Talk:Methyl cellulose

not an Allergen
Would like to see multiple citations discussing allergic response. From personal experience, some 'celluloses' are allergenic or at least like carrageenan cause some immunogenic response. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.13.43.137 (talk) 15:08, 29 September 2012 (UTC)

Porn mention
Is it just me, or is the Special Effects paragraph about porn a little bit on the TMI side of this article?


 * Well, it IS used in pornos, and this is a fact. Since wikipedia strives for facts, I would assume that they would do want to have facts in their article.  So TMI or not, there it is.


 * Porn mention stays, it is relevant, someone find some scholarly article on it right now and source it up. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.148.25.203 (talk) 05:17, 23 December 2007 (UTC)

Toxicity?
Methylcellulose is used as E461 in some "foods". Seems weird no one has mentioned any sideeffects, as many other methyl compounds have serious cancerogenic effects. Electron9 10:48, 11 October 2007 (UTC)

There is nothing special about "methyl" that makes something carcinogenic. There is no evidence of any harmful effects in humans. Methylcellulose passes through the digestive tract unabsorbed and undigested. Extremely high amounts fed to mice caused increased fetal mortality and birth defects. The quantities consumed in those studies were larger than any known use of methylcellulose. Bear in mind that methyl cellulose is a laxative, so we probably should question the wisdom of eating large amounts of laxative while pregnant.

The current conclusion of the select committee at the FDA is category 2: "There is no evidence in the available information on methyl cellulose that demonstrates a hazard to the public when it is used at levels that are now current and in the manner now practiced. However, it is not possible to determine, without additional data, whether a significant increase in consumption would constitute a dietary hazard."

In plain speak this means that there is no evidence of harm as methyl cellulose is currently used and that the evidence supports that methyl cellulose is safe to consume at the levels typically found in products. There is no evidence that a use that involved a big increase in consumption would be hazardous, but the existing studies do not really address the long-term safety of consuming very large quantities of methyl cellulose.

source: FDA GRAS database. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.68.20.187 (talk) 16:23, 25 July 2012 (UTC)


 * Do some OR as to how many of those other compounds are cellulose based.67.165.253.170 (talk) 01:30, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

Fermentable?
Is methyl cellulose fermentable in the colon? Does it have the beneficial effect as as other, natural soluble fiber that is fermantable in the colon? Seems like it should, but I'm not sure and it's unclear from what's in the article so far. I'm interested as I'm taking it for constipation and it would be nice to know if it had this added benefit. If it doesn't, I'd switch to a product that did. I think many other folks in the same situation would do the same as well. It sucks when you're backed up, but if there's something that would help on the heart disease front as well, hell, that's good stuff.

MPA —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.239.98.99 (talk) 05:27, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

Methyl cellulose does not undergo significant degradation in the digestive tract. The beneficial effects of natural soluble fiber have been significantly oversold. As far as I know there is no evidence that methyl cellulose has a beneficial effect other than as a bulking agent that can act as a laxative. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.68.20.187 (talk) 16:26, 25 July 2012 (UTC)

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Different grades for book repair
Jake Benson wrote a detailed tech note on MC for book repair related tasks: 

"Methyl Cellulose is a very general name for a range of cellulosic ethers that have been "methylated", with added hydroxyl groups, which allows for better water absorption, gel consistency and clarity. Usually these are varieties of hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose.  There is also hydroxypropyl ethyl cellulose, commonly known as ethulose (which I have heard some use for oil marbling), of which I think, Tylose is an example.

Dow manufactures a number of varieties under the brand name "Methocel" with various grades such as A4M (not very clear, somewhat grainy consistency, excellent for poulticing spines in book restoration, terrible for marbling), E4M (clearer than A4M, still very viscous, used for spine poulticing, adhesive additive, and could be used for marbling is thinned enough and allowed to swell), etc. These gels can only be dispersed in hot water, then topped up with cold water and allowed to swell. They are more commonly used as adhesive additives in bookbinding, though some use them for marbling as well. If you buy "Methyl Cellulose" from a craft store, it would do you well to learn more about what it is exactly: what grade it is, resulting viscosity and centipoise (Cps). Dow publishes an excellent technical booklet on Methyl Cellulose which I highly recommend. I got it for free when I called 1-800-447-4369 (number is a few years old, but it may still work). They also sent me several jars of different grades to experiment with."

It would be nice to see more book convservation-related details in the article. -69.87.199.108 (talk) 19:19, 22 December 2008 (UTC)

To add to article
Basic information to add to this article: what, exactly, is the cellulose methylcellulose is made from derived from? How is it that articles like this almost always fail to explain which raw materials are used to produce these compounds? Is it wood? 173.88.246.138 (talk) 02:11, 28 December 2021 (UTC)