Common Food Additive May Give You Diabetes or Colon Problems

Many researchers are now focusing on a food additive that is also used in paint, plastics, and batteries. I’d never heard of it – or at least I never gave it a thought. But it’s shaping up as a serious health danger.

Two of the main problems linked to this additive could be affecting you right now: Harmful, metallic crystals form in your pancreas, and inflammation tears at your intestinal lining. The pancreatic damage may play a role in diabetes.

The additive is a metallic substance that many of us consume every day, and of course the officials who are supposed to protect our health say it’s harmless.

Not bloody likely. . .here’s the full story.

The common food additive that poses a danger is titanium dioxide.

About six decades ago, titanium oxide became the go-to chemical substitute for lead in coloring agents used to whiten common household products. Manufacturers made it one of the most popular white pigments for foods, toothpaste, cosmetics, medication, paint, paper and plastics.

The result: Global annual production of titanium dioxide has expanded by about four million tons in the past 60 years.

The deluge of titanium dioxide can be really, really bad news for your health.

Lab tests at the University of Zurich in Switzerland show that when the cells in your intestine absorb titanium dioxide from your food, and your intestines are already inflamed from a condition like colitis, the compound adds fuel to the intestinal fire.[1]

The researchers point out that more and more people are suffering from inflammatory bowel diseases like ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. Much of this digestive disaster is self-inflicted. When we over-indulge in processed foods filled with sugar and pumped up with damaged fats, the immune system can go rogue, attacking the walls of the intestines and over-reacting to the bacteria that inhabit the gut.

The Swiss tests have focused on a conglomeration of proteins in the intestinal cells called the NLP3 inflammasome. When the inflammasome encounters tiny particles of titanium dioxide it can react as though the particles are some sort of infection. The immune system goes on red alert and coordinates an assault that harms healthy tissue.

New Clue to Cause of Colitis

Confirming their concerns, the researchers have discovered that people with ulcerative colitis have higher levels of titanium dioxide being absorbed into their blood.

"This shows that these particles can be absorbed from food under certain disease conditions," warns researcher Gerhard Rogler.

Along with the damage to the intestines, scientists at the University of Texas at Austin have found that the pancreas, which secretes insulin in response to the carbohydrates in our meals, is ground zero for the formation of crystals from titanium dioxide. These crystals inflame the pancreas and can interfere with the production and release of insulin -- which encourages the body’s cells to absorb blood sugar.

When they analyzed pancreatic tissue taken from people suffering diabetes and compared it to tissue from folks without diabetes, they found titanium oxide in the diabetic tissue while the healthy tissue was free of the substance.[2]

“Type 2 diabetes could be a chronic crystal-associated inflammatory disease of the pancreas, similar to chronic crystal-caused inflammatory diseases of the lung such as silicosis and asbestosis," says researcher Adam Heller, Ph.D.

In all these “osis” diseases, the body is trying to cope with molecules like silicon, asbestos and – as we now know – titanium that have no business in the body.

A Major Cause of Diabetes?

Prof. Heller believes that the recent large increases in the number of people with diabetes could be at least partly linked to our increased appetite for processed foods that contain titanium dioxide.

"The increased use of titanium dioxide over the last five decades could be a factor in the type 2 diabetes epidemic," he explains. "The dominant type 2 diabetes-associated pancreatic particles consist of titanium dioxide crystals, which are used as a colorant in foods, medications and indoor wall paint, and they are transported to the pancreas in the bloodstream. The study raises the possibility that humanity's increasing use of titanium dioxide pigment accounts for part of the global increase in the incidence of type 2 diabetes.” 

If you're at risk for diabetes, regularly monitoring your blood sugar is about to get easier.  A new at-home blood sugar monitoring test in development uses, believe it or not, earwax to assess your blood sugar levels. 

Another Reason to Avoid Tattoos

And if you’re a fan of tattoos, a study in Europe demonstrates that titanium dioxide, the second most prevalent component of tattoo ink, can infiltrate the body and wind up in your lymph nodes – along with manganese, cobalt, chromium and nickel.[3]

What happens after this menu of metals including titanium dioxide gets into your lymph nodes? No one knows for sure, but I doubt if it’s anything good.

Of course, it would be smart to read labels and avoid foods with titanium oxide, but the real takeaway is to avoid ALL processed foods. Almost none of the approved food additives can be considered safe, and processed foods also tend to contain massive amounts of sugar – plus artificial flavors designed to induce you to eat more, and even addict you. Meanwhile, natural nutrients have been stripped out or denatured by heat.

 Titanium dioxide is a compound the human body can’t put to a useful purpose. This white pigment can only darken your health future.