The food additive EDTA aggravates colitis and colon carcinogenesis in mouse models.

ABSTRACT: Inflammatory bowel disease is a group of conditions with rising incidence caused by genetic and environmental factors including diet. The chelator ethylenediaminetetraacetate (EDTA) is widely used by the food and pharmaceutical industry among numerous other applications, leading to a considerable environmental exposure. Numerous safety studies in healthy animals have revealed no relevant toxicity by EDTA. Here we show that, in the presence of intestinal inflammation, EDTA is surprisingly capable of massively exacerbating inflammation and even inducing colorectal carcinogenesis at doses that are presumed to be safe. This toxicity is evident in two biologically different mouse models of inflammatory bowel disease, the AOM/DSS and the IL10^-/- model. The mechanism of this effect may

SUBMITTER: Evstatiev R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7933154 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature