Emulsifiers are among the additives most widely used by the food industry, helping to improve the texture of food and extend its shelf life. Researchers from Inserm, INRAE, Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, Université Paris Cité and Cnam, as part of the Nutritional Epidemiology Research Team (CRESS-EREN), have undertaken to study the possible links between the dietary intake of food additive emulsifiers and the development of cancer. They analysed the health data of 92 000 adults participating in the French NutriNet-Santé cohort study, specifically evaluating their consumption of this type of food additive.
The Science VS podcast did a show on diets and nutrition a while back and they said that the only emulsifier showing evidence of potential harmful effects (e.g. gut bacteria problems) at the time was soy lecithin.
If you go into any grocery store in the US and look at the ingredients for stuff in the bakery soy lecithin is in everything! It’s actually kind of ridiculous, actually.
It’s also hard to find ice cream that doesn’t have soy lecithin. It’s not even brand-based where you can just choose one brand over another to avoid it. For example, most Haagen Dazs ice cream has soy lecithin but not the chocolate peanut butter flavor 🤷