NIH awards $1.35 million for research on emulsifiers in food

The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive Kidney Diseases of the NIH has awarded a $1.35 million grant to a Georgia State University professor for research on how emulsifiers in food impact the gut microbiome and contribute to the development of chronic inflammatory diseases of the gut, according to a press release.

“There has been a dramatic increase over the last 60 years in the incidence of chronic inflammatory diseases of the gut and in common metabolic diseases, including obesity, insulin resistance, hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia … and hepatic steatosis,” grant recipient Andrew Gewirtz, PhD, a professor at the Institute for Biomedical Sciences at Georgia State University, said in the press release. “These conditions increase a person’s risk of developing diabetes, cardiovascular disease and liver dysfunction.”

Andrew Gewirtz*

These diseases are increasing “despite constant genetic factors,” which shows it is important to understand how nongenetic factors may contribute to gut inflammation, Gewirtz said in the press release.

Findings from Gewirtz’s previous studies showed how disruptions of the relationship between the gut and its microbiome can contribute to chronic gut inflammation and subsequent development of inflammatory bowel disease or metabolic syndrome, according to the press release.

In his new grant-funded study, Gewirtz aims to determine whether emulsifiers “promote the penetration of pathogens through the intestinal mucus barrier, thus inducing inflammation that changes microbiota, drives further inflammation and causes disease.”

The study will focus on emulsifiers “because these detergent-like molecules might promote the rearrangement of parts of chromosomes in bacteria across the lining of the gastrointestinal tract,” according to the press release.

Gewirtz found in another previous study in mice genetically predisposed to colitis that emulsifiers in the diet, specifically polysorbate 80 and carboxymethylcellulose, contributed to colitis at concentrations lower than those approved for use in food. In two mouse strains, the emulsifiers also contributed to metabolic syndrome.

“The presence of emulsifiers in the world’s food supply roughly parallels increases in chronic inflammatory diseases,” Gewirtz said in the press release. “This project will study how this common class of food additives could be contributing to a public health epidemic.”

An abstract of the grant is available on the NIH’s Project RePORTer website, according to the press release.

*Photo courtesy of Georgia State University