A common food additive, used in sausages, cheese, bread, dairy, baked and other processed foods, could both cause and trigger celiac disease, warns a recent study.
Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder, where gluten triggers the immune system to attack the gut.
The study showed that celiac disease could be caused by a bacterial enzyme named microbial transglutaminase, which is heavily used in the food processing industries to ameliorate food qualities and elongate products' shelf life.
Microbial transglutaminase can glue together proteins, so it’s used to improve food texture, palatability and shelf-life.Aaron Lerner, Visiting Professor, Aesku.Kipp Institute, Germany