Your ice cream isn’t melting like it used to. Leave a scoop on the counter, and instead of becoming a puddle, it holds its shape under hot lights. The secret ingredient? An emulsifier called Polysorbate 80: a chemical that might be turning your gut into a war zone.

What are emulsifiers?

Think of emulsifiers as peace negotiators. Oil and water hate each other. They’d rather separate than mix. Emulsifiers force them to get along. They’re the reason your salad dressing doesn’t split into layers and your chocolate stays smooth instead of chalky.

For years, we assumed emulsifiers just passed through us harmlessly. The FDA stamped them “Generally Recognized as Safe” based on old-school toxicity tests. Can they poison you immediately? No. Do they cause cancer in lab rats? Nope. Case closed.

But nobody asked a critical question: what happens to the trillions of bacteria living in your intestines?

Dr. Benoit Chassaing at the French National Institute of Health started investigating, and his team discovered something shocking. When they fed mice common emulsifiers, such as carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) and polysorbate 80, the animals’ gut bacteria became disrupted.

The protective mucus lining their intestines thinned. Bad bacteria crowded closer to the gut wall. Inflammation spiked. The mice developed something resembling inflammatory bowel disease.

His team then conducted the first human clinical trial, testing a low-emulsifier diet on individuals with Crohn’s disease. After 8 weeks, people avoiding emulsifiers were three times more likely to see symptoms improve. That’s game-changing.

Another study gave healthy adults just 15 grams of CMC daily for 11 days. Within two weeks, they experienced gastrointestinal discomfort and significant changes to their microbiome.

French scientists tracked nearly 95,000 adults over seven years. They found that people eating more emulsifiers had higher rates of heart disease and stroke. We’re not just talking stomach troubles; researchers believe these chemicals might attack your entire circulatory system.

Your intestinal wall is like a medieval castle with multiple layers of defense. The outer mucus keeps bacteria at a distance. Underneath, tight junctions control what gets through.

Emulsifiers thin that protective mucus, like acid rain wearing away castle walls. Bacteria press against inner gates. Your immune system detects an invasion and responds by calling for backup. Chronic inflammation begins, and your gut becomes a battlefield instead of a peaceful ecosystem.

When your gut is inflamed, your entire performance suffers. You get hungrier because nutrient absorption struggles. Recovery slows because inflammation competes with muscle repair. Energy crashes become unpredictable because the gut-brain connection gets disrupted.

You’re probably eating these chemicals every day without knowing it. Here are the biggest offenders and what to choose instead.

Ice cream uses polysorbate 80 for creaminess: Buy from local shops that skip stabilizers or make your ice cream at home.

Salad dressings rely on emulsifiers to stay mixed: Make your own in two minutes with olive oil, vinegar, mustard, and honey.

Bread and baked goods utilize CMC for texture and shelf life; choose bakery bread over packaged options. Bakeries that don’t ship their products hundreds of miles can use just flour, water, yeast, and salt.

Chocolate stays smooth thanks to emulsifiers: Look for brands with minimal ingredients or simple dark chocolate.

Non-dairy milk, such as almond milk, often contains carrageenan. Choose brands like Elmhurst or Malk, or consider making your own.

Processed cheese uses emulsifiers to achieve a smooth texture. Buy real cheese that doesn’t require chemical assistance.

Sauces and gravies often use emulsifiers to achieve consistency: Consider using Greek yogurt instead of sour cream, and make fresh guacamole.

• Read labels like your gut depends on it. Look for: polysorbate 80, carboxymethylcellulose (cellulose gum), carrageenan, and anything starting with “mono- and diglycerides.”

• If you see other ingredients that sound like gums or “esters of fatty acids,” those may also be emulsifiers.

• Finally, choose organic when possible. Organic standards prohibit most synthetic emulsifiers.

We're still learning about how modern food additives affect our health, but the early research is worth paying attention to. You don't need to overhaul your entire diet overnight or stress about every ingredient. Small, gradual changes often work better anyway.

Start with one or two swaps that feel manageable. Maybe make your own salad dressing this week or try a different brand of almond milk. Your gut bacteria have been adapting and supporting your health for thousands of years. Giving them a little less chemical interference might just help them do their job even better.

