ArticlePLoS medicine2024
Food additive emulsifiers and cancer risk: Results from the French prospective NutriNet-Santé cohort.
Article in PLoS medicine, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03335644 (The NutriNet-Santé Study. A Web-based Prospective Cohort Study of the Relationship Between Nutrition and Health and of Dietary Patterns and Nutritional Status Predictors), which is not on this map. Cited by 30 papers.
What it found
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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.
The NutriNet-Santé Study. A Web-based Prospective Cohort Study of the Relationship Between Nutrition and Health and of Dietary Patterns and Nutritional Status Predictors
Who cites it
30 citing papers in PubMed, 52 citations in OpenAlex.
- "Warning: ultra-processed": an online experiment examining the impact of ultra-processed warning labels on consumers' product perceptions and behavioral intentions.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2024Trial
- Review
- Plasma metabolites, dietary intakes, and breast cancer incidence: a prospective case-cohort study in NutriNet-Santé.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2026Article
- Hepatotoxic Potentials of Food Additives on Liver Enzymes and Tissues of Wistar Rats.Rwanda journal of medicine and health sciences · 2026Article
- Diet, ultra-processed foods, and gut dysbiosis: linking emulsifiers to colorectal cancer risk.Cancer causes & control : CCC · 2026Review
- Evaluation of the Association Between Carrageenan and Systemic Inflammation: Results From the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.Molecular nutrition & food research · 2026Article
- Why is there no regulation despite evidence that ultra-processed foods are hazardous to long-term health?Future healthcare journal · 2026Review
- The Future of Food Processing-A Food Science and Technology Perspective. Proceedings of a Roundtable Event.Nutrition bulletin · 2026Article
- Ultra-Processed Foods and Food Additives in CKD: Unveiling Hidden Risks and Advocating Smarter Food Choices.Clinical journal of the American Society of Nephrology : CJASN · 2026Review
- Diet-induced metabolic and faecal microbiome responses in pet dogs fed a minimally processed versus extruded kibble diet.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2026Article
- High-dimensional partial linear model with trend filtering.Electronic journal of statistics · 2026Article
- Metabolomic pattern of ultraprocessed food intake and its association with colorectal cancer risk.Gut · 2025Article
- Food additive mixtures in French children and adults: the nationally representative Esteban study.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Vitamin DMolecular nutrition & food research · 2025Article
- Mucus-penetrating microbiota drive chronic low-grade intestinal inflammation and metabolic dysregulation.Gut microbes · 2025Article
- Dietary index for gut microbiota, genetic risk, and incidence of breast cancer: a prospective study.Breast cancer research : BCR · 2025Article
- Maternal emulsifier consumption alters the offspring early-life microbiota and goblet cell function leading to long-lasting diseases susceptibility.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Ingestion of titanium dioxide as an excipient in medicines and the risk of cancer: a nationwide study within the French National health data system.European journal of epidemiology · 2025Article
- Substitution of polysorbates by plant-based emulsifiers: impact on vitamin D bioavailability and gut health in mice.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Health impacts of exposure to synthetic chemicals in food.Nature medicine · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
25 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundEmulsifiers are widely used food additives in industrially processed foods to improve texture and enhance shelf-life. Experimental research suggests deleterious effects of emulsifiers on the intestinal microbiota and the metabolome, leading to chronic inflammation and increasing susceptibility to carcinogenesis. However, human epidemiological evidence investigating their association with cancer is nonexistent. This study aimed to assess associations between food additive emulsifiers and cancer risk in a large population-based prospective cohort. METHODS AND
findingsThis study included 92,000 adults of the French NutriNet-Santé cohort without prevalent cancer at enrolment (44.5 y [SD: 14.5], 78.8% female, 2009 to 2021). They were followed for an average of 6.7 years [SD: 2.2]. Food additive emulsifier intakes were estimated for participants who provided at least 3 repeated 24-h dietary records linked to comprehensive, brand-specific food composition databases on food additives. Multivariable Cox regressions were conducted to estimate associations between emulsifiers and cancer incidence. Overall, 2,604 incident cancer cases were diagnosed during follow-up (including 750 breast, 322 prostate, and 207 colorectal cancers). Higher intakes of mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids (FAs) (E471) were associated with higher risks of overall cancer (HR high vs. low category = 1.15; 95% CI [1.04, 1.27], p-trend = 0.01), breast cancer (HR = 1.24; 95% CI [1.03, 1.51], p-trend = 0.04), and prostate cancer (HR = 1.46; 95% CI [1.09, 1.97], p-trend = 0.02). In addition, associations with breast cancer risk were observed for higher intakes of total carrageenans (E407 and E407a) (HR = 1.32; 95% CI [1.09, 1.60], p-trend = 0.009) and carrageenan (E407) (HR = 1.28; 95% CI [1.06, 1.56], p-trend = 0.01). No association was detected between any of the emulsifiers and colorectal cancer risk. Several associations with other emulsifiers were observed but were not robust throughout sensitivity analyses. Main limitations include possible exposure measurement errors in emulsifiers intake and potential residual confounding linked to the observational design.
conclusionsIn this large prospective cohort, we observed associations between higher intakes of carrageenans and mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids with overall, breast and prostate cancer risk. These results need replication in other populations. They provide new epidemiological evidence on the role of emulsifiers in cancer risk.
trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT03335644.
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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.