[HN Gopher] Acetylated cellulose suppresses mass through commens...
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       Acetylated cellulose suppresses mass through commensals consuming
       carbohydrates
        
       Author : PaulHoule
       Score  : 16 points
       Date   : 2025-06-08 19:59 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.sciencedirect.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.sciencedirect.com)
        
       | epicureanideal wrote:
       | Are there any natural sources of this substance?
       | 
       | Any expected side effects, like cancer or something?
        
         | kragen wrote:
         | Do overhead projector transparencies count as natural? They
         | seem to be endemic in certain office biomes, though I suspect
         | they may actually be an invasive species throughout most of
         | their range, and they're usually composed almost entirely of
         | acetylated cellulose. Photographic film, too.
         | 
         | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellulose_acetate
        
           | Gravityloss wrote:
           | Thanks for the excellent link. Cellulose acetate is used in
           | clothes as well. Apparently it helps in wrinkle recovery. (I
           | am completely not a fiber expert.)
        
         | tuukkah wrote:
         | > _Any expected side effects, like cancer or something?_
         | 
         | "Acetate facilitates carbohydrate fermentation", so bloating.
        
       | kragen wrote:
       | It's interesting that this functionalized cellulose promotes body
       | weight loss (in mice) through effects on intestinal microbiota.
       | One of my pet theories is that _other_ functionalized celluloses
       | such as carboxymethylcellulose and hydroxypropylcellulose might
       | be the culprits behind the obesity pandemic, because they are
       | commonly used in ultra-processed foods, which have a close
       | epidemiological association with obesity, and the withdrawal of
       | which seems to reduce obesity in controlled experiments.
       | Moreover, we know there 's some kind of intestinal microbiome
       | link in the causality chain, because fecal transplants can induce
       | or reverse obesity in controlled experiments. And we know that in
       | general such functionalized celluloses do alter the intestinal
       | microbiome. However, nobody knows _which_ intestinal commensals
       | promote obesity, so we don 't know whether these substances
       | promote obesity or prevent it.
       | 
       | This experiment is a crucial step in that direction, but
       | unfortunately the functionalized cellulose they tested is one
       | that isn't commonly used in food.
       | 
       | Nobody should take my viewpoint on this too seriously, because I
       | don't know much about the field, but while I'm stating it, I'll
       | mention that other industrial polysacccharides like xanthan gum,
       | guar gum, and modified food starch seem like equally strong
       | candidates; that other food additives like titanium dioxide
       | nanoparticles and polysorbate 80 are also candidates; and that
       | the obesity pandemic is almost certainly multifactorial rather
       | than caused by any single cause. Coca-Cola barely contains
       | anything sketchy (just sugar, phosphoric acid, and caramel color)
       | but can reliably induce significant weight gain and loss.
        
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       (page generated 2025-06-08 23:00 UTC)