MICI: cellulose gum in the collimator-ladepeche.fr

Carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), also known as cellulose gum or code E466, is a relatively common food additive whose adverse effects have been observed on the intestinal flora and colon of mice. A recent study shows that it may play a role in certain diseases of the intestine in humans.

Fresh cream, cakes, ice cream, brioche, sweet drinks, chewing gum … These are some of the processed products in which carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) is found in its dietary version (it is also present in some toothpaste). An additive commonly used since the 1960s to improve the texture and extend the shelf life of these products. The UFC-Que choose the class in "unrecommended" food additives.

And for good reason: like other emulsifiers, it has been the subject of research in recent years. To determine, among other things, whether it may be one of the environmental factors that play a role in the occurrence of chronic inflammatory bowel disease (ICD) such as Crohn's disease or hemorrhagic rectotolitis. Thus, in 2015, a team led by researcher Inserm Benoît Chassaig had shown that the presence of food emulsifiers in many processed dishes could alter the intestinal microbiota and thus promote inflammation in mice.

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Confirmation of animal studies

What about humans? This is the subject of the study conducted by the same team and published in the journal Gastroenterology. The small sample consisted of about 15 "healthy" men and women, that is, with no history of chronic inflammatory bowel disease. The participants were divided into two groups: "one was eating a strictly controlled diet without any additives, and the other was an identical but supplemented diet with CMC," Inserm said in a press release.

As a result, after two weeks, the latter group showed an alteration of the intestinal microbiota "with a net decrease in the amount of certain species [of bacteria] known to play a beneficial role in human health". Clinically, "these participants were more prone to abdominal pain and bowel bloating".

In short, if the consumption of CMC did not trigger pathology in the participants, the results suggest that in the longer term, as in the mouse, the additive "could negatively impact the intestinal microbiota and thus promote chronic inflammatory diseases and metabolic deregulation in humans".? However, further studies will be needed, on larger samples and longer durations, in particular to understand "the heterogeneity of CMC responses between subjects".