Microcrystalline Cellulose in supplements
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I'm wondering what the risk/danger/impact is of ingesting microcrystalline cellulose contained in supplements. The amount may indeed be very small...
I've read the posts on rpf - RP says adsorption is an issue. For someone with leaky gut/SIBO/gut motility issues, could the microcrystalline cellulose potentially be more of an issue?I've searched extensively but haven't found any of the desired products without this excipient.
"Its presence in food, like that of the polyester imitation fat, microcrystalline cellulose, and many other polymers used to stabilize emulsions or to increase smoothness, is often justified by the doctrine that these molecules are too large to be absorbed. There are two points that are deliberately ignored by the food-safety regulators, 1) these materials can interact dangerously with intestinal bacteria, and 2) they can be absorbed, in the process called "persorption."" — Ray Peat, PhD
Pathologe 1993 Sep;14(5):247-252 [Persorption of microparticles]. Volkheimer G “Solid, hard microparticles, such as starch granules, pollen, cellulose particles, fibres and crystals, whose diameters are well into the micrometre range, are incorporated regularly and in considerable numbers from the digestive tract. Motor factors play an important part in the paracellular penetration of the epithelial cell layer. From the subepithelial region the microparticles are transported away via lymph and blood vessels. They can be detected in body fluids using simple methods: only a few minutes after oral administration they can be found in the peripheral blood-stream. We observed their passage into urine, bile, cerebrospinal fluid, the alveolar lumen, the peritoneal cavity, breast milk, and transplacentally into the fetal blood-stream. Since persorbed microparticles can embolise small vessels, this touches on microangiological problems, especially in the region of the CNS. The long-term deposit of embolising microparticles which consist of potential allergens or contaminants, or which are carriers of contaminants, is of immunological and environmental-technical importance. Numerous ready-made foodstuffs contain large quantities of microparticles capable of persorption.”
@yerrag
I would value your opinion on this! -
Those are good quotes of Ray's on persorption, which involves particles that are very small that they can very easily penetrate intestinal barriers and get into the bloodstream. These would inflammation which would not involve infection but involve toxicity, and would cause our immune system to react the way they would do to foreign substances.
Ray speaks of aluminum adjuvants used in vaccines, and he would consider mercury in the same vein, I imagine. The effect of mercury is the subject of a controversial subject which I believe RFK Jr. has written about in a Rolling Stone magazine, back when it was freer magazine not yet co-opted by the establishment. It involves mercury in vaccines being the prime cause of autism.
But vaccination is only one way such toxins get into our body, and the ingestion of particles that human processes transform into very small particles such as microcrystalline was is another.
They work pretty much to induce immune reactions that would become chronic if these particles do not eventually get excreted.
I think it is an energy sink that gets our body to waste its energy on an endless cycle of expending energy to futilely trying to get rid of the toxins. The immune system would continually create inflammatory conditions with the aim of eradicating these toxins. It would also make ROS to use it to eliminate these toxins, although it would be on a best effort basis, as more often than not it isn't made to be capable if handling such man-made toxins, and thus it would fail.
Unless these toxins can be sequestered and excreted, they would a continual source of immune-related diseases that plague a modern society in a silent and hidden undercurrent of denials that suit the narrative of a medical hierarchy invested in blaming genetics, a lack of exercise, and old age. For all we know, a virus could be made the scapegoat once again.
What I speak of as a reality I believe in most would scoff at mainly because of their programming to rely on the scientific establishment to give proof of an existential threat before any action can be taken to solve a problem involving disease. But to approach it this way would be ceding our ability to take the initiative to solve a problem, especially when the problem is squarely onbourbown shoulders. Which is why we as non-medically trained individuals have to unleash our intellect to pursue solutions that institutions cannot do for us.
Persorption is a real issue that would easily get sidelined. The establishment has little interest in prevention of disease as prevention is not profitable for an industry that profits from the seeding of all manners of diseases on its prime cash cow of humans.
Persorption involves substances that are almost invisible. If they don't instantly kill you, then they would be easily classified as GRAS as a de facto default classification by the USDA and the FDA. And they would be just one of the many, many insults thrown at the human organism, and trying to pin down a pathology from it would be hard to prove.
Proving culpability is very hard, and I elect to not sweat out these details that would have me swim upstream against a strong downstream current. The odds are not stacked in my favor. And that is an understatement.
I would just ask if it is natural. If it isn't, I will avoid it as much as I can. Which is not to say everything that is natural is good. For example, carageenan from seaweed is natural. So is lead. So is mercury. But it goes without saying there is much out there we already know to avoid, even if they're not small particles or nano-particles. But as a class, nano-particles are to be avoided.
I end by saying my perspective is shaped very much by my own individual challenges with my health. In trying to overcome what doctors have given up on curing, I have given up on relying on doctors to tell me what I can change and what I can't. And by this orientation, I have managed to learn more seeing my health improve at best, or some aspects of it stay unchanged at worst. In the process, I have a lot to thank for stumbling into Ray Peat, as he validates my attitudes. Especially on his emphasis on coherence. As this trumps our tendency to run towards the safety of experts, of whom many are merely priests relying on faith in their medical religion, which has been shown to be built on sand.
I can't say much more on persorption, as to say more would be presumptuous. I can only use logic and reason to convince myself that substances such as microcrystalline cellulose, that can be persorbed into our system, are better avoided than ingested. To thread on caution rather to use the lack of definite scientifically proven proof of its toxic effects, as an excuse to enjoy this kind of fruits of modernity.
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@yerrag said in Microcrystalline Cellulose in supplements:
I think it is an energy sink that gets our body to waste its energy on an endless cycle of expending energy to futilely trying to get rid of the toxins.
Agreed.
Thank you for sharing your perspective. -
I find that the fewer supplements I take, the better I feel.
