Crohn's Disease Dietary Therapy

Emulsifiers

An emulsifier is a chemical that is added to packaged, bottled or prepared foods in order to provide a benefit.  For instance, an emulsifier is added to almost all bottled salad dressings.  It acts like an emulsion and allows the mixing of water and oil within the bottle.  Emulsifiers are often added to ice cream in order to enhance taste and mouth feel. In other instances the emulsifier may allow prolonged shelf life.  Finally, emulsifiers have no calories; they provide the mouth feel of fats and so they are used extensively in low calorie packaged foods.  The FDA has allowed food manufacturers to use these chemicals as they wish in almost any amount as they have long been considered safe.  However, these FDA decisions were made well before we knew very much about the health of the bowel wall and certainly how they might act in certain disorders such as CD.

There are many emulsifiers.  Below is a list of just a few of them.

• xanthum gum
• gum Arabic
• guar gum
• polysorbates  
• lecithins – often from eggs
• carboxy methyl cellulose (CMC) – very common
• propyl hydroxyl methyl cellulose (PHMC)
• many other celluloses such as methyl cellulose, which is the ingredient in Citrucel

If you do not recognize the name of an ingredient in the packaged label, assume it may not be good for you.  Look it up on Wiki.  It may be an emulsifier.  For a full essay on emulsifiers, you may go to jacksongi.com and type the word, Emulsifiers, in the search box.