A large-scale study has found that higher consumption of food preservatives is associated with a significantly elevated risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Researchers analyzed data from over 100,000 French adults over more than a decade, identifying increased risks linked to both non-antioxidant preservatives and antioxidants. The findings, published in Nature Communications, highlight the need to limit processed foods.
Researchers from Inserm, INRAE, Sorbonne Paris Nord University, Paris Cité University, and Cnam, part of the Nutritional Epidemiology Research Team (CRESS-EREN), conducted the study using data from the NutriNet-Santé cohort. Between 2009 and 2023, they tracked 108,723 French adults, collecting detailed medical histories, lifestyle information, and multiple 24-hour food records. These records specified product names and brands, which were cross-referenced with databases like Open Food Facts, Oqali, and EFSA to estimate preservative exposure.
The team examined 58 preservative additives, including 33 non-antioxidant types (coded E200-E299) that inhibit microbial growth or chemical reactions, and 27 antioxidants (E300-E399) that protect against oxygen exposure. They focused on 17 additives consumed by at least 10% of participants, adjusting for factors such as age, sex, education, smoking, alcohol, and diet quality.
During the follow-up, 1,131 cases of type 2 diabetes emerged. Participants with the highest preservative intake faced a 47% greater risk overall, with non-antioxidant preservatives linked to a 49% increase and antioxidants to a 40% rise. Among specific additives, 12 showed associations with higher risk, including potassium sorbate (E202), sodium nitrite (E250), citric acid (E330), and rosemary extracts (E392).
"This is the first study in the world on the links between preservative additives and the incidence of type 2 diabetes," said Mathilde Touvier, Inserm research director and study coordinator. "Although the results need to be confirmed, they are consistent with experimental data suggesting the harmful effects of several of these compounds."
Anaïs Hasenböhler, a doctoral student at EREN, added, "More broadly, these new data add to others in favor of a reassessment of the regulations governing the general use of food additives by the food industry in order to improve consumer protection."
Touvier emphasized practical advice: "This work once again justifies the recommendations made by the National Nutrition and Health Programme to consumers to favor fresh, minimally processed foods and to limit unnecessary additives as much as possible."
The study, funded by the European Research Council, National Cancer Institute, and French Ministry of Health, underscores preservatives' prevalence—over 700,000 products in the Open Food Facts database contain at least one. While experimental studies have hinted at cellular harm, this provides the first large human evidence tying preservatives to diabetes incidence.
