Food Additives And Microbiota

Abstract

The usage of food additives in food production is inevitable in this modern world. Although only safe amount of them are approved, their safety has always been questioned. The effects of food additives on microbiota have not been investigated in detailed manner up to know. In this review, the effects of artificial sweeteners, sugar alcohols, emulsifiers, food colorants, flavor enhancers, thickeners, anticaking agents, and preservatives on microbiota were reviewed. Even though, most of the results illustrated negative outcomes, few of them showed positive effects of food additives on microbiota. Although it is difficult to obtain exact results due to differences in experimental animals and models, it can be said that nonnutritive synthetic sweeteners lead to glucose intolerance by affecting microbiota and a part of sugar alcohols show similar effects like probiotics.