Study suggests link between certain emulsifiers and diabetes risk

“Consumption of certain emulsifying dietary supplements is associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes,” this Wednesday in the Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.

Emulsifiers, designated by the number E, are the most common additives in the food industry. Baked goods, ice cream, candy bars, bread, ready meals… They are found in many foods whose texture and consumption are sought to be improved.

This work was carried out in France as part of a so-called cohort study – a method that involves following a group of people over many years, observing which pathologies they develop while simultaneously measuring many factors related to their lifestyle.

Here, this cohort, called Nutrinet, includes approximately 100,000 adults receiving support for approximately fifteen years. This has already led to numerous studies, some of which suggest a link between sweetener consumption and the occurrence of cardiovascular disease or cancer.

This time, researchers have concluded that type 2 diabetes is more likely to develop when you frequently eat foods that contain emulsifiers such as carrageenan or xanthan gum.

Several restrictions

However, like previous studies by the same group, its findings have been received with caution by other researchers, who point out some limitations in terms of methodology.

They, some admit by the authors themselves, are partly related to the very principle of this type of study, called observational: it does not allow establishing a direct cause-and-effect relationship between the consumption of these supplements and the occurrence of diabetes.

It is not even clear whether the risk of developing diabetes is specifically associated with the consumption of these emulsifiers, as epidemiologist Günter Kuhnle, a nutritionist, points out in a response to the British Science Media Center.

“This study will likely show an association between diabetes and foods that typically contain certain emulsifiers, but not an association with the emulsifiers themselves,” he notes. And in any case, “the magnitude of the consequences is very small,” he notes.