23 ms·

Emulsifiers linked to increased diabetes risk

70 points by cachecrab 2y ago

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Taikonerd 2y ago
If emulsifiers cause dysregulation of the gut microbiome, then they could also be implicated in obesity, right?
SAI_Peregrinus 2y 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 2y 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 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linoleic_acid
  - SAI_Peregrinus 2y 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!
    - icodestuff 2y ago
      No. None of the ones with an increased Hazard Ratio are or contain them. The researchers also did not control for PUFA consumption, only SFA consumption.
  - hombre_fatal 2y 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-to-seed-oil-sophistry 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.
rexpop 2y 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 2y 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.
  - BobbyTables2 2y 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!
    - BizarroLand 2y ago
      That is from health concerns over its high erucic acid content, which is fair as there is some evidence of concern with it possibly causing hyperlipidemia of the heart. At the same time though, there are thousands of years of history of people eating it their entire lives and not necessarily dying of fatty hearts, so take that with a grain of salt.
  - iloveitaly 2y ago
    Is there any clear source of products the EU considers safe? i.e. how are these decisions made and documented.
- faeriechangling 2y 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.
icodestuff 2y 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).

70 points by cachecrab 2y ago

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Taikonerd 2y ago

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

SAI_Peregrinus 2y 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 2y 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 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linoleic_acid
- SAI_Peregrinus 2y 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!
  - icodestuff 2y ago
    No. None of the ones with an increased Hazard Ratio are or contain them. The researchers also did not control for PUFA consumption, only SFA consumption.
- hombre_fatal 2y 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-to-seed-oil-sophistry 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.

rexpop 2y 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 2y 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.
- BobbyTables2 2y 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!
  - BizarroLand 2y ago
    That is from health concerns over its high erucic acid content, which is fair as there is some evidence of concern with it possibly causing hyperlipidemia of the heart. At the same time though, there are thousands of years of history of people eating it their entire lives and not necessarily dying of fatty hearts, so take that with a grain of salt.
- iloveitaly 2y ago
  Is there any clear source of products the EU considers safe? i.e. how are these decisions made and documented.
faeriechangling 2y 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.

icodestuff 2y 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).