食用色素可導致結(jié)腸炎

Artificial food colorants can cause disease when the immune system has become dysregulated, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai researchers report. The study, published in Cell Metabolism in May, was the first to show this phenomenon.

西奈山醫(yī)學院的研究人員報告說，當免疫系統(tǒng)失調(diào)時，人工食用色素會導致疾病。這項研究發(fā)表在五月的《細胞代謝》雜志上，首次揭示了這種現(xiàn)象。

The study, conducted in mice, found that the mice developed colitis when they consumed food with the artificial food colorants FD&C Red 40 and Yellow 6 when a specific component of their immune system, known as cytokine IL-23, was dysregulated. While it remains unclear whether food colorants have similar effects in humans, researchers plan to investigate exactly how cytokine IL-23 promotes the development of colitis after food colorant exposure.

這項在小鼠身上進行的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，當小鼠食用人工食用著色劑紅40號和黃6號時，它們的免疫系統(tǒng)的一個特定成分，即細胞因子 IL-23失調(diào)，就會患上結(jié)腸炎。雖然目前還不清楚食用色素是否對人類有類似的影響，但研究人員計劃研究細胞因子 IL-23在食用色素后如何影響結(jié)腸炎的發(fā)展。

Colitis is a form of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and cytokine IL-23 dysregulation is known to be a factor in the development of IBD in humans. Medicines that block its function are now successfully used in patients. Food colorants such as Red 40 and Yellow 6 are widely used in food, drink, and medicine. These two food colorants are the most commonly used in the world.

結(jié)腸炎是炎癥性腸病(IBD)的一種形式，細胞因子IL-23調(diào)節(jié)失調(diào)是IBD在人類發(fā)展中的一個因素。目前，阻斷其功能的藥物已成功臨床應用。食用色素如紅40號和黃6號被廣泛應用于食品、飲料和醫(yī)藥。這兩種食用色素是世界上最常用的。

Both genetic predisposition and environmental factors appear to play a role in whether a person develops IBD, a condition that affects millions of people worldwide, but the exact environmental factors have remained elusive.

遺傳易感性和環(huán)境因素似乎都對一個人是否患上炎癥性腸病有影響，這種疾病影響著全世界數(shù)百萬人，但確切的環(huán)境因素仍然難以捉摸。

For the study, the researchers created mouse models that had a dysregulated expression of cytokine IL-23. To their surprise, the mice with the dysregulated immune response did not develop inflammatory bowel disease spontaneously even though dysregulated IL-23 is a factor in people with the disease.

在這項研究中，研究人員建立了細胞因子 IL-23表達失調(diào)的小鼠模型。令他們驚訝的是，免疫反應失調(diào)的小鼠并沒有自發(fā)地產(chǎn)生炎癥性腸病，盡管 IL-23失調(diào)是患病的一個因素。

When given a diet with the food dyes Red 40 or Yellow 6, the altered mice developed colitis. However, mice that had the dye-infused diet but had a normal immune system did not develop IBD. To prove that the food colorant was indeed responsible, the researchers fed the altered mice diets without the food colorant and water containing it; in both cases, the disease developed when the mice consumed the colorant, but not otherwise. They repeated this finding for several diets and several food colorants.

當飲食中添加食用色素紅40號和黃6號時，患病小鼠會患上結(jié)腸炎。但是，食用色素但具有正常免疫系統(tǒng)的小鼠不會發(fā)展為IBD。為了證明食用色素確實有影響的，研究人員分別觀察了添加和不添加食用色素的飲食狀況，當小鼠食用色素時均會發(fā)病，否則就沒有。他們針對幾種飲食和幾種食用色素，都發(fā)現(xiàn)了這一現(xiàn)象。

"The dramatic changes in the concentration of air and water pollutants and the increased use of processed foods and food additives in the human diet in the last century correlate with an increase in the incidence of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases," said senior author Sergio Lira, MD, Ph.D., the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust Professor of Immunology at the Precision Immunology Institute at Icahn Mount Sinai. "These environmental changes are thought to contribute to development of these diseases, but relatively little is known about how they do so. We hope this research is a step toward understanding the impact of food colorants on human health."

“上個世紀空氣和水污染物濃度的急劇變化，以及人類飲食中加工食品和食品添加劑的使用增加，與炎癥和自身免疫疾病發(fā)病率的增加有關，”資深作者塞爾吉奧·里拉(Sergio Lira)，博士，西歐伊坎山精密免疫研究所的Leona M.和Harry B. Helmsley慈善信托基金會免疫學教授介紹說，“這些環(huán)境變化是導致這些疾病發(fā)展的重要原因，但是關于它們?nèi)绾伟l(fā)生的知之甚少。我們希望這項研究是朝著了解食用色素對人類健康的影響邁出的一步。”