Study finds canned foods containing high doses of zinc oxide may injure gastrointestinal tract
Release time:
2024-11-04
Binghamton University researchers found that canned foods may contain high doses of zinc oxide, up to 100 times more than the safe dose, damaging the digestive system.
The researchers wrote in a report published in the latest issue of "Food and Function" that zinc oxide is commonly used in food cans for its antimicrobial properties to extend the shelf life of food. They found that the zinc oxide content of canned food is about 100 times the dietary allowance of zinc, which is the average daily allowance.
Gretchen Mahler, the leader of the research project, said that zinc oxide nanoparticles are easy to gather on gastrointestinal cells, change the structure of microvilli on the surface of intestinal absorption cells and even reduce the number of microvilli, thus affecting the absorption function. In addition, zinc oxide nanoparticles may also trigger a large number of pro-inflammatory signals, thereby increasing intestinal permeability and allowing compounds that should not have passed through to enter the blood.
"Our in vitro model shows that zinc oxide nanoparticles do have an impact on the human body, and understanding how they affect intestinal function is important for consumer safety," Mahler said."
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