2024-02-23 06:33:04
E407, E407a or even E471… These codes may not mean anything to you, but you see them every day. From your morning toast to a square of chocolate taken in front of the movie in the evening, these food additives are omnipresent. A few months after finding a link between the consumption of emulsifiers and the development of cardiovascular diseases, a team of French researchers does it again and highlights in a new study the link between two families of emulsifiers and the increased risk of cancer in people. ‘human.
“This is the first study in the world to look at these links”explains to Novethic Bernard Srour, researcher in nutritional epidemiology (EREN) and co-author of the study published in the journal PLOS Medicine, on February 13. Between 2009 and 2021, these researchers followed and analyzed the eating habits of 92,000 people from the French cohort. NutriNet-Santéthus making it possible to identify all the food additives consumed and in what quantities.
“Foods not necessarily labeled junk food”
Among the sixty additives studied, this team of researchers discovered that a greater intake of E471 – otherwise called “mono and diglycerides of fatty acids” – increases the risk of cancer by 15%, and more particularly breast cancer. (24%) and the prostate (46%). But another family of emulsifier is also targeted by this study, these are carrageenans, namely E407 and E407a. They expose you to an increased risk of breast cancer (32%).
If you think you can escape them, good luck. “These emulsifiers are among the most common and consumed”, underlines Bernard Srour. According to data collected by the collaborative platform Open Food Facts, they are present in more than 20,000 products sold in France. In this list, we can find them, among other things, in certain dessert creams, biscuits or ice creams. Products that we qualify as “transformed or even utlratransformed”. Except that “Foods not necessarily labeled ‘junk food’ also appear in this list”points out this researcher, referring in particular to brands of rusks or vegetable margarine, consumed instead of butter.
“The idea behind this study is not to blame the consumer, there are efforts to be made, especially on the part of manufacturers and politicians”indicates Bernard Srour, because “It must be remembered that these are not essential ingredients in recipes, they are texture agents which add creaminess to products, or additives which extend the shelf life. And some manufacturers do very well without it”he adds.
Regulations to be reviewed
Of the twenty food companies contacted by Novethic, only a handful were willing to answer our questions. Kellogg’s, which markets Pringles chips containing E471, informs us that they have “read the study” and that they refer to the “European Regulation (EC) No. 1333/2008 on food additives which defines the list of authorized additives and their conditions of use/dosage for foodstuffs”.
Same story for Lu, whose Neapolitans and even Heudebert rusks are concerned. The brand specifies, however, that “The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has recently re-evaluated the safety of the emulsifier E471 and concluded that, based on the latest scientific data, the current conditions of use of this additive do not pose a risk. risk to human health”.
A minimalist speech that does not convince scientists. “It’s easy to say that we are complying with the regulations when there are none,” Bernard Srour is moved. As is particularly the case for E471 where no threshold has been set by the EFSA, since no scientific study demonstrating or not its toxicity had been published until now. An update of these regulations could therefore be considered in the light of this new study, as its authors wish, although aware that this could take several years.
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