Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose is officially considered harmless, according to the ruling of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). However, the EU food watchdogs admitted that these cellulose-based additives can certainly have side effects, such as having a laxative effect in larger quantities. In addition, the EU food watchdogs acknowledged that side effects were observed; for example, the bacterial community in the intestine could be altered (the so-called microbiome), which could promote chronic intestinal inflammation. Blood sugar levels could also be worsened, even obesity is a possible consequence. Even though the findings about risks and side effects aren't equally thorough for all variants, the available data on individual cellulose additives could certainly be used to draw conclusions about all of them, due to their "structural, physico-chemical and biological similarities". What applies to one type of cellulose also applies to the others. It is scientifically justified to transfer the findings about individual variants of cellulose to the others, thus forming an analogy. At times there have been hopes that cellulose as a "prebiotic" fiber could even be beneficial to health because of its influence on the bacterial community in the intestine. This was the case, for example, for hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (E464). However, the concerns now prevail. A large number of studies have dealt particularly with sodium carboxymethyl cellulose, E466, examining its effects on laboratory animals, but also on humans. It was found that because the additive can disrupt the composition of the bacterial community in the intestine, this not only increases the risk of damage to the intestinal wall, but also of chronic inflammation such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, but also of colorectal cancer. In addition, the additive can also increase appetite, thus leading to obesity, the so-called metabolic syndrome and thus to diabetes. Psychosocial consequences such as anxiety are also possible, the researchers concluded after experiments with mice in which the behavior had changed after ingestion of these emulsifiers.
Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose is found as an additive mainly in cakes and biscuits, ready-made baking mixtures, baking ingredients, in creamy instant soups, dips, dressings, mayonnaise and processed cheese, in pies and fish fingers, in cream, yogurts, puddings as well as in jelly fruits, and jam. It can be used in any quantity. The authorities have no information on the exact per capita consumption of these additives. You can only give estimates, but they point to widespread consumption. Methyl cellulose can be found, for example, in fast food, McChicken or hamburgers, but above all in numerous vegan substitute products such as imitation grilled sausages, also in many lunch dishes in preschool, if the food comes from a catering cooking factory: in breaded carrot products, for example, in fish filet, or in potato tartlets. In the past, sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (E466), for example, was not permitted in Germany. Meanwhile, this substance is also widely used, as well as the other additives from this category. Cellulose additives are mainly found in cakes and biscuits, ready-made baking mixtures, baking ingredients, creamy instant soups, dips, dressings, mayonnaise, processed cheese, pies, fish fingers, cream, yogurts, puddings as well as jelly fruits and jam. They can be used in any quantity. According to findings of the European Food Safety Authority EFSA based on industry data, celluloses (E 460-466, E468 and E469) are listed on the label of more than 18,000 products. Most of them are in the section »Vitamins and Food Supplements«: Almost every third product there contains cellulose. Major food categories also included processed fermented milk products, cheese (unripened, processed), fish and fishery products, and breakfast cereals.
Cellulose is a sugar compound that is necessary for the stability of any plant cell and (due to its "long-chain" structure) indigestible to humans. According to the findings of the European Food Safety Authority EFSA, wood chips serve as the raw material for the cellulose additives. The suppliers of the food industry also use cotton and corn, both of which can be genetically modified. The different variants are produced by special chemical processing steps. Methyl cellulose (E461) is produced by the treatment of cellulose with alcohol. Further cellulose additives are produced by the treatment of cellulose with propylene oxide (hydroxypropyl cellulose, E463), with alcohol and propylene oxide (hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose, E464), with more complex alcohol compounds (Methyl ethyl cellulose, E465) or with alcohol and lye (sodium carboxymethyl cellulose, E466). Cross-linked-cellulose gum (E468) is formed by cross-linking the molecules of E 466. A cleavage of E466 with enzymes leads to cellulose gum, enzymatically hydrolyzed (E469). Such cellulose compounds act as thickeners or binders. They stabilize the desired consistency of the food and maintain shape and color. And they are not only used in food production: Methyl cellulose (E461), for example, is the main component of many wallpaper pastes. And sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (E466) is an almost universally applicable element in many industries, popular in the construction industry, for example, where the substance improves sand distribution in cement and its adhesive strength. It also serves as an additive in adhesives for leather, for example, but also wood. It is also used as an additive in colors, for example for T-shirts, and in the paper industry, because it makes the paper smoother. In the oil industry, it acts as an auxiliary in drilling and serves as a thickening agent for drilling mud. The largest consumer, however, is a completely different industry: As an additive in laundry detergent, sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (E 466) prevents grease from accumulating in the fabric again after it has already been washed out. In agriculture, it allows pesticides to adhere better, pharmaceutical companies use it to coat tablets, as a stabilizer in sprays. Surprisingly, it is important in diapers, it contributes to the absorption of liquid because it is "hydrophilic".
