To think emulsifiers should be banned or at least reduced

[MumofCrohnie]

My daughter became seriously ill aged 10 with cramps, diarrhea, weight loss. Within a month or two she could barely walk 100 metres without getting a stitch, was breathless, routinely ran high temperatures and began vomiting randomly. She would wake at night crying in pain from her legs aching or her back hurting. She stopped growing and her skin went grey.

After 2 GP trips, 2 A and E visits within a month, and an emergency gastro appointment she was finally diagnosed with severe Crohn's disease. This disease was once virtually unknown in children but since the 1970s has grown enormously in children. It is now not particularly rare in children and increasingly common in adolescents and young adults. It is incurable and my daughter is now on 4 separate medications daily, quite probably for life. She has a 70 percent chance of in the future needing operations to remove sections of intestine, risks strictures, blockages, and fistulas in her intestines. She will probably go through early menopause.

There is increasing evidence that the Western diet contributes to the development of Crohn's in genetically susceptible people (her great grandma developed Crohn's in her 70s, back in the 1980s). Specifically, it seems that emulsifiers, carageenans, and maltodextrins may be a significant factor in developing Crohn's. In animal models there is pretty good evidence for emulsifiers. Emulsifiers bind fat and liquid and are used in bread, ice cream, sauces, baked goods etc almost ubiquitously in the UK. They are considered "safe", despite animal evidence showing they probably aren't. Since emulsifiers were added to prepared foods, Crohn's levels have increased hugely. This is a serious disease and it ruins lives.

AIBU to say that British food companies should be more wary of emulsifiers and label them in their food, provide emulsifier free alternatives and label items emulsifier free for families with an IBD history? Just like they make gluten free, dairy free and vegan foods?

A member of my household has Crohns, ulcerative colitis and coeliac disease ( and a number of other AI conditions). Fortunately the UC and Crohns are well managed as long as the coeliac diet is maintained.

They were brought up on a home cooked meat and two veg diet. A SAHM who cooked everything from scratch including bread.

Looking back over their family history it's obvious that AI conditions have caused issues going back generations but was mostly referred to as 'they were badly with their guts' or 'failing to thrive' in children

I think as a society we need to move away as much as we can from processed foods and back to more natural ways of eating regardless. Its better for everyone.

And OP it's natural to try and find a cause/ blame for things but this isn't your fault. It's bad luck.

People have historically not got Crohn's in childhood, Heretoday. As I said, my daughter's great grandma obviously had the genes, but didn't get ill until her 70s. So I don't think it's that everyone used to die.

I have a collection of autoimmune conditions, including coeliac disease. Most of these autoimmune conditions have only been understood relatively recently. Children that presented with them were categorized as "failure to thrive" and frequently died. It is undoubtedly true that we're seeing more children accurately diagnosed and surviving with these conditions now, because they are better understood.

If you want to avoid functional/technical ingredients such as emulsifiers you're going to have to avoid processed foods engineered to survive the retail logistics chain, buy fresher shorter-shelf-life products, or avoid/reduce processed foods as a whole. These ingredients are included for a reason, and if they're excluded something else is going to have to provide the function.

@soontobe60

The predict study is investigating. Prof Charlie Lees from Edinburgh. Very recent tweet attached; study ongoing.

I probably haven't acknowledged in my posts that it's complex. It's not as straightforward as that if you eat emulsifiers you are more likely to get Crohn's. It is a complex disease and you have to be genetically susceptible in the first place. Most people won't get IBD from what they eat.

I would like people to have a greater awareness though, especially if they have family members with IBD, that avoiding these additives might be a good idea, and I would love if some manufacturers would consider harmful emulsifier free lines. Obviously not avoiding egg, honey and mustard which are natural emulsifiers, and probably not soy lecithins either.

We tend to go low residue as well - to the previous poster with Crohn's - we make our own cakes and cookies or buy the artisan bread which is more often emulsifier free. We have found a few brands such as Bonne maman Madeleine cakes made without, and haagen das vanilla ice cream.

@QueenLagertha
DD was breastfed for 2.5 years!
Unfortunately didn't prevent the expression of the genes, though I am glad I did it as it's one less thing to feel bad about.

From some of these very reputably-sourced links, it appears that emulsifiers don't just trigger Crohns in people who are already predisposed to get it, it's also looking as if they contribute to a variety of problems in the population at large - inflammation, leaky gut, liver dysfunction and cardio problems etc.

I don't know anything at all about the science here. By it does sound like you are suffering enormous guilt for something that is categorically not your fault. Please be kinder to yourself and also you can't know what triggered your daughter's Crohn's with any certainty. It could be wholly unrelated to her diet in her case.

