Khatib Mai A, Saleemani Haneen H, Kurdi Nersian B, Alhibshi Haya N, Jastaniah Manar A, Ajabnoor Sarah M
Clinical Nutrition Department, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80215, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia.
Healthcare (Basel). 2023 Sep 28;11(19):2644. doi: 10.3390/healthcare11192644.
Emulsifiers are food additives commonly found in processed foods to improve texture stabilization and food preservation. Dietary emulsifier intake can potentially damage the gut mucosal lining resulting in chronic inflammation such as Crohn's disease. This study investigates the feasibility of a low-emulsifier diet among healthy female adults, as no previous reports have studied the feasibility of such a diet on healthy participants. A quasi-experimental study for a nutrition education and counseling intervention was conducted over 14 days among healthy Saudi participants aged 18 years and over. Assessment of dietary intake using 3-day food records was conducted at the baseline and 2-week follow-up. Participants attended an online educational session using the Zoom application illustrating instructions for a low-emulsifier diet. Daily exposure to emulsifiers was evaluated and nutrient intake was measured. A total of 30 participants completed the study. At baseline, 38 emulsifiers were identified, with a mean ± SD exposure of 12.23 ± 10.07 emulsifiers consumed per day. A significant reduction in the mean frequency of dietary emulsifier intake was observed at the end of the intervention (12.23 ± 10.07 vs. 6.30 ± 7.59, < 0.01). However, intake of macronutrients and micronutrients was significantly reduced ( < 0.05). Good adherence to the diet was achieved by 40% of the participants, and 16.66% attained a 50% reduction of emulsifier intake. The study demonstrates that a low-emulsifier diet provided via dietary advice is feasible to follow and tolerable by healthy participants. However, the diet still needs further investigation and assessment of it is nutritional intake and quality before implementing it in patients with inflammatory bowel disease who are at high risk of poor nutritional intake.
乳化剂是加工食品中常见的食品添加剂，用于改善质地稳定性和食品保存。摄入膳食乳化剂可能会损害肠道黏膜，导致克罗恩病等慢性炎症。本研究调查了健康成年女性食用低乳化剂饮食的可行性，因为此前尚无关于此类饮食对健康参与者可行性的报道。对18岁及以上的健康沙特参与者进行了为期14天的营养教育和咨询干预的准实验研究。在基线和2周随访时，使用3天食物记录对膳食摄入量进行评估。参与者参加了一次使用Zoom应用程序的在线教育课程，课程展示了低乳化剂饮食的说明。评估了每日乳化剂暴露情况，并测量了营养摄入量。共有30名参与者完成了研究。在基线时，识别出38种乳化剂，平均±标准差的每日摄入量为12.23±10.07种乳化剂。干预结束时，膳食乳化剂摄入的平均频率显著降低（12.23±10.07对6.30±7.59，<0.01）。然而，常量营养素和微量营养素的摄入量显著减少（<0.05）。40%的参与者对饮食有良好的依从性，16.66%的参与者乳化剂摄入量减少了50%。该研究表明，通过饮食建议提供的低乳化剂饮食对健康参与者来说是可行且可耐受的。然而，在营养摄入不良风险较高的炎症性肠病患者中实施之前，该饮食仍需要进一步研究和评估其营养摄入量和质量。
