For this study, researchers analyzed nutritional data from almost 109,000 adults, with an average age of about 43, who participated in the French NutriNet-Santé cohort between 2009 and 2023.

“In the past three decades the prevalence of type 2 diabetes has risen dramatically in most countries,” Mathilde Touvier, PhD, (she/her) team leader of the Nutritional Epidemiology Research Team CRESS-EREN at the National Institute for Health and Medical Research (Inserm/Inrae/Cnam/Université Sorbonne Paris Nord/Université Paris Cité) in France and lead author of this study told Medical News Today.

“Type 2 diabetes is a risk factor for several other chronic pathologies such as cardiovascular diseases. Diet represents one of the most important modifiable risk factors for this pathology.”
— Mathilde Touvier, PhD

Scientists determined the types of food additives participants were exposed to through food composition databases and laboratory evaluations, as well as the mixtures of food additives they consumed.

“So far, research and safety evaluation of food additives has been conducted on a substance-by-substance basis, while in real-life, food additive mixtures are consumed by billions of people globally,” Marie Payen de la Garanderie, PhD student on the Nutritional Epidemiology Research Team CRESS-EREN at the National Institute for Health and Medical Research (Inserm/Inrae/Cnam/Université Sorbonne Paris Nord/Université Paris Cité) in France first author of the study explained to MNT.

“Some experimental studies have raised concerns about potential interactions between additives within mixtures and their potential impact on health — including metabolic health — but human epidemiological data are lacking. This is why our objective was to identify the main mixtures of food additives and to study their associations with type 2 diabetes incidence,” she said.

At the end of the study, researchers identified two specific mixtures of food additives correlated with an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

One mixture featured emulsifier additives, including modified starches, pectin, guar gum, carrageenan, polyphosphates, and xanthan gum, as well as the preservative potassium sorbate and food dye curcumin.

“Most of these food additives are markers of ultra-processed foods — emulsifiers, artificial sweeteners, (and) dyes,” Touvier explained. “The mixtures observed here result both from the composition of foods containing multiple additives and the association of foods frequently consumed together. The food groups most correlated with one of the mixtures (mixture 2 in the study) were broth, dairy desserts, and fats and sauces.”

The second food additive mixture linked to an increased risk for type 2 diabetes included acidifiers and acid regulators such as citric acid, dyes including ammonia caramel, artificial sweeteners such as aspartame and sucralose, and some emulsifiers.

“The food groups most correlated with ‘mixture 5’ were artificially sweetened soft drinks and other drinks,” Payen de la Garanderie said.

MNT had the opportunity to speak with Mir Ali, MD, a board certified general surgeon, bariatric surgeon and medical director of MemorialCare Surgical Weight Loss Center at Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, CA, about this study.

Ali commented that this was an interesting study showing how food additives can affect health.

“As society in general moves towards more processed foods and an increasing number of additives, it is important to understand how these additives can increase the risk for diabetes. Diabetes can be a devastating disease, and finding ways to prevent diabetes is very important,” he said.

“What would be helpful is to identify foods with the combination of additives that increase the risk for diabetes, and looking at how eliminating these foods affects diabetes risk,” Ali added.

As previous research shows that ultra-processed foods make up 50% or more of the dietary caloric intake of high-income countries, obviously many people are consuming food additives every day.