Common food preservative may harm the immune system

The FDA currently require immunotoxicity testing for food additives. However, most food additives received approval decades ago, and the FDA do not mandate updated testing on previously approved additives.

In particular, if an immunotoxic substance causes the body to produce fewer antibodies, it can have an effect on the fight against active infections and the protection against future ones.

Various common chemicals may harm the immune system, causing it to malfunction. This is known as immunotoxicity . These harmful effects may be temporary or permanent.

TBHQ is a common preservative that manufacturers use to prolong their products’ shelf lives.

According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), it is present in almost 1,250 processed foods, including Cheez-It crackers, Pop-Tarts, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, and Little Debbie Swiss Rolls.

However, this chemical has had immunotoxic effects in animal studies.

Chemicals may also leach from packaging or food processing equipment into food. Some bags, boxes, and food wrappers are coated with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).

PFAS-based materials are also common in non-stick coatings on cookware, gaskets in food processing equipment, and repeat-use plastics.

The FDA require immunotoxicity testing only for food contact substances with a high daily exposure. The immunotoxicity of many food additives and food contact substances is largely unknown.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) use high throughput in-vitro testing in their ToxCast program. This type of testing exposes living cells, proteins, or biological molecules in a laboratory environment to chemicals to assess and identify any potential toxic effects. This potentially limits the need for animal testing.

The sparsity of current immunotoxicity data prompted the researchers from the EWG to conduct a study to evaluate the immunotoxic effects of common food additives and food contact substances. They also assessed the utility of ToxCast data in screening for immunotoxicity.

Lead study author Dr. Olga Naidenko, Ph.D., EWG’s vice president for science investigations, emphasizes the urgency of this research:

“The pandemic has focused public and scientific attention on environmental factors that can impact the immune system. Before the pandemic, chemicals that may harm the immune system’s defense against infection or cancer did not receive sufficient attention from public health agencies. To protect public health, this must change.”

The researchers analyzed a total of 63 direct food additives present on more than 10 product labels sold in the U.S. in 2018–2020. They also specifically assessed nine identified PFAS that migrate from food packaging to food.

The findings now appear in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

The study evaluated these substances, concentrating on those with the highest number of active ToxCast assays. It focused further analyses on those substances with activity toward multiple immune-related targets and proteins involved in immune response, inflammation, and defense mechanisms.

The study compared the results of high throughput ToxCast data with available data from animal and epidemiological studies.