About the DR. WATSON Database of Additives
Carefully researched, factual, understandable: The DR. WATSON database provides reliable information on industrial additives in food. The data in the DR. WATSON database are based on the official accounts of the responsible authorities, but show a comprehensive picture and also report on research results of independent and recognized institutions around the world.
DR. WATSON was the first information service to evaluate additives, conduct its own research, consult thousands of studies and analyze them uniformly according to the criteria of evidence-based medicine. Our approach is clearly defined and transparent.
In this process, the DR. WATSON team was supported by recognized scientists and also sought legal advice. The DR. WATSON database is regularly updated and expanded. DR. WATSON is independent of outside interests and institutions.
Dr. WATSON consistently looks at novel ingredients of food from the perspective of consumers. The DR. WATSON database of additives provides information not only on additives and their health implications but also on their distribution: after all, it comes down to individual decisions of consumers on the basis of personal preferences and inclinations.
Important information on risks of additives in industrial food
DR. WATSON’s database of food additives does not give medical advice or recommendations. The DR. WATSON database provides information about additives – independent, scientifically sound, comprehensible.
Officially, additives in industrial food are considered harmless. So if you eat little of it and are of a robust constitution, you have nothing to worry about. (For allergies, however, a milligram of the wrong thing can be fatal.)
With the limits being raised for what are considered safe consumption amounts, the chemical additives in food are becoming a health risk for more and more people. For many additives, side effects are proven beginning at a certain amount – and those side effects can be more severe than previously suspected. Especially children consume more of such additives than is good for them (ADI).
These are risks that humans have created for themselves. They are not impurities stemming from contamination or spoilage, but intentionally added additives.
The additives in such foods do not serve the consumers but the manufacturers of industrial food.
Their primary purpose is to extend shelf life and reduce costs. The human organism does not need such chemicals. They also have no health benefits for consumers. Many of the additives can pose health risks.
Chemically produced additives, unlike normal ingredients such as cauliflower, cream, or chicken, are not traditional components of a dish or a food. The body therefore has no adequate, evolutionarily practiced mechanisms for processing them.
Humans do not need additives. Only the food industry needs them.
They serve to enhance the taste or color of industrial food – externally. More colorful effervescence, browner sauces, noodle soups with longer shelf life, airier cakes, rolls with enhanced bun scent, creamier cream cheese with less fat, yogurts with stabilized fruit pieces that don’t move around.
Industrial food is designed to appear more attractive — and for as long as possible (shelf life). Because in the world of factories and supermarkets, food has to be cheap and last an unnaturally long time which is only possible by means of chemical engineering.
Many industrial foods cannot do without additives. Bag soups would quickly mold, margarine would become rancid, fruit yogurts would separate into fruit preparation and yogurt. Ready-made salad dressings would disintegrate into its components of herbs, vinegar, and oil.
The chemical substances indicated with E numbers are essential for industrial food production.
Many of them were tailored to the needs of food factories, lab-made substances without a model in nature. Other substances used do occur in nature but by using them as additives, the quantities that are being consumed have grown disproportionately.
