Scientists have issued a warning after finding a common food additive may be associated with an increased risk of cancer.

In the U.S, over half of our daily energy intake comes from ultra-processed foods—foods that usually contain a long list of unrecognizable ingredients like preservatives, emulsifiers, sweeteners and artificial flavorings and colors. Increasingly, we are learning that these ultra-processed products are associated with an increased risk of obesity, cardiovascular disease, mental health problems, diabetes and certain forms of cancer.

In a new study, published in the journal PLoS Medicine, researchers from France have found yet more evidence that common ingredients in these foods may increase our risk of certain cancers, especially breast and prostate cancers.

In particular, the team focused on emulsifiers, common additives used in ready meals, cakes, cookies, breads and spreads to improve texture, taste and shelf life. These include modified starches, xanthan gum, pectins, and mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids.

The analysis included data from 92,000 adults in France with an average age of 45 years who had participated in a large-scale nutrition study in France, called the NutriNet-Santé cohort study, between 2009 and 2021.

After an average follow-up of seven years, the researchers found that individuals who had a higher dietary intake of mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids—also known as E471—were at a 15 percent higher risk of developing cancer. In particular, higher intakes of E471 were associated with a 24 percent higher risk of breast cancer and a 46 percent higher risk of prostate cancer. Carrageenan, another emulsifier often denoted as E407, was also associated with a 32 percent higher risk of breast cancer among women.

Of course, this correlation does not necessarily imply a causation. It could be that those who ate lower levels of emulsifiers were more health conscious in general. However, the study itself analyzed a large cohort of individuals and the authors were able to consider a wide array of confounding factors.

‘While these findings need to be replicated in other studies worldwide, they bring new key knowledge to the debate on re-evaluating the regulations around the use of additives in the food industry, in order to better protect consumers,’ the study’s lead authors, Mathilde Touvier, research director at Inserm (French National Institute of Health and Medical Research), and Bernard Srour, junior professor at INRAE, a French research institute dedicated to agricultural science, said in a statement.

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