On July 29, 2025, the AddiMapping project published an article titled “Maternal emulsifier consumption alters the offspring’s early-life microbiota and goblet cell function, leading to long-lasting susceptibility to disease” in Nature communications.
The composition of the microbiota early in life plays a role in the development of the immune system and therefore has a lasting impact on health.
In this study, the authors analyzed the impact of dietary emulsifier consumption by breastfeeding mothers on the microbiota and digestive system of their offspring.
Their results show that maternal consumption of two emulsifiers (carboxymethylcellulose and polysorbate 80) leads to transient alterations in the infants’ microbiota. These alterations are sufficient to increase susceptibility to colitis and metabolic syndrome in early adulthood.
- Clara Delaroque, Institut Pasteur – Université Paris Cité & Inserm
- Héloïse Rytter, Institut Pasteur – Université Paris Cité & Inserm
- Erica Bonazzi, Institut Pasteur – Université Paris Cité & Inserm
- Marine Huillet, Université de Toulouse – INRAE
- Sandrine Ellero-Simatos, Université de Toulouse – INRAE
- Eva Chatonnat, Institut Pasteur – Université Paris Cité & Inserm
- Fuhua Hao, University Park
- Andrew Patterson, University Park
- Benoit Chassaing, Institut Pasteur – Université Paris Cité & Inserm, CHRU Nancy