Carboxymethylcellulose, gut bacteria and acute pancreatitis in mice
What it found
In mice, drinking a 1% carboxymethylcellulose solution for 4 weeks made caerulein-induced acute pancreatitis worse.
The effect came from changes in gut bacteria, and it was eased by butyrate or Akkermansia muciniphila supplements.
What they found
Studies in people
People with pancreatitis
In 54 people with acute pancreatitis, those with moderate or severe disease had less Akkermansia muciniphila in their gut bacteria than those with mild disease. Lower amounts of this bacterium were linked to higher severity scores and higher CRP.
Animal and lab studies
Worse pancreatitis in mice
Mice that drank the carboxymethylcellulose solution had a higher pancreas-to-body weight ratio, worse tissue scores, and higher blood levels of amylase, lipase, IL-6 and TNF-alpha than mice that drank pure water. The authors say this shows the pancreatitis was worse after carboxymethylcellulose exposure.
Gut bacteria changes
In mice with pancreatitis, carboxymethylcellulose lowered the variety of gut bacteria and shifted the mix, with more potentially harmful bacteria such as Escherichia coli and fewer helpful ones like Akkermansia muciniphila and Lactobacillus.
Transfer to other mice
When gut bacteria from carboxymethylcellulose-fed mice were transferred into other mice, those mice also developed worse pancreatitis, with more pancreas damage and higher blood markers. This shows the effect travels with the gut bacteria.
Immune cells and LPS
Single-cell analysis showed more classical monocytes, a type of immune cell, in the blood of mice that received the altered gut bacteria. The authors link this to a leaky gut barrier letting LPS into the blood, which activates these cells through a protein called C/EBP-delta.
Butyrate and Akkermansia help
In mice, giving butyrate or Akkermansia muciniphila reduced pancreatitis severity, restored gut barrier proteins, and lowered classical monocytes. The authors say these supplements could help counteract the effects of carboxymethylcellulose.
What the authors conclude
“This study reveals the detrimental impact of CMC on AP due to gut dysbiosis, with Akkermansia muciniphila or butyrate offering potential therapeutic avenues for counteracting CMC-induced AP exacerbation.”
Also in their conclusions
- They conclude that carboxymethylcellulose worsens acute pancreatitis in mice by changing gut bacteria, reducing butyrate, and letting LPS into the blood.
- They say that supplementing with Akkermansia muciniphila or butyrate could potentially prevent pancreatitis attacks or make them less severe in people who eat carboxymethylcellulose.
- They note that their study did not include clinical data linking carboxymethylcellulose exposure to pancreatitis in people, and that the therapeutic value of these supplements in patients is not yet proven.
How it was done
Carboxymethylcellulose is one of the most common emulsifiers in processed food, and earlier work linked it to long-term inflammatory conditions. The authors wanted to see whether it could also affect a sudden inflammatory condition, acute pancreatitis, which they note had not been studied before.
Mice were given pure water or a 1% carboxymethylcellulose solution for 4 weeks, then acute pancreatitis was triggered with caerulein. The researchers also transferred gut bacteria from these mice into other mice, and tested butyrate or Akkermansia muciniphila supplements. They also looked at gut bacteria in 54 people with acute pancreatitis of different severities.
What it can’t tell you
- The main experiments were in mice, so they cannot show whether carboxymethylcellulose affects acute pancreatitis in people.
- The human part only looked at gut bacteria in people who already had pancreatitis, so it cannot show that low Akkermansia muciniphila causes more severe disease.
- The authors note that most of the patients in their group had biliary pancreatitis, so the findings may not apply to other causes of pancreatitis.
Who paid
- Funding
- Funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China; National Key R&D Program of China (from the PubMed record).
- Conflicts
- Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: The study was approved by the Shanghai Changhai Hospital Ethics Committee (CHEC2023-159). All patients provided written informed consent. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
- Authors work at
- Naval Medical University, China; Shanghai Institute of Pancreatic Diseases, China; Shanghai Jiaotong University, China
The paper
- Title
- Dietary emulsifier carboxymethylcellulose-induced gut dysbiosis and SCFA reduction aggravate acute pancreatitis through classical monocyte activation
- Type
- Study
- Evidence
- Studies in people · animals · lab
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Cite
- Feng Y, Chen W, Chen J, et al (2025). Dietary emulsifier carboxymethylcellulose-induced gut dysbiosis and SCFA reduction aggravate acute pancreatitis through classical monocyte activation. Microbiome. doi:10.1186/s40168-025-02074-1Free full textPubMed 40128912DOI
Summary written 26 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error