What’s the Word on Emulsifiers?
Firstly, I have come to realise that a lot of people don’t actually know what emulsifiers are, or what they do. So I think it’s probably important to start there.
Emulsifiers are a compound, natural or synthetic, added to food products to allow them to combine. For example, oil and water don’t mix. So chemically speaking, one end of the emulsifer is water loving (hydrophilic), the other - oil loving (hydrophobic) which allows two compounds that don’t normally mix to be combined and = a product that doesn’t separate. A smooth emulsion!
An example or way of explaining this is peanut butter (crunchy or we can’t be friends). If you look at Bega peanut butter (no idea when this changed from Kraft?) or Nutella, they have no oil sitting at the top of the plastic tub and spread easily because they contain a stabiliser/emulsifier ingredient. Natural peanut butter or spreads tend to have a layer of oil at the top of the jar that needs to be stirred in and without fail you spill some down the side and you’re always left with a hard to spread section at the bottom of the jar because you never mix it properly. Natural peanut butter does however taste unequivocally better if you ask me.
Anyway, should we be avoiding emulsifiers? What does the research say about them?
Let me just say - having a small amount of ultra processed food is most likely not going to be the end of your world. I’m not here for scare factor. If you feel like enjoying dinner out with your friends or gelato with a loved one (fyi, my fav is green tea at Messina), amazing, social connection is a MASSIVE part of health and wellness. I don’t think either of these things happening on the odd occasion are going to alone set in motion severe intestinal permeability or chronic disease. These outcomes are usually due to a few compounding factors over time.
But see, here is the thing. An estimated 40% of the Australian diet is now ultra processed food. For some people - that might be closer to 10-15%, others, that’s leaning towards 80%. The trend overall, however, is that the intake is increasing.
Emulsifiers now appear in MOST packaged foods. It’s in mayo, biscuits, most kid friendly snacks, chocolate, ice cream, margarine (why this stuff still exists), a lot of spreads, lollies, cakes, sauces, dressings, bread, pastas, cereals, processed meats, crackers, some cheeses and yoghurts annndd the list goes on and on.
They are designed to improve the appearance, texture and taste and make products more shelf stable for longer. In other words: less food wastage + increasingly palatable = more profit. They are also the hero of the cosmetics industry to keep unlikely ingredients together for flawless application (women’s foundation).
Food Standards Australia & New Zealand have deemed emulsifiers safe in the past (especially those that are naturally derived). This is at small amounts, of one at a time, and no one has done the math unfortunately on HOW many are now consumed regularly and the cocktail of them together with other food additives. There is, however, preliminary research over the past few years that show regular consumption affects gut health by lowering mucus production, increasing intestinal permeability (aka leaky gut) and lowering bacterial diversity. Studies suggest they help drive or worsen intestinal inflammation and production of inflammatory metabolites that are then involved in systemic inflammation (inflammation in other areas of the body). The majority of these studies have been done on animals however which is the main argument against the research. Mainly this is done because some experiments are too risky to do on humans (intentionally ruining gut health).
Part of the reason we are only just learning this information is that research on gut microbiome is still in its infancy. There will no doubt, be more research to come. It seems the European Food Safety Authority has recognised emulsifiers as an emerging risk with further research needed. The results of scientific research unfortunately takes a long time to reach policy change and public knowledge.
How to recognise if the product has an emulsifier: In Australia they generally need to be listed and you will find it listed in the ingredients often as emulsifier followed by the type (soy lecithin, 476), for example. Some emulsifiers do appear to be worse than others whereas some more plant derived ones may actually act as a prebiotic in the gut. Some of the more concerning emulsifiers include commonly used polysorbate-80, carboxymethylcellulose, glycerol monolaurate and carrageenan. These usually appear as numbers on the ingredients list for example, in Cadburys chocolate or Peter’s ice cream (amongst many others).
While the research is starting to paint a not so favourable picture of certain common emulsifiers, it’s not lost on me that they appear mostly in processed food items. I personally don’t think an emulsifier is the only thing wrong with a diet that contains a high percentage of ultra-processed food. If we skip the more concerning emulsifiers - many of these foods won’t suddenly become incredibly nutritious and great for the gut microbiome.
Key take away. Where possible, try to stick to whole foods. We keep coming back to this, time and time again. This will inevitably lead to an intake of foods that are lower in additives and higher in nutrients. Informing yourself of what is in your food products by reading ingredients lists can help to educate yourself further as there are great alternatives popping up on shelves. Keep it simple though. Start with the meal or snacks you think contains the most heavily processed food items - for many this might be breakfast or lunch on the go whereas dinner might already be home cooked with the fam. Or habit stack - If you enjoy making dinner, get creative and create your own dressings and sauces instead of packaged pre-mixed.
Happy whole foods,
Sarah Kate x