In my experience it’s getting the correct meds regime that makes the most difference in wellbeing.

There’s no family history of crohns in my family and as far as I’m aware the genetic link still isn’t proven (I’m under the clinic currently running the research trials).

As with PP I was brought up on home cooked/made from scratch meals. Back in the day crohns was being linked to pasteurised milk. So I think emulsifiers are the next in a long line of possible causes.

It’s worth noting that crohns is also prevalent in young adults in poorer countries where processed foods are not the standard fayre.

@MumofCrohnie you probably wouldn't feel so guilty if your daughter developed RA, MS, cancer for example.

As others have said people/children did have bowel diseases years ago, they just didn't survive.
I remember watching The Last Kingdom on Netflix. King Alfred had a long history of bowel issues, was always noted as being frail and weak since childhood. I googled it and many historians thought he had Crohn's disease. He did die of complications associated with it. This was in the ninth century so I doubt he ate emulsifiers and additives.

As Mothers we will always feel guilty. I understand somewhat as I understandably have a fear of my own children developing IBD. However you can't blame yourself for this. it's such a complex disease we have no way of knowing what triggers it and likely it is various factors plus bad luck.

There's been an awful lot of media coverage recently around the impact of ultra high processed foods and how they cause all kinds of disease and health issues.

By avoiding UHP food you would also avoid these thickeners and emulsifiers.

Really we should all be striving to eat a low processed diet.

all low fat, supposedly healthy foods are not as they are full of additives

Wow, you mean all these items (vegetable and fruits) are full of nasty additives? gosh, who knew.

I am sure I read that lecithins were very bad for you. Like a lot of things you read on the Internet. Can be hard to know what to believe...

all low fat, supposedly healthy foods are not as they are full of additives

Wow, you meanall these items(vegetable and fruits) are full of nasty additives? gosh, who knew.

As I'm sure you're aware, it was pretty obvious the poster was talking about foods which are marketed as low fat - i.e. foods which would usually be high in fat, but which have had the fat reduced and have therefore needed to be made more palatable (usually by adding sugar, sweeteners, thickeners etc).

So you're either genuinely claiming you think they were saying vegetables were unhealthy because they are low fat, or you're just sarcastically picking on the poster for not spelling out something they thought would be perfectly obvious to anyone with half a brain.

[quote MumofCrohnie]Soontobe60
Carageenans are not at all shown to be safe with plenty of scientific evidence. Quite the reverse. Loads of references in this paper
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5410598/[/quote]
Ive been avoiding carageenan for a while now. I didn’t realise it’s an emulsifier.

Hi OP, thankyou for posting this. I didn’t know this about emulsifiers. Though I do think we are getting there.

For example as PP have said there is now a lot guidance in relation to processes and ultra processed foods. I think we will see food labelling improve massively in relation to this over the next few years. I know other countries already do highlight UHP foods on packaging.

I use the rule of thumb that if I didn’t know what an ingredient is on the ingredients list we don’t buy it. We have a bread maker for bread, generally cook from scratch and make our own snacks as much as possible.

What I have found really frustrating though is the food that DS is fed at nursery. It is a very good well regarded nursery but the food is often more processed that what we would ever eat at home. I do worry about it’s impact on little bodies.

There’s definitely a family link to IBD but I try to view it positively as it’s just a slightly easier thing to deal with it than other things that can run through families.
I thought I’d escaped IBD but after a stressful few years and eating a dairy free diet so I could bf two children with CMPA (also runs in the family) I’ve ended up with ulcerative colitis, the bloody oat milk definitely made it worse. I think the alternative foods will be the next hydrogenated scandal.
I used the products because I needed the calories desperately and it mimicked what I was used to eating. If I had stuck with dairy my eldest would have had permanent stomach ache and my second would have died. Maybe I should have fed them the prescription formula but it’s foul so I’ve taken the hit.
My sibling has had extremely severe crohns since childhood and is stable on the new drugs. They avoid operations as they almost killed them. But they manage it fairly well to minimise pain etc.

Resurrecting this thread to say that a new study has now confirmed that removing emulsifiers can make a significant difference to people with Crohn's disease. Hopefully this will lead to better food labelling and maybe some changes to food additive policies in the UK, as I wanted in this thread!

https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/cutting-emulsifiers-from-diet-is-potential-new-treatment-for-crohns-disease?fbclid=IwY2xjawInKrBleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHYozpU-gXG95JRMn3BzS8b9znFdpJcFW1VjUVcaeWBUYyNJdgDYPhD6H2Q_aem_crH2nkspSzbaogG3x0qHRA#:~:text=The%20trial%2C%20known%20as%20the,out%20emulsifiers%20from%20their%20diet