The choice is yours. Every small step toward real food is a step in the right direction.

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Reference Links:

In vitro microbiota model recapitulates and predicts individualised sensitivity to dietary emulsifier

Héloïse Rytter, Sabrine Naimi, Gary Wu, Jim Lewis, Maeva Duquesnoy, Lucile Vigué5, Olivier Tenaillon, Eugeni Belda, Marta Vazquez-Gomez, Nina Touly, Djésia Arnone, Fuhua Hao, Ruth E Ley, Karine Clément, Laurent Peyrin-Biroulet, Andrew D Patterson, Andrew T Gewirtz, Benoit Chassaing
Gut microbiota, Published Online issue publication April 07, 2025

Click Here for the Study: https://gut.bmj.com/content/74/5/761

 

Common dietary emulsifiers promote metabolic disorders and intestinal microbiota dysbiosis in mice

Suraphan Panyod, Wei-Kai Wu, Chih-Ting Chang, Naohisa Wada, Han-Chen Ho, Yi-Ling Lo, Sing-Ping Tsai, Rou-An Chen, Huai-Syuan Huang, Po-Yu Liu, Yi-Hsun Chen, Hsiao-Li Chuang, Ting-Chin David Shen, Sen-Lin Tang, Chi-Tang Ho, Ming-Shiang Wu & Lee-Yan Sheen
Communications Biology, Published 20 June 2024

Click Here for the Study: https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-024-06224-3

 

Food Emulsifiers and Metabolic Syndrome: The Role of the Gut Microbiota

Martina De Siena, Pauline Raoul, Lara Costantini, Emidio Scarpellini, Marco Cintoni, Antonio Gasbarrini, Emanuele Rinninella, Maria Cristina Mele
Foods, Published 2022 Jul 25;11(15):2205. doi: 10.3390/foods11152205

Click Here for the Study: https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/11/15/2205

 

Carboxymethyl Cellulose as a Food Emulsifier: Are Its Days Numbered?

Eduardo M Costa, Sara Silva, Carla F Pereira, Alessandra B Ribeiro, Francisca Casanova, Ricardo Freixo, Manuela Pintado, Óscar L Ramos
polymers, Published 2023 May 22;15(10):2408. doi: 10.3390/polym15102408

Click Here for the Study: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10221013/

 

Randomized Controlled-Feeding Study of Dietary Emulsifier Carboxymethylcellulose Reveals Detrimental Impacts on the Gut Microbiota and Metabolome

Benoit Chassaing, Charlene Compher, Brittaney Bonhomme, Qing Liu, Yuan Tian, William Walters, Lisa Nessel, Clara Delaroque, Fuhua Hao, Victoria Gershuni, Lillian Chau, Josephine Ni, Meenakshi Bewtra, Lindsey Albenberg, Alexis Bretin, Liam McKeever, Ruth E Ley, Andrew D Patterson, Gary D Wu, Andrew T Gewirtz, James D Lewis
Gastroenterology, Epub 2021 Nov 11

Click Here for the Study: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34774538/

 

Food additive emulsifiers and risk of cardiovascular disease in the NutriNet-Santé cohort: prospective cohort study

Laury Sellem, Bernard Srour, Guillaume Javaux, Eloi Chazelas, Benoit Chassaing, Emilie Viennois, Charlotte Debras, Clara Salamé, Nathalie Druesne-Pecollo, Younes Esseddik, Fabien Szabo de Edelenyi, Cédric Agaësse, Alexandre De Sa, Rebecca Lutchia, Erwan Louveau, Inge Huybrechts, Fabrice Pierre, Xavier Coumoul, Léopold K Fezeu, Chantal Julia, Emmanuelle Kesse-Guyot, Benjamin Allès, Pilar Galan, Serge Hercberg, Mélanie Deschasaux-Tanguy, Mathilde Touvier
thebmj BMJ, Published 06 September 2023

Click Here for the Study: https://www.bmj.com/content/382/bmj-2023-076058

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7/22/2025