Food additives & inflammation

I have know for a while that I do not feel well after eating processed food. This research supports what I have discovered the hard way. Food additives, in this case the emulsifier carboxylmethylcellulose (CMC) and polysorbate 80 (P80), affect our gut microbiome and inflammation. This research was focused on anxiety, but it references that emulsifiers affect gut inflammation, which I believe can affect Psoriatic Arthritis. The other fascinating piece of info in this article is that it acknowledges that there may be differences between men and women. My disease activated when I went through menopause & lost the protective affects of my hormones. I know it is relevant because my aunt’s MS activated when she went through menopause. There has to be something related to the hormones that we have not yet discovered. And I also believe there is an environmental influence to these diseases, possibly many environmental influences, because previous generations were not getting this sick this early in life. My son and nephew have serious disease and they aren’t even in their 20’s! It breaks my heart that we are failing the next generation.

The frustrating thing is that I would like to think I’m avoiding emulsifiers by eating whole foods, but look at what contains CMC.

Found In Food Items: ice cream, dressing, cheese, icing, toppings, gelatinous desserts, infant/baby formula, candy, cottage cheese, cream cheese spread.

Non-Food Items: K-Y Jelly, toothpaste, laxatives, hand cream, antacids, diet pills, water-based paints, detergents, various paper products, artificial tears and in laundry detergents it is used as a soil suspension polymer designed to deposit onto cotton and other cellulosic fabrics creating a negatively charged barrier to soils in the wash

The research article is titled “Dietary emulsifiers consumption alters anxiety-like and social-related behaviors in mice in a sex-dependent manner” by Holder, Peters, Whylings, Field, Gewirtz, Chassaing, deVries, published January 17, 2019.