Vo Trung D, Lynch Barry S, Roberts Ashley
the Intertek Scientific & Regulatory Consultancy, 2233 Argentia Road, Suite 201, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, L5N 2X7.
Compr Rev Food Sci Food Saf. 2019 Jan;18(1):31-47. doi: 10.1111/1541-4337.12410. Epub 2018 Dec 21.
Emulsifiers are commonly used in food processing for the technological purpose of altering the flavor or to improve the texture of foods. Due to their ubiquity, these substances are consumed daily at low levels in the human diet. Recently published in vitro and in vivo studies suggest dietary exposure to emulsifiers modulate the gut microbiota and contribute to the increasing prevalence of metabolic disease. A literature search was conducted which identified eight studies investigating the interaction of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose, polysorbate 80, gum arabic, carrageenan, and arabinogalactan with the gut microbiota in murine and in vitro models. Numerous inconsistent changes in various phyla and genera were identified. These studies were conducted at high doses that have no relevance to the current dietary levels consumed in the United States. Subtle changes in gut microbiota composition as a toxicological endpoint is not supported by established internationally recognized toxicology testing guidelines. Therefore, the results of these studies are difficult to interpret and extrapolate to humans and are not supported by previous safety conclusions of international food safety authorities. The current understanding of the gut microbiota is that the structure is highly dynamic and is heavily influenced by the diet. Thus, the results of these studies may not necessarily suggest a safety concern, but rather reflect an adaptive response of the gut microbiota to an external stressor. Future research will need to further elucidate the mechanisms of metabolic disease in rodents and humans and establish clinically relevant and reliable endpoints to assess changes in gut microflora.
乳化剂在食品加工中普遍用于改变风味或改善食品质地等工艺目的。由于其无处不在，这些物质在人类日常饮食中会被少量摄入。最近发表的体外和体内研究表明，膳食中接触乳化剂会调节肠道微生物群，并导致代谢疾病患病率上升。进行了一项文献检索，确定了八项研究，这些研究在小鼠和体外模型中调查了羧甲基纤维素钠、聚山梨醇酯80、阿拉伯胶、角叉菜胶和阿拉伯半乳聚糖与肠道微生物群的相互作用。在各种门和属中发现了许多不一致的变化。这些研究是在高剂量下进行的，与美国目前的膳食摄入量无关。肠道微生物群组成的细微变化作为毒理学终点并不被国际公认的毒理学测试指南所支持。因此，这些研究结果难以解释并外推至人类，也未得到国际食品安全当局先前安全结论的支持。目前对肠道微生物群的理解是，其结构高度动态且受饮食影响很大。因此，这些研究结果不一定表明存在安全问题，而可能反映了肠道微生物群对外界应激源的适应性反应。未来的研究需要进一步阐明啮齿动物和人类代谢疾病的机制，并建立临床相关且可靠的终点来评估肠道微生物群的变化。