In the past, doctors and authorities have therefore expressed concerned about these chemical substances in food, especially in the case of sustained and long-term intake.
Since then the official stance has changed.
Substances that were once considered "xenobiotics" and were even reviled by experts as "poisons" have now not only been rehabilitated, but even ennobled. Although consumer deception is still officially banned, they are now considered "food improvement agents" (EU jargon). To regulate the handling of these noble ingredients, the European Union has adopted a whole quartet of regulations, the "Food Improvement Agents Package" (FIAP), consisting of four individual regulations on the different types of additives.
However, findings on the harmful effects of these "substances for the improvement of food" are increasing.
Flavour enhancers such as glutamate are suspected of contributing to diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Dyes can lead to hyperactivity and learning disorders (ADHD). Migraines can also be triggered by food additives. Sweeteners such as aspartame are even suspected of causing cancer. Preservatives can damage the intestines and disrupt the immune system. Citric acid can attack the teeth and also transport harmful metals such as aluminum into the brain. Industrial flavors can cause obesity. Phosphates can accelerate the aging process and cause diseases such as heart disease, high blood pressure, bone weakness, and osteoporosis to occur earlier in life.
Additives are only used in tiny doses. However, more and more substances are being authorized and the individual additives are being produced in ever larger quantities. Phosphates, for example, are used worldwide as food additives at a rate of over 300,000 tonnes per year. In the case of sweeteners, the annual figure is 750,000 tonnes. Citric acid is one of the record holders: About 3 million tons are produced worldwide every year, most of it for food. In the case of glutamate, it is even 3.3 million tons per year.
Surprisingly, the effects of the individual chemicals multiply when consumed jointly. This was shown, among other things, by a study conducted by the University of Liverpool with the two dyes E104 (quinoline yellow) and E133 (brilliant blue), the flavor enhancer glutamate (E621), and the sweetener aspartame (E951).
The result: The harmful effects of the additives on the brain (neurotoxicity) did not add up, as would be expected, but multiplied. A mixture of the blue dye E133 and glutamate (E621), for example, did not slow down cell growth by 15.8 percent, as would have been expected, but by 46.1 percent. One plus one therefore does not equal to two, but up to six.
When approving additives, it is always taken into account what quantities of which foods people consume. In animal experiments a dose is then determined which is released as a daily tolerable amount. A safety margin is then applied, and the so-called "ADI value" is calculated ("Acceptable Daily Intake"). From this, a maximum quantity is fixed for each food. This should be calculated in such a way that the ADI value is not exceeded even with frequent consumption.
But with many additives, especially children but also adults apparently consume far more than is good for them. This was the result of studies conducted by the EU Commission and the member states and the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA).
The recording of consumption volumes in the European Union seems to have been systematically delayed, as has been criticized even by the European Court of Auditors. In a special report, it strongly criticized the lax surveillance practice.
Authorities can therefore not give an absolute guarantee of safety, since they know neither about the exact quantities used in individual foods nor about the total quantities actually consumed.
As a result, since the supervisory authorities refuse to guarantee protection against the risks posed by additives, consumers must protect themselves.
So everyone has to know for themselves what they want to expose themselves to.
DR. WATSON helps – with solid information about food additives and their alternatives.
Because it is quite simple, life without E-numbers. There is a safe way to get by without additives: Real food. Cooking for yourself using fresh ingredients.
There are no additives in real food.
Make the dressing for the salad yourself, cook the soup fresh or for a few days in advance, stir fruit or jam into the natural yoghurt.
It is: the traditional way of eating. In medicine, for example, the Mediterranean diet is now considered the gold standard for the prevention of diseases.
And: it is also the most enjoyable way of eating. Some even speak of a "gourmet diet", which is primarily oriented towards taste - and thus towards the neurological laws for the optimal supply of the individually necessary nutrients.
And: It is not only best for humans, but also for animals and the environment. And, of course, the children, and thus the following generations, the future of the planet.