had a greater risk of certain health issues, including mild metabolic, cognitive, and psychological impairments. These effects were strongest in male offspring, but female offspring also showed impairments.
A combination of gene-expression testing and other lab tests suggested that maternal consumption of emulsifiers led to perturbation of the development of neural circuits in offspring's hypothalamus—a part of the brain that plays a central role in regulating metabolism.
Additional research will be needed to further clarify the effects on offspring of pregnant and nursing people.
Still, on the basis of their new findings, the researchers call for increased awareness of potential risks of consumption of ultra-processed foods by mothers.
Marc Claret adds, "Maternal consumption of emulsifiers may affect offspring health, promoting mild metabolic disarrangements, anxiety-like states and cognitive impairments."
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
I will say that lecithin would not be likely to cause such issues, but it was not tested.
Lecithin is a major component of egg yolks and has choline, a necessary nutrient. It also acts as an emulsifier.
Polysorbate 80 contains polyethers which break down under heat and humidity, yielding aldehydes.
Our company wanted to market a product with polyethers and I told them about the extremely short shelf life. We passed on distributing the product.
....If you give birth to a mouse, you have much bigger problems....
I think we will be OK, as long as my wife does not birth a mouse.
Scream before or scream after.
Tough call.
Gotta go back to using eggs as emulsifiers.
If we didnt learn it before, we learned it watching Breaking Bad when he made mayonnaise in science class.
so this is talking about a trans woman ?
Aren’t emulsifiers used in homogenizing cows’ milk?
I don’t believe so, because milk proteins can act a bit, in that capacity.
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