If you’ve ever skimmed the ingredient list of your favorite snacks or drinks, you’ve probably stumbled across a string of unfamiliar words — potassium polyphosphate, acesulfame-K, sulphite ammonia caramel, and more — that offer little insight into what you’re actually eating.
These food additives are used by manufacturers to boost flavor, texture, appearance, and shelf life. While many are naturally derived and individually tested for safety, recent research suggests that mixing multiple additives — as often happens in the preparation of processed foods — could lead to health risks that aren’t visible when looking at each ingredient by itself.
A new study led by scientists from institutions such as Sorbonne Paris Nord University and Paris Cité University set out to investigate just that: how mixtures of food additives commonly found in everyday products may contribute to type 2 diabetes, a ever-growing metabolic disease tied to Western diets.
Why Food Additives Are Raising Red Flags
In the U.S., nearly 60 percent of daily dietary intake comes from ultra-processed foods. These foods are increasingly being linked to negative health outcomes, especially metabolic diseases like type 2 diabetes.
To uncover what makes such processed foods so harmful, researchers are turning their attention to the additives tucked into long ingredient lists.
Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) tests the safety of each additive individually, newer experimental studies suggest that combinations of additives may impact health differently — potentially contributing to metabolic disorders, inflammation, and disruptions in gut microbiota. These “cocktail effects” can easily go unnoticed in single-substance safety tests.
Using human cell models, French researchers demonstrated that mixtures of food additives can behave in unexpected and more toxic ways than individual substances alone. But to translate those findings into practical dietary advice, studies involving real people are needed.
Read More: How Ultra-Processed Food Can Affect Your Mental Health
How Additives May Contribute to Diabetes
To explore potential links between additive combinations and type 2 diabetes, researchers analyzed data from nearly 100,000 adults in France who recorded their food intake and brand choices over several years. After seven years of follow-up, the team identified the most frequently consumed additive combinations and tracked who developed type 2 diabetes.
Two of the five most common additive mixtures stood out. One included mostly emulsifiers, preservatives, and a dye (ingredients typically found in sauces and dairy-based desserts). The second included acidifiers, acid regulators, dyes, sweeteners, and more emulsifiers, often present in artificially sweetened beverages. Both mixtures were associated with a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
Further analysis revealed complex interactions among these additives. Some appeared to be synergistic (amplifying each other’s effects), while others seemed to be antagonistic (counteracting one another), suggesting that their health impact changes significantly when they’re consumed together.
Implications for Public Health
This study was the first of its kind to assess long-term exposure to real-world combinations of food additives in a large population, and to link these mixtures with the risk of type 2 diabetes. The findings add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that the health effects of ultra-processed foods may be driven not just by individual ingredients, but by how those ingredients interact.
While further studies are needed to fully understand these interactions and explore links with other health issues, the message is clear: Food additives don’t exist in a vacuum, and their combined effects may be greater than the sum of their parts.
“This observational study alone is not sufficient to establish a causal link. However, our findings are in line with recent in vitro experimental work suggesting possible cocktail effects. They indicate that the evaluation of additives should take into account their interactions and support public health recommendations that advise limiting non-essential food additives,” explained study co-author Mathilde Touvier in a press release.
As our diets have become increasingly reliant on processed foods, understanding the hidden effects of additive mixtures may be key to tackling the rise of diet-related diseases like type 2 diabetes.
This article is not offering medical advice and should be used for informational purposes only.
Read More: What are Ultra Processed Foods?
Article Sources
Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:
Food and Chemical Toxicity: Evaluation of the toxic effects of food additives, alone or in mixture, in four human cell models
PLOS Medicine: Food additive mixtures and type 2 diabetes incidence: Results from the NutriNet-Santé prospective cohort
Having worked as a biomedical research assistant in labs across three countries, Jenny excels at translating complex scientific concepts – ranging from medical breakthroughs and pharmacological discoveries to the latest in nutrition – into engaging, accessible content. Her interests extend to topics such as human evolution, psychology, and quirky animal stories. When she’s not immersed in a popular science book, you’ll find her catching waves or cruising around Vancouver Island on her longboard.
