A study has found that a chemical found in dairy products, ice cream and meat products may cause type 2 diabetes.
Carrageenan (also known as E407) is used as an emulsifier in the food industry for its gel-like properties.
But researchers have warned that the emulsifier can harm stomach health, destabilize blood sugar and even cause bowel cancer.
Now a team of scientists in Germany has tried to find out in a study whether this additive found in popular sweet food can cause people to develop type 2 diabetes.
In the study published in the journal BMC Medicine, 20 healthy weight people between the ages of 27 and 31 were given 250 mg of carrageenan daily for two weeks along with their normal diet. While the other 20 people were given a placebo.
At the end of the two weeks, the researchers took MRI scans of the participants’ brains and stomachs and looked for signs of inflammation, which is known to be a sign of the onset of several stomach diseases.
The researchers also measured the participants’ insulin sensitivity. Insulin is a hormone that absorbs energy from food and stabilizes sugar levels in the body.
In type 2 diabetes, the body loses sensitivity to this hormone, causing sugar levels to become dangerously high or low.
The data obtained showed that the group consuming carrageenan had increased weight compared to those using the placebo, while insulin sensitivity decreased.
