Warning of popular drinks and treats that ‘increase your risk of deadly diabetes’

RESEARCHERS have linked popular drinks and snacks to type 2 diabetes, saying they contain key ingredients that could increase your risk of the condition.

Dairy-based desserts and sugar-free fizzy drinks were among the items flagged.

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It's not rare for foods and drinks to contain additives like sweeteners, preservatives and emulsifiers - especially if they're ultra-processed.

Unlike unprocessed foods that haven't been altered from their natural state - such as fruit and veg - ultra processed foods (UPFs) typically contain several ingredients and additives you wouldn't use in home cooking.

Previous research and safety evaluations have focused on isolated ingredients, but UPFs often contain a mixture of additives with different properties.

French researchers set out to determine how consuming blends of common food and drink additives - rather than single ingredients - may affect health due to the way they interact with each other.

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They examined five common additive mixtures and found that two were possibly linked to the onset of type 2 diabetes.

People with type 2 diabetes either can't make enough of a hormone called insulin or the insulin their body does make doesn't work properly, resulting in high blood sugar levels.

Over time, high blood sugar levels can cause other health problems like heart attacks and strokes, as well as problems with your eyes, kidneys, and feet.

The first mixture researchers flagged is commonly found in stocks, milky desserts, fats and sauces and contains different emulsifiers such as carrageenans and modified starches, as well as other additives.

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The second was a blend of sweeteners, colourings and acidifiers often found in artificially-sweetened sodas and sugary drinks.

But the study authors - from the Sorbonne and Paris Cité University - noted that their research was observational.

This meant they couldn't show that additive mixtures cause diabetes, just that there's a link between the two.

First author Marie Payen de la Garanderie said: "This study is the first to estimate exposure to food additive mixtures in a large cohort of the general population and to analyse their link to the incidence of type 2 diabetes.

"The findings suggest that several emblematic additives present in many products are often consumed together and that certain mixtures are associated with a higher risk of this disease.

"These substances may therefore represent a modifiable risk factor, paving the way for strategies to prevent type 2 diabetes."

The research team analysed the health data of 108,643 adults collected over a period of about eight years.

Participants were asked to submit online dietary records of food and drink they consumed and what brands these were.

Taking into account the date these foods were eaten, researchers cross referenced several databases to determine the additives included in foods, and they focused on mixtures consumed by at least five per cent of the study pool.

The authors identified five main mixtures of additives, frequently ingested together because they were contained in the same ingredient or because of popular food combos.

The results, published in the journal PLOS ONE, showed that two of these mixtures were associated with a small increase in incidence of type 2 diabetes, regardless of how much sugar, calories, fibre and saturated fat participants consumed.

Mixture one was linked to an eight per cent increase in risk of type two diabetes and contained several emulsifiers - modified starches, pectin, guar gum, carrageenans, polyphosphates, xanthan gum - the preservative potassium sorbate and colouring agent curcumin. 

These additives are typically found in stocks, milky desserts, fats and sauces.

Mixture two was associated with a 13 per cent increase in risk and mostly contained additives found in artificially-sweetened drinks and sodas.

This included:

• Acidifiers and acidity regulators - such as citric acid, sodium citrates, phosphoric acid, malic acid
• Colouring agents - sulphite ammonia caramel, anthocyanins,paprika extract
• Sweeteners - acesulfame-K, aspartame, sucralose
• Emulsifiers - gum arabic, pectin, guar gum
• Coating agent carnauba wax

Dr Nerys Astbury, associate professor of diet and obesity at the University of Oxford - who was not involved in the research - said: “It is important to note that by design this study can only demonstrate association, it cannot say whether the consumption of these additives (or the foods that contain then) caused or contributed to the development of type 2 diabetes.

"To determine causality large scale complex clinical trials are required.

“The growing interest in the effects of consuming ultra-processed foods, which contain additives to enhance taste, flavour, texture and improve shelf life of food products, means this study is important and timely and adds to the growing body of evidence of association between increased consumption of common food additives and adverse health outcomes.

"Further research is needed to ascertain a causal link and establish the mechanisms.”

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Previous research has suggested that high consumption of UPFs could heighten the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

And a study published in 2024 linked junk food to 32 illnesses, including obesity, cancer, heart issues and diabetes.

Dr George Savva, a senior Research Scientist at Quadram Institute also noted that "it is possible that other factors led to higher risk of diabetes".

And Prof Oliver Jones, a professor of chemistry at RMIT University, said "we need to be careful about what conclusions are drawn" from the study.

“As the authors themselves clearly state, the study does not prove that food additives cause diabetes," he said.

He noted that the authors did not measure food additive intake directly, but relied on participants self-reporting what they ate.

"Self-reported data is often inaccurate," Prof Jones said, "So, whilst this is an interesting theoretical study, people should not worry."

Executive director of the International Council of Beverages Associations, Katherine Loatman, said: “This study's claim is highly misleading and only serves to instill fear and confusion among consumers.

"Decades of robust scientific evidence show these ingredients are safe.

"Suggesting that recipes - combinations of safe ingredients—are worrisome is simply absurd.

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"Due to the study design, the authors cannot accurately identify the exact ingredients participants possibly ate years before potential changes in health outcomes were observed, and they are not able to do more than speculate how various recipes might impact health.

"Therefore, they cannot make any conclusive findings about the safety of these ingredients or their links to health outcomes."