Ingredient in your TOOTHPASTE could increase your risk of bowel cancer

AN ingredient in toothpaste could be ruining your gut health, experts have warned.

Triclosan, an antimicrobial found in some household products, including liquid hand soaps and body wash, could alert your gut microbiota, increasing your risk of colonic inflammation and bowel cancer.

Short-time exposure to low-dose triclosan caused low-grade colonic inflammation, and sped up the development of colitis and bowel cancer in mice, scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst found.

Traces of the chemical was found in three quarters of US people, meaning there is an urgent need to test its safety, experts warned.

Senior author assistant Professor Guodong Zhang said: “These results, for the first time, suggest that triclosan could have adverse effects on gut health.

“Triclosan (TCS) is a widely used antimicrobial ingredient and is incorporated into more than 2,000 consumer products.

“Here, our central finding is that short-time exposure to low-dose TCS caused low-grade colonic inflammation, and increased colitis and colitis-associated colon cancer in mice, which suggests a potential adverse effect of his compound on gut health.”

Postdoctoral fellow Dr Haixia Yang added: “Because this compound is so widely used, our study suggests that there is an urgent need to further evaluate the impact of triclosan exposure on gut health in preparation for the potential establishment of further regulatory policies.”

Sophia Lowes, from Cancer Research UK said there is "no good evidence" to suggest triclosan causes cancer.

"There is no good evidence that triclosan causes cancer in humans, and this study doesn’t change that," she said.

"This was a very small study looking at the effects of triclosan in mice, so it can’t tell us if this is also true in humans.

"All cosmetic products go through rigorous health and safety testing to make sure they’re safe for use, so there’s no need to change your teeth-brushing routine."

Triclosan was banned in biocidal products, including hand sanitisers, by the European Chemicals Agency at the beginning of 2017.

But it is still allowed in cosmetic products for preservative purposes.

Toothpastes, hand soaps, body washes, shower gels, non-spray deodorants, face powders, concealers and professional nail products are all allowed levels of the chemical of up to 0.3 per cent.

Mouthwashes are allowed to contain 0.2 per cent triclosan.

The chemical is also used in some cleaning products.

In the UK, most Colgate Total toothpastes contain 0.3 per cent triclosan.

In all mouse tests in the study, triclosan caused inflammation of the bowel and tumours in the bowel.

Co-author and food scientist, associate Professor Hang Xiao, said: “Also, treatment with triclosan significantly increased disease development of inflammatory bowel disease in the mice, suggesting that IBD patients may need to reduce exposure to this compound.”

Feeding triclosan to mice reduced the diversity and changed the composition of the gut microbiome, a result similar to what was observed in a human study conducted by others.

Prof Zhang said: “Further studies are urgently needed to better characterise the effects of TCS exposure on gut health to establish science-based policies for the regulation of this antimicrobial compound in consumer products.

“Besides TCS, many other high-volume chemicals are also used as antimicrobial ingredients in various personal care and household products.

“Our research suggests the importance of evaluating the potential toxic effects of other antimicrobials on gut microbiota and associated colonic diseases to develop safe antimicrobials with minimal adverse impact on human health and the environment.”

A Colegate spokesman said: "Our analysis shows that each of the three dosing levels in the tests were over 200 times higher than exposure from brushing with a TCS containing toothpaste.

"The majority of the findings were observed at levels 1,900 times higher than exposure from brushing. Further, mice process triclosan in an entirely different way than humans and have completely different microflora, further limiting the relevance of the study to human health."

The study was published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

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