Emulsifiers linked to increased diabetes risk

Emulsifiers linked to increased diabetes risk(thelancet.com)

70 points by cachecrab 2 years ago | 13 comments

icodestuff 2 years ago |

While the large sample size and many controlled variables are good, and make the results statistically significant, the effect sizes are awfully small. Only two of the emulsifiers, tripotassium phosphate and guar gum, increased the hazard of an individual developing diabetes by more than 10% (11% and 15% respectively, with very large error bars in the latter case). These are much smaller effects than previously known Type 2 diabetes risk factors.

For instance, the HR for family history of diabetes is 4.46 (vs 1.03-1.15 here, where 1.0 is no change in hazard).

SAI_Peregrinus 2 years ago |

The study was on a few emulsifiers used as food additives, not on all food emulsifiers. I wonder if egg yolks are correlated to increased diabetes risk, they're a common emulsifier (in mayonnaise, hollandaise, carbonara, custard, etc.)

wil421 2 years ago | |

What you listed likely contains PUFAs, specifically linoleic acid[1]. Even egg yolks contain 17% LA compared to 18% for canola oil and 50% for soybean oil.

I would say besides mayo (usually made with a seed oil), egg yolk would contain the highest amount of Poly Unsaturated Fatty Acids and Linoleic acid in your examples.

If my semi-controversial diet book is correct, PUFAs are to blame.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linoleic_acid

hombre_fatal 2 years ago | | |

Which diet book?

Hating on seed oils is really popular on social media right now even though PUFAs improve human health outcomes when substituted for SFAs.

https://www.the-nutrivore.com/post/a-comprehensive-rebuttal-...

You can measure the linoleic acid in body tissue samples (don't even need to track dietary intake) and it doesn't correlate with worse health outcomes. LA veterans study is a good example of that.

The seed oil scare is the MSG scare of the 2020s: a social media meme that people passively take up through repetition.

SAI_Peregrinus 2 years ago | | |

Do the other emulsifiers from the study in this article contain PUFAs? If not, then then there's probably some other cause. Maybe PUFAs from other sources + emulsifiers, maybe something else entirely. So to the delight of the researchers applying for grants, this needs more study!

Taikonerd 2 years ago |

If emulsifiers cause dysregulation of the gut microbiome, then they could also be implicated in obesity, right?

rexpop 2 years ago |

How long (and over what obstacles) until these chemical additives are banned, taxed, or labeled with Surgeon General's warnings?

Hopefully Medicare puts 2 and 2 together to sue the Big Junkfood monsters churning these toxins out, like they sued Big Tobacco.

Taikonerd 2 years ago | |

I wish America would regulate food additives the way the EU does: "you can't sell this until it's proven to be safe," rather than "feel free to sell this until we can prove it's unsafe."

Of course, the emulsifiers mentioned are approved for sale in Europe, so it's not a panacea. But still, it would cut down the number of chemicals with unknown long-term effects in our food.

iloveitaly 2 years ago | | |

Is there any clear source of products the EU considers safe? i.e. how are these decisions made and documented.

BobbyTables2 2 years ago | | |

Just wait until one of them are n proven beneficial! /s

On the flip side, only has to look at mustard oil to see regulatory capture in action…

It has to be labeled “for external use only” but “canola” oil is perfectly fit for consumption!

faeriechangling 2 years ago | |

I don't think any of this data justifies a ban even for the worst offenders, and the comparison to Big Tobacco is pretty comical hyperbole.

Feels a bit overkill to ban these ingredients given the culinary uses, even in home cooking for things like gluten free baking and salad dressings, simply because they're mildly unhealthful. I can think of many common things from both home cooking and commercial cooking that present a far higher risk that are normalised... and health honestly is not everything.