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In a study, researchers examined the possible links between exposure to mixtures of commonly consumed food additives and the onset of type 2 diabetes. Two out of the five mixtures tested were found to be associated with a higher incidence of type 2 diabetes. To measure the consequences of exposure to these mixtures, a research team analyzed the health data of 108,643 adults over an average follow-up period of 7.7 years. The participants completed at least two days (up to 15 days) of online dietary records of all food and drink consumed and their brands. In order to obtain a...

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for the nation’s top health post, has vowed to “get the chemicals out” of America’s food amid mounting concerns over the health effects of additives. These chemical ingredients - designed to enhance the flavors, textures, colors and shelf life of ultra-processed foods - are in many of the foods that Americans eat. But who determines whether they are safe? Subscribe to The Post Most newsletter for the most important and interesting stories from The Washington Post. In many cases, it’s not the Food and Drug Administration that decides if chemical additives are...

A doctor is speaking up about the surge in cancer cases among young people - revealing 'every new patient' that comes to his clinic is under 45 years old. North Carolina's Duke University oncologist Dr Nicholas DeVito says he and his colleagues have experienced a complete demographic switch in recent years. Based on what he's seeing everyday, talking to patients on the ground and analyzing the data, he blames the rise of junk food diets. Nearly 75 percent of food consumed in the US is considered ultra-processed and it is teeming with additives and potentially harmful ingredients. Numerous studies have...

On her first day after moving from Australia to the United States, Elizabeth Dunford walked into a supermarket to buy bread. As a researcher of food additives, she instinctively glanced at the ingredients label.“Why are there so many additives?” she exclaimed in surprise. Nearly every loaf she picked up contained ingredients that made her uneasy. After lingering by the shelves, she reluctantly chose a bag.“At that moment, I thought: It looks like I will have to choose the best from the worst when shopping in the future,” Ms. Dunford, project consultant for The George Institute for Global Health and adjunct...

For several years anti-abortion advocates have been warning that a new technology for enhancing flavors such as sweetness and saltiness uses aborted fetal cells in the process. The biotech company using this novel process, Senomyx, has signed contracts with Pepsi, Ajinomoto Co. (the maker of aspartame and meat glue), Nestlé and other food and beverage companies over the past several years. The primary goal for many of these processed food companies is to make foods and beverages tasty while reducing sugar and salt content. While Senomyx refuses to disclose the details of the process, its patent applications indicate that part...

Phosphates in food are an all too common occurrence these days. Phosphates, usually labelled under the generic term sodium phosphate, are added to food for a variety of reasons. Phosphates in food are used as texturizers to change the look or feel of a food and to increase the shelf life of a food. Phosphates are also used as an emulsifier to mix two foods together that would otherwise not mix. For example, a food product with added oil may contain an emulsifier to stop the oil from separating from the main food. Phosphates in foods are sometimes used as...

A U.S. consumer group called for an urgent Food and Drug Administration review of the safety of aspartame on Monday, but the FDA said there was no immediate need to do so despite a new study showing the sweetener may cause cancer.  Italian researchers published a new study last week that showed aspartame -- widely used in soft drinks -- might cause leukemia, lymphoma and breast cancer in rats.   "This is the second study by the same lab showing that aspartame causes cancer in rats," Center for Science in the Public Interest executive director Michael Jacobson said in a telephone...