Emulsifiers are food additives used to alter the food’s texture and extend the shelf life. Examples of emulsifiers inlcude sodium stearoyl lactylate, mono- and diglycerides, ammonium phosphatide, locust bean gum, xanthan gum, guar gum lecithin, carrageenan, and canola oil.
New research has shown that emulsifiers may impact on our gut health, weaking the gut microbiota which may drive inflammation and increase our risk of metabolic syndrome. Emulsifiers are generally not considered real food or whole food ingredients. Free from emulsifiers, FitChef sticks to its #eatclean ethos.
While emulsifiers are useful to get oil and water to bind (and not split back into water and oil again) it is also used to make cheap sauces that are not reduced the old fashioned way to be nutrient dense.
An example of a natural whole food emulsifier is mustard, often used in salad dressings to bind oil and vinegar.
The FitChef Way
Call us old fashioned but we use real ingredients, with slow cooking and reducing techniques to thicken sauces, sometimes using a touch of tapioca after reducing to bind sauces.
Our food is nutrient dense because of this.
References
- Partridge D, Lloyd KA, Rhodes JM, Walker AW, Johnstone AM, Campbell BJ. Food additives: Assessing the impact of exposure to permitted emulsifiers on bowel and metabolic health – introducing the FADiets study. Nutr Bull. 2019;44(4):329-349. doi: 10.1111/nbu.12408.