The Influence Of Common Food Additives On Gut Microbiome

Download or read book The Influence of Common Food Additives on Gut Microbiome written by Marinelle Azar and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The gut microbiome is important for immune system regulation, metabolism, and host physiology. However, certain changes or imbalances in the microbiome community structure and function are correlated with various intestinal disorders, metabolic diseases, digestive issues, cancer, type 2 diabetes, and obesity. Certain emulsifiers that are usually found in processed foods increase the risk of obesity and ulcerative colitis and can induce low-grade gut inflammation and colitis. Thus, this thesis examined how carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), an emulsifier typically found in ice cream and baked goods, affects microbial physiology by incubating cecal bacteria derived from mice with increasing amounts of CMC for 4h under anaerobic conditions. This was accomplished using flow cytometry and fluorescent dyes to examine the physiologic status and to visualize membrane damage and biochemical activity. Flow cytometry analysis revealed that the CMC doses used in this study did not directly impact microbial physiology. Additionally, NMR-based metabolomics revealed that CMC treatment does result in changes in different metabolite concentrations including glucose, oligosaccharides, short-chain fatty acids, and amino acids. Furthermore, heatmaps were used to visualize metabolite changes induced by CMC. Overall, the results suggest that the doses of CMC used did not impact microbial physiology but did cause metabolic changes in mice. These findings warrant further analysis into how CMC, along with other emulsifiers, impacts the gut microbiome and human health.