Emulsifiers come in natural and synthetic form. Some come from plants, seeds, fruits, and even eggs, while others are manufactured. Some of the emulsifiers found in foods include polysorbates, sorbitan monostearate, carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), glycerol monostearate (GMS), distilled monoglyceride (DMG), pectin, and lecithin. The studies done so far have been largely focused on animals with a few that have looked at this ingredient’s impact on patients with inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD.
Per a 2021 study published in Gastroenterology, the synthetic emulsifier CMC reduced gut diversity in the subjects. The study also found that gut bacteria had started encroaching on the gut lining which could lead to inflammation. Emulsifiers, irrespective of whether they’re of natural or chemical origin, were seen to severely impact gut microbiota in a 2020 study published in Frontiers in Microbiology. A 2021 study published in Microbiome found that the emulsifiers CMC and polysorbate 80 had a lasting and seemingly detrimental impact on microbiota composition and function. Lecithin, which is naturally found in egg yolks, was also tested and didn’t significantly impact gut bacteria. A 2020 study done on Crohn’s patients and published in Nutrients found that participants felt a lot better after avoiding emulsifiers for two weeks.
According to a research fellow at King’s College London and founder of The Gut Health Clinic, Megan Rossi, (via The Guardian) who has researched this topic, emulsifiers, “if you think about how they combine water and oil together and turn into this kind of soap, we think that may make the gut lining more vulnerable to penetration of specific inflammatory microorganisms.”