Xanthan gum, which helps give ice cream, yogurt, sauces, cakes, and gluten-free pasta their familiar texture, has been linked to gut inflammation:
Valued for its thickening, stabilizing, and gelling properties, it is among the food industry’s most widely used additives. It also helps make liquids safer to swallow for people with dysphagia, a condition that causes difficulty swallowing.
Research from the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP) in Brazil, however, raises questions about the effects of prolonged consumption. Rats that received xanthan gum for ten weeks developed colon inflammation, changes in their gut microbiota, and reduced intestinal barrier integrity. The study was supported by FAPESP.
[…]
Xanthan gum is produced through biotechnology by fermenting material with the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris. “It’s a plant pathogen that, in nature, infects a variety of plants and can be observed when cabbage or kale, for example, begin to spoil,” she says.
[…]
The results may help clarify earlier reports connecting xanthan gum with necrotizing enterocolitis in premature infants in the United States. This serious disease causes intestinal inflammation that can lead to tissue death.
In 2012, 22 newborns developed the condition after receiving formula thickened with xanthan gum, and at least three died. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) subsequently prohibited its use in premature infants and advises against using it in infants more generally.
[…]
The researchers also examined the biological pathway through which the inflammatory response developed in the colon. “Xanthan gum is reactive and opens the intestinal barrier, altering a protein [Claudin-2] that’s responsible for regulating permeability between intestinal cells, which triggers an inflammatory cascade,” Rischiteli explains.
[…]
Rats fed the additive developed an inflammatory state marked by greater numbers of lymphocytes, immune defense cells, within the intestinal wall. The response was strongest among animals receiving medium and high doses of xanthan gum.
[…]
The rats also had elevated levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1? and TNF-?, providing further evidence of an inflammatory response. “TNF-alpha, in particular, is associated with the death of cells lining the intestine [epithelium] and the development of inflammatory diseases,” she says.