Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and gut bacteria in a lab model
What it found
A dose of 0.35 g/L BHA caused no major changes in gut bacteria from 24 people, tested outside the body.
Some small shifts appeared in specific bacterial genes.
What they found
Animal and lab studies
Overall gut bacteria structure
In lab tests using human samples, 0.35 g/L BHA did not significantly change how the bacterial communities worked or were built. This was true for every age group tested.
Small drops in some bacteria
There were some significant decreases at the phylum level, which is a broad grouping of bacteria. These drops were not large enough to change overall community diversity.
Affected bacterial genes
Genes involved in making lipopolysaccharides and moving electrons within cells were most affected by BHA across all ages. These genes belong to Bacteroidota, Proteobacteria, and Verrucomicrobiota bacteria in the lab samples.
What the authors conclude
- They suggest that BHA has a minimal but noticeable effect on gut bacteria based on the gene changes they saw.
- The authors think the affected genes may point to how BHA acts inside bacterial cells.
How it was done
Earlier checks on this additive did not look at how it might affect gut bacteria, even though it reaches the colon after being eaten.
Researchers used a lab model to test BHA on gut bacteria taken from 24 donors. The donors ranged in age from infants to older adults. They applied a dose of 0.35 g/L BHA to these samples.
What it can’t tell you
- We summarised it from the abstract only.
- These tests were done outside the body, so they cannot show exactly what happens during digestion.
- Lab models using donated bacteria cannot capture all the ways a living gut responds to an additive.
Who paid
- Conflicts
- Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Stef Deyaert reports a relationship with Cryptobiotix SA that includes: employment and equity or stocks. Aurelien Baudot reports a relationship with Cryptobiotix SA that includes: board membership and equity or stocks. Pieter Van den Abbeele reports a relationship with Cryptobiotix SA that includes: board membership and equity or stocks. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
- Authors work at
- United States Department of Agriculture, USA; The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, USA; University of Pennsylvania, USA
The paper
- Title
- The food additive butylated hydroxyanisole minimally affects the human gut microbiome ex vivo
- Type
- Study
- Evidence
- Animals and lab studies
- Summarised from
- Abstract only
- Cite
- Lemons JMS, Narrowe AB, Firrman J, et al (2025). The food additive butylated hydroxyanisole minimally affects the human gut microbiome ex vivo. Food chemistry. doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2025.143037PubMed 39919360DOI
Summary written 30 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error