{"id":1624,"date":"2021-06-10T15:01:57","date_gmt":"2021-06-10T15:01:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.truthinlabeling.org\/blog\/?p=1624"},"modified":"2021-06-10T15:02:00","modified_gmt":"2021-06-10T15:02:00","slug":"researchers-believe-this-popular-food-ingredient-can-trigger-autoimmune-diseases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/truthinlabeling.org\/blog\/2021\/06\/10\/researchers-believe-this-popular-food-ingredient-can-trigger-autoimmune-diseases\/","title":{"rendered":"Researchers believe this popular food ingredient can trigger autoimmune diseases"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you read the label of a fake egg product called JUST Egg<\/a>, you\u2019ll find an odd ingredient name \u2013 transglutaminase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One brand of transglutaminase purchased online.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This enzyme, also called \u201cmeat glue,\u201d works by bonding proteins together. In the past it was manufactured using the clotting agent extracted from the blood of pigs or cows, but now it\u2019s mostly secreted from microbes. And imitation eggs aren\u2019t the only use to which transglutaminase is put to by the food-processing industry. Others include gluing scraps of meat together to produce an expensive-looking steak, allowing fake fish to look like sushi, improving the texture of dairy products and even increasing a product\u2019s shelf life. No wonder Big Food loves it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But some researchers are warning that what makes transglutaminase do its job so well with food products may also allow it to promote or encourage celiac disease and other autoimmune conditions, as well as contribute to millions of cases of food poisoning in the U.S. each year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A double health threat<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Transglutaminase can be used by restaurants and manufacturers to get away with a nearly undetectable form of food fraud. By sprinkling the enzyme on various scrap pieces of meat, chicken or seafood, and then binding them in plastic wrap for several hours, they can turn out a picture-perfect \u201cfilet mignon\u201d or filet of fish that even an expert wouldn\u2019t know isn\u2019t the real McCoy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But fakery aside, meat glue could very well be the source of some of those \u201cunaccountable\u201d food-poisoning outbreaks we so often read about. That\u2019s because pathogens such as E. coli, Listeria and Salmonella mostly appear on the surface of meat and are effectively killed by conventional cooking. When multiple pieces are combined, some of those pathogens are moved to the center of the product, lurking in the middle where high temperatures don\u2019t reach them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there\u2019s more. A 2018 published study by researchers from the Kipp Institute in Germany and the B. Rappaport School of Medicine in Israel calls transglutaminase a \u201cprimary candidate as a partner for CD (celiac disease) development.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The authors point to several ways in which transglutaminase can trigger an immune reaction leading to celiac disease, one being that the transglutaminase enzyme can alter the structure of gluten peptides making it \u201clikely to resist further breakdown and to be recognized as \u2018foreign\u2019\u201d by immune receptors in the gut. Also problematic is the fact that transglutaminase is \u201cstructurally different (from) but functionally imitates\u201d tissue transglutaminase (tTG), which is found naturally in the human body. (Those who suffer from celiac disease often produce antibodies that attack tTG).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2015 the same authors published a study identifying transglutaminase as one of the common food additives likely behind the \u201crising incidence of autoimmune disease,\u201d conditions that include not just celiac disease but diabetes, multiple sclerosis and lupus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than meat<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Novozymes, a UK company, advertises its transglutaminase product for low-fat yogurt to get that creamy texture and taste. Another manufacturer of the enzyme, a company called Siveele, lists dairy and even bakery products among those to which it is added, claiming that its \u201cnatural,\u201d cost effective and can be used in products that sport a \u201cclean label.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Typically, a clean label means that undesirable additives are not mentioned on a product\u2019s ingredient panel. For example, since MSG is undesirable, \u201cclean label\u201d flavor-enhancers such as hydrolyzed pea protein, autolyzed yeast, and soy protein isolate are used instead of MSG. The list of \u201cclean label\u201d ingredients can be found at: https:\/\/www.truthinlabeling.org\/assets\/ingredient_names.pdf<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On \u201cformed\u201d meat products sold in supermarkets in the U.S. the enzyme must be called out on the ingredient statement (as it is for JUST Egg). It appears that for any other use transglutaminase can go unidentified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2018 study mentioned above states that transglutaminase is \u201cunlabeled and hidden from the public knowledge,\u201d and our attempts to find out exactly where it may be hidden in processed foods sold in the U.S. were largely unsuccessful. Ajinomoto, which is a major producer of transglutaminase as well as MSG, states that in the EU \u201cspecific labeling is unnecessary.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite all the uncertainties involved with the labeling of transglutaminase there are things you can do to steer clear of it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n