Carboxy Methyl Cellulose / E466 / Cellulose gum. Comments?

[Whydothis]

I normally eat home cooked whole foods, and I don't worry about additives when I very rarely eat anything processed. However, after not eating any processed foods at all since June 2020, I recently decided to buy a pack of BFree Sweet Potato Wraps, which I used to enjoy. I had one a day for 4 days, and found they were having a slightly laxative effect. After carefully thinking about whether I had changed anything else I was eating, I looked at the ingredients. I had an empty older (2019) pack in my drawer, as I keep useful re-sealable bags for freezing, and compared the two. The difference is carboxy methyl cellulose, which wasn't on the earlier ingredient list but is now. I have just looked it up, starting with Wikipedia, where I learned that it has industrial uses, but in its pure form is a food additive as well as being used in toothpaste and some medicinal products. Under the heading of "adverse reactions" which it says are uncommon, it says that "Carboxymethyl cellulose has been found to cause inflammation of the gut, altering microbiota, and was found to be a triggering factor of inflammatory bowel diseases" I followed this up using one of the references supplied (no 14) and learned that in animal studies it produces inflammation similar to ulcerative colitis and Crohns disease.

BFree have a helpful website, which lists the ingredients in their products, and it looks as though this is the only product that uses this stuff.

Has anyone else found this a problem? Or does anyone know any more than I have just found in a short research session? Should I give up my occasional wraps? I am keen to preserve the healthiest microbiome possible!

[nellie237]

This is interesting - might have to look at this too.. Do you know how much the animals were given? If its in medicines maybe small doses are OK. Perhaps have 1 wrap and freeze the rest to give yourself a weekly treat - then cut it out for a while.

[Whydothis in reply to nellie237]

I think at least one of the animal studies was low doses, so similar to what we might eat (I found something that said up to 2% is allowed to be added to food).I bought several packs for the freezer, but as you suggest, I am going to take one wrap out at a time, instead of one pack!

[bookish]

Interesting, thank you for that. I was aware of problems with carrageenan and it being used in HPMC, including capsules (so I transfer the contents of my HPMC capsuled supplements into capsules that I can tolerate) and as an additive (Alpro yoghurts etc), but I basically don't eat any processed food any more. I hadn't come across this one specifically, but they seem to be bracketed together in the research (I just looked for carrageenan, but found the same article as your No 14). I shall check my toothpaste.

[Whydothis in reply to bookish]

It does seem to be linked in the literature to carageenan, so there are clearly similarities.I checked my toothpaste, and it does say cellulose gum - but I am not going to worry too much about that, as I don't swallow it.

Doing the research made me realise how much of this stuff you would eat if you bought a lot of ice cream and fruited/sugared yogurts as well as baked stuff that uses it.

[bookish in reply to Whydothis]

I don't mean to be picky. I only comment because I have had reactions to chemicals in toothpastes in the past and to floss.

From one 'alternative' dental site :

"The human mouth is very heavily vascularised. That’s why placing any medicine right under the tongue, even toothpaste, will result in quick onset as the chemical is absorbed and distributed rapidly throughout all systems. This is good if we are talking about a life saving drug like nitroglycerin. Not so good when we place a dab of what we call toothpaste on our tongue, gums and we give it a few minutes to absorb while we brush.

It is smart to know what you are putting in your body as multiple,daily exposures add up fast potentially creating health problems."

If you find you are struggling with continuing symptoms, an alternative toothpaste may be worth consideration at some point. Any of the cellulose gums can be corn based (which I struggle with) but they aren't all. (I find other things than the cellulose in many toothpastes more of a problem though) Cheers

[Whydothis in reply to bookish]

This is new to me - thank you. I will look into it a bit further.Mine lists cellulose gum as an ingredient, and from what I found out earlier, this is ( or can be) another name for CMC. I used to buy a more natural toothpaste, but haven't found it recently - I will try harder.

[Penel]

There have been several posts on this in the past from people who found that those additives gave them a variety of digestive problems. As nellie237 has said, the reaction may well be dose dependent.

Although the experiments were done on animals, Crohns patients seem to have better control of their symptoms if they avoid CMC. Perhaps anyone with gut problems would be advised to avoid them as much as possible?

[Whydothis in reply to Penel]

That's interesting to know about Crohns.

I shall eat these wraps very slowly, and avoid this additive in future. This has reinforced my view that it is always better to avoid processed foods as far as possible.

[CATRYNA49]

I, personally, would have nothing to do with any kind of additives, preservatives or processed foods that would have an adverse effect on the gut.

[Hidden]

What a shame they've changed the ingredients. I avoid all processed breads/products that have additives like this as seem to have issue with many things. My bug bear is microcrystalline cellulose which unfortunately appears in a lot of vitamin supplements, etc. It comes from wood pulp. This is the downside to gluten free breads in shops - the ingredients list is crazy. Most of the addiditives are deemed benign and safe, but we are not processing machines for these kinds of things, so inevitable they cause issue. Looks like the wraps are off the menu for you.

[Whydothis in reply to Hidden]

Yes - it was the ingredients lists on these products that led me to decide not to eat them. Pre coeliac, I only ate bread from real bakers, not from factories or supermarkets. Just when I decided to have some of these wraps in the freezer for when I have nothing home-made, they have changed the recipe - no doubt to reduce their costs!That'll teach me to think about being lazy and not eat home-cooked!

[Hidden in reply to Whydothis]

We all need to be lazy at times, otherwise this is a tiresome journey of being tied to the kitchen. It's a shame shop GF bread can't just go with more basic and safe ingredients.