Some Food Additives May Increase Risk of Type 2 Diabetes When Combined: Study

Findings about the harmful effects of highly refined ingredients in frozen meals, chips and other products come amid lawsuits alleging ultra-processed foods cause childhood diabetes, fatty liver disease and other illnesses.

Amid a growing number of ultra-processed food childhood diabetes lawsuits, which allege that food manufacturers failed warn about serious health risks children may face from popular junk foods, new research appears to establish that when two common types of processed food additives are combined, they may increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

According to findings published in the journal PLOS Medicine on April 8, combining modified starches, pectin, guar gum and other ultra-processed food additives can lead to a greater number of type 2 diabetes cases among consumers.

Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) include a broad range of products, which are made from highly refined ingredients and additives that are intended to mimic the taste, appearance and texture of natural foods. Examples include sugary breakfast cereals, frozen packaged meals, sodas and snack items like chips, which have become a regular part of many American diets over the past several decades.

Unlike whole foods, ultra-processed products often contain preservatives, artificial sweeteners and emulsifiers, such as pectin, guar gum, potassium sorbates, citric acid, phosphoric acid, glycerol, aspartame, sucralose and others, which serve no nutritional purpose, but merely enhance shelf life, while modifying flavors and consistency.

The findings add to growing number of studies published in recent years, which have suggested that the food industry knew or should have known about the potential dangers associated with ultra-processed foods, including an increased risk of developing non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and type 2 diabetes.

As a result of these findings, families across the U.S. are filing ultra-processed food lawsuits against some of the world’s largest food manufacturers, seeking damages for children who have developed chronic illnesses associated with the junk food products.

In the new study, a group of French researchers examined dietary records and the later appearance of type 2 diabetes in 108,463 adults from the French NutriNet-Santé cohort with an average age of 42 years old, from the years 2009 through 2023. 

The team, led by Marie Payen de la Garanderie, divided ultra-processed food additives into five main groups, to help them determine if mixtures from any of the groups increased an individual’s risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

De la Garanderie pointed out that although ultra-processed foods are consumed by millions of people every day, exposure to combinations of additives making up these products have not been studied in depth.

The researchers found that from among the cohort, 1,131 participants were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes within 7.7 years. Of these participants, it was discovered that a mixture of two groups of ultra-processed food greatly increased one’s chances of developing the illness.

The first group of additives was composed of modified starches, pectin, guar gum, carrageenan, polyphosphates, potassium sorbates, curcumin and xanthan gum. The second group was made up of citric acid, sodium citrates, phosphoric acid, sulphite ammonia caramel, acesulfame-K, aspartame, sucralose, arabic gum, malic acid, carnauba wax, paprika extract, anthocyanins, guar gum and pectin.

Included in the groups that did not increase one’s risk of type 2 diabetes were: sodium carbonates, diphosphates, glycerol, ammonium carbonates, potassium carbonates, sorbitol, magnesium carbonates, riboflavin, alpha-tocopherol, mono and diacetyl tartaric acid esters of mono and diglycerides of fatty acids, and lecithins.

The research team acknowledged that race, ethnicity and religion were not included in the participants’ data, and that some additives were only ingested by a small number of people and could not be included in their analysis.

“To our knowledge, these findings provide the first insight into the food additives that are frequently ingested together (due to their co-occurrence in industrially-processed food products or resulting from the co-ingestion of foods in dietary patterns) and how these additive mixtures may be involved in type 2 diabetes etiology,” de la Garanderie said. “Further long-term observational epidemiological studies, as well as short-term interventions and pre-clinical experimental research are required to elucidate the underlying mechanisms and gain a deeper understanding of potential synergies and antagonisms between these food chemicals.”