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. 2023 Nov;26(11):2256-2270.
doi: 10.1017/S1368980023002021. Epub 2023 Sep 21.

Emulsifiers in ultra-processed foods in the UK food supply

Alicia Sandall  1 , Leanne Smith  1 , Erika Svensen  1 , Kevin Whelan  1
Affiliations

Emulsifiers in ultra-processed foods in the UK food supply

Alicia Sandall et al. Public Health Nutr. 2023 Nov.

Abstract

Objective: Ultra-processed foods (UPF), including those containing food additive emulsifiers, have received research attention due to evidence implicating them in the pathogenesis of certain diseases. The aims of this research were to develop a large-scale, brand-level database of UPF in the UK food supply and to characterise the occurrence and co-occurrence of food additive emulsifiers.

Design: A database was compiled sampling all products from the food categories contributing to energy intake from UPF in the UK from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey (2008-2014). Every food in these categories were identified from online supermarket provision from the 'big four' supermarkets that dominate the market share in the UK, comprising Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Morrisons.

Setting: Major supermarkets in the UK.

Results: A total of 32 719 food products in the UK supermarket food supply were returned in searches. Of these, 12 844 products were eligible and manually reviewed for the presence of emulsifiers. Emulsifiers were present in 6642 (51·7 %) food products. Emulsifiers were contained in 95·0 % of 'Pastries, buns and cakes', 81·9 % of 'Milk-based drinks', 81·0 % of 'Industrial desserts' and 77·5 % of 'Confectionary'. Fifty-one per cent of all emulsifier-containing foods contained multiple emulsifiers. Across emulsifier-containing foods, there were a median of two emulsifiers (IQR 2) per product. The five most common emulsifiers were lecithin (23·4 % of all products), mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids (14·5 %), diphosphates (11·6 %), and xanthan gum and pectin (8·0 %).

Conclusions: Findings from this study are the first to demonstrate the widespread occurrence and co-occurrence of emulsifiers in UPF in the UK food supply.

Keywords: Emulsifier; Food additive; Food database; Ultra-processed food.

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Conflict of interest statement

KW is the co-inventor of a volatile organic compounds in the diagnosis and dietary management of irritable bowel syndrome. KW is in receipt of research funding from Almond Board of California, Danone, International Dried Fruit and Nut Council. All authors were funded or part-funded by the Helmsley Charitable Trust.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flow diagram of food product inclusion
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Number of individual emulsifiers per food product
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Heat map displaying co-occurrence of individual food additive emulsifiers in the UK food supply. Values are Spearman’s rho correlation coefficients, and cell shading indicates the magnitude of correlation co-occurrence between emulsifiers. The degree of green shading indicates positive correlations, and red shading denotes negative correlations
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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