ReviewFrontiers in immunology2017
Effects of Food Additives on Immune Cells As Contributors to Body Weight Gain and Immune-Mediated Metabolic Dysregulation.
Review in Frontiers in immunology, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 71 citations in OpenAlex.
- Ultra-Processed Food Intake and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Dose-Response Meta-Analysis of Prospective Studies.Diabetes & metabolism journal · 2025Pooled it
- Ultra-processed foods consumption and health-related outcomes: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in nutrition · 2024Pooled it
- Ultra-Processed Food Consumption and Adult Diabetes Risk: A Systematic Review and Dose-Response Meta-Analysis.Nutrients · 2021Pooled it
- Impact of an eight-week isocaloric vegan dietary intervention on hemogram parameters and lymphocyte subsets: a randomized-controlled trial.BMC medicine · 2026Trial
- Food additives with aldehyde skeleton exhibited leptin resistance in cells.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Article
- Ultraprocessed Food and Risk of Cancer: Mechanistic Pathways and Public Health Implications.Cancers · 2025Review
- Substitution of polysorbates by plant-based emulsifiers: impact on vitamin D bioavailability and gut health in mice.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Ultra-Processed Food Consumption and Obesity: A Narrative Review of Their Association and Potential Mechanisms.Journal of obesity & metabolic syndrome · 2025Review
- Cytogenotoxicity of food preservatives in mammalian cells: A systematic review.Genetics and molecular biology · 2025Article
- Article
- Unveiling the profound influence of sucralose on metabolism and its role in shaping obesity trends.Frontiers in nutrition · 2024Review
- The intestinal immune system and gut barrier function in obesity and ageing.The FEBS journal · 2023Review
- Ultra-Processed Food Consumption and Obesity in Korean Adults.Diabetes & metabolism journal · 2023Article
- 360-Degree Perspectives on Obesity.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2023Review
- Once a week consumption of Western diet over twelve weeks promotes sustained insulin resistance and non-alcoholic fat liver disease in C57BL/6 J mice.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Raising the Alarm: Environmental Factors in the Onset and Maintenance of Chronic (Low-Grade) Inflammation in the Gastrointestinal Tract.Digestive diseases and sciences · 2022Review
- Obesity, Diabetes Mellitus, and Vascular Impediment as Consequences of Excess Processed Food Consumption.Cureus · 2022Review
- Food additives in childhood: a review on consumption and health consequences.Revista de saude publica · 2022Review
- Diet in Scleroderma: Is There a Need for Intervention?Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Socioeconomic Characteristics and Trends in the Consumption of Ultra-Processed Foods in Korea from 2010 to 2018.Nutrients · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Food additives are compounds used in order to improve food palatability, texture, and shelf life. Despite a significant effort to assure safety of use, toxicological analysis of these substances, generally, rely on their direct toxicity to target organs (liver and kidney) or their genotoxic effects. Much less attention is paid to the effects of these compounds on cells of the immune system. This is of relevance given that metabolic dysregulation and obesity have a strong immune-mediated component. Obese individuals present a state of chronic low-grade inflammation that contributes to the establishment of insulin resistance and other metabolic abnormalities known as the metabolic syndrome. Obesity and metabolic syndrome are currently recognized as worldwide epidemics that pose a profound socioeconomic impact and represent a concern to public health. Cells of the immune system contribute to both the maintenance of "lean homeostasis" and the metabolic dysregulation observed in obese individuals. Although much attention has been drawn in the past decades to obesity and metabolic syndrome as a result of ingesting highly processed food containing large amounts of fat and simple sugars, mounting evidence suggest that food additives may also be important contributors to metabolic derangement. Herein, we review pieces of evidence from the literature showing that food additives have relevant effects on cells of the immune system that could contribute to immune-mediated metabolic dysregulation. Considering their potential to predispose individuals to develop obesity and metabolic syndrome, their use should be taken with caution or maybe revisited.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.