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Close up of carboxymethyl cellulose or CMC

Nutrimuscle invites you to learn more about carboxymethylcellulose, or CMC. Why is there carboxymethylcellulose in whey? Here are many details and information.
Nutrimuscle
Nutrition santé
Whey
whey protéine en poudre carboxyméthylcellulose CMC

Nutrimuscle invites you to learn more about carboxymethylcellulose, or CMC. Why is there carboxymethylcellulose in whey? Here are many details and information.

Contents

  • Is your protein hiding things from you?
  • Why is there carboxymethylcellulose in whey?
  • New findings on the dangers of carboxymethylcellulose
  • How does gut disruption occur?
  • Nutrimuscle's position on adding carboxymethylcellulose to proteins

Is your protein hiding things from you?

When looking at the composition of a protein powder , it's worth starting at the end of the ingredient list. It is at the bottom that we find the substances with the most exotic names, which we can wonder about the reason for their presence.

As a general rule, the longer the list of additives, the more to be wary of.

Why is there carboxymethylcellulose in whey?

Protein powders like whey are quite insoluble in liquid (water or milk). If you shake them with a shaker, they start to foam significantly.

Whey can be forced to dissolve well in water without foaming by adding a synthetic gel (carboxymethylcellulose) and a surfactant (most often a soy extract) which attracts water. The combination of surfactant and carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) makes it possible to obtain a perfectly soluble whey.

The consumer has the impression that this whey is of very high quality, because it literally melts in water. Fine, but at what cost to the health of the user?

New findings on the dangers of carboxymethylcellulose

The disruption of the intestinal flora is involved in many health problems such as obesity or metabolic disorders. For example, when we give extracts of intestinal flora from an obese person to a lean person, the latter will quickly gain fat.

CMC in mice

Adding carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) to the diet of healthy mice induced a similar change in their gut flora. Appetite increases, the ability to extract and absorb calories from food increases. The activity of pro-inflammatory genes is also stimulated by CMC. This results in metabolic disorders, hyperglycemia and obesity.

In mice with intestinal disorders, CMC aggravates the situation and leads to chronic colitis.

How does gut disruption occur?

Thick mucus that acts as a protective barrier separates bacteria from the gut itself. The intestinal bacteria therefore do not have access to the cells of the intestine. Carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), which acts as a detergent, provides this access to bacteria. The latter directly attack the intestinal cells causing chronic inflammation.

Another effect of CMC is to alter the composition of the intestinal flora by increasing the concentration of pathogenic bacteria that are less favorable to good health.

Researchers (1) believe that chronic inflammation in the digestive system causes people to overeat, which makes it easier to gain fat.

The limitations of the CMC study

It should be noted that the addition of carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) in food is completely authorized as a food additive. It is also hidden under the name E466.

CMC advocates explain that this study is only for high doses of CMC, which is 150g of CMC per day.

However, even if we don't consume as much CMC as in the study, we consume it all our lives.

Proteins enriched in carboxymethylcellulose

If your protein is "enriched" with carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), you will be consuming CMC every day, or even several times a day, for years. You will therefore be constantly exposed to CMC. This will be in addition to the CMC found in many prepared foods.

For the record, products low in gluten are often "enriched" with CMC, because it is necessary to compensate in one way or another for the culinary effects that gluten brings to dishes or prepared foods. The winegrowers also put it in the wine...

Nutrimuscle's position on adding carboxymethylcellulose to proteins

Nutrimuscle has always refused to add carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) in its proteins, and more generally in all its food supplements. Nutrimuscle therefore guarantees the absence of CMC in its nutritional supplements.

As a result, Nutrimuscle native wheys foam more than CMC-modified wheys, but the consumer does not take unnecessary health risks.

Scientific references

(1) Chassaing B. Dietary emulsifiers impact the mouse gut microbiota promoting colitis and metabolic syndrome. Nature 2015 Published online 25 February 2015

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