E171, a meals additive, has been used till just lately as a whitening and opacifying agent in lots of merchandise corresponding to pastries, sweets, sauces and ice cream. It’s composed of micro- and nanoparticles of titanium dioxide, or TiO2.
The scientific neighborhood has been scrutinizing these titanium dioxide nanoparticles. Earlier research on animal fashions have proven that they will trigger the looks of pre-cancerous cells within the colon amongst different results within the physique. On the premise of the precautionary precept, the usage of E171 in meals has been banned in France from 2020. All of Europe adopted swimsuit in 2022.
As soon as ingested, nanoparticles accumulate within the liver and spleen after absorption from the gut, but in addition within the placenta, till they contaminate the fetus. Scientists then questioned if there have been different routes of publicity of the physique to those nanoparticles.
To reply this query, researchers from INRAE, in collaboration with the LNE (Laboratoire Nationwide de métrologie et d’Essais, Paris), studied its absorption by the buccal cavity. They first studied their passage via the mouth of pigs (histologically similar to that of people), then the impact of the nanoparticles on human buccal cells in tradition.
Underneath these situations, in vivo and in vitro respectively, checks present that they’re certainly quickly absorbed. As soon as absorbed, they harm the DNA of the cells by subjecting them to oxidative stress, affecting the survival of rising cells, an impact which will have an effect on the renewal of the oral epithelium.
These outcomes not solely verify that these nanoparticles move via the oral mucosa to succeed in the bloodstream, thus nicely earlier than their absorption within the gut, but in addition that they will have an effect on cell regeneration inside these similar mucosa.
This work highlights the significance of bearing in mind direct publicity of the oral cavity to the meals additive E171 when assessing dangers to people, each when utilized in meals merchandise and in cosmetics (significantly toothpaste) and prescribed drugs.
E171 is used as a white meals coloring and opacifying agent. It’s nonetheless utilized in pharmaceutical preparations and toothpastes, and out of doors Europe in meals. On this examine, scientists tracked TiO2 particles utilizing electron microscopy coupled with titanium spectrometry. Additionally they used the “nanoparticle-scope”, an modern expertise to map their distribution in tissues on the nanometer scale.
The work is revealed within the journal Nanotoxicology.
Extra data:
Julien Vignard et al, Meals-grade titanium dioxide translocates throughout the buccal mucosa in pigs and induces genotoxicity in an in vitro mannequin of human oral epithelium, Nanotoxicology (2023). DOI: 10.1080/17435390.2023.2210664
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INRAE – Nationwide Analysis Institute for Agriculture, Meals and Setting
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Titanium dioxide: E171 first enters the blood by way of the mouth (2023, Might 17)
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