They are found in many products. Used to improve the texture and consumption of these, emulsifiers are the most common additives within the food industry. A large study published Wednesday April 24, but whose methodology is the subject of several criticisms, suggests that frequent consumption of certain of these emulsifiers seems associated with a slightly higher risk of diabetes.
“Consumption of certain emulsifying food additives may be associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes”explains in a communicated the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm). Grouped together within the nutritional epidemiology research team (Eren-Cress), researchers from the public body as well as the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (Inrae ), the Sorbonne Paris Nord University, the Paris Cité University and the National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts contributed to the study published in The Lancet. Diabetes & Endocrinology.
This work was carried out in France as part of a so-called cohort study. This method consists of following a group of people for years, observing what pathologies they develop while measuring multiple factors linked to their lifestyles.
Here, this cohort, called Nutrinet, followed by researchers, includes some 100,000 adults supported for around fifteen years, between 2009 and 2023. It has already given rise to numerous studies, some suggesting a link between the consumption of sweeteners and the occurrence of cardiovascular diseases or cancers.
Limitations of the methodology
This time, researchers concluded that it is more common to develop type 2 diabetes when you often eat foods containing emulsifiers like carrageenan or xanthan gum.
However, like previous studies by the same team, its conclusions have been cautiously received by other researchers, who point out several limitations in terms of methodology. These, some admitted by the authors themselves, are partly linked to the very principle of a study of this type, called observational: it does not make it possible to establish a direct cause and effect relationship between the consumption of these additives and the occurrence of diabetes.
It is not even clear that the risk of diabetes is associated precisely with the consumption of these emulsifiers, as the epidemiologist and professor of nutrition points out. Gunter Kuhnle in a reaction to the British Science Media Center.
“This study is likely to show a link between diabetes and foods that typically contain certain emulsifiers, but not an association with these emulsifiers themselves”, notes the specialist. And, in any case, “the magnitude of the effects is very small”he notes.