The research was carried out by teams from Inserm, the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (INRAE), the Sorbonne Paris Nord and Paris Cité universities and the National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts (Cnam), within the framework of the NutriNet-Santé public health project, which gathers data from more than 100 thousand participants.
According to the researchers, more than 139 thousand food and beverage products registered in the collaborative and open-access database that compiles information on food products sold in different countries, Open Food Facts, contain at least one coloring and more than 700 thousand include preservatives.
The three works, published in the scientific journals Diabetes Care, European Journal of Epidemiology and European Heart Journal, conclude that people with the highest consumption of food dyes have a 38% higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared to those less exposed.
Some specific additives showed even greater associations, such as common candy (E150a), linked to a 46% increase in risk, or curcumin (E100), with a 49% increase.
When it comes to cancer, studies found that high dye consumption is associated with a 14% increased risk of cancer overall, a 21% increase in breast cancer risk, and a 32% increase in postmenopausal breast cancer risk.
Research on preservatives, meanwhile, showed that consumers with higher exposure have a 24% higher risk of hypertension.
Some compounds, such as potassium sorbate (E202), a preservative widely used in the food industry to prevent the growth of molds, yeasts and some fungi, were associated with a 39% increased risk of hypertension.
The authors emphasize that these are the first large-scale epidemiological studies that analyze a wide variety of food additives in relation to these pathologies.
They also point out that the results coincide with previous experimental research carried out in cellular and animal models.
Scientists consider that these findings reinforce the need for health authorities to reevaluate the safety of certain food additives and recommend limiting the consumption of ultra-processed products and favoring fresh or lightly processed foods.