Major study links common food preservatives to higher blood pressure and heart disease risk

A major new study is raising fresh questions about what may be lurking in many packaged foods.

According to Consumer Affairs, researchers found that some commonly used preservatives were associated with higher risks of high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease.

The study, published in the European Heart Journal, analyzed data from 112,395 adults taking part in France's ongoing NutriNet-Santé nutrition project.

Participants regularly logged detailed 24-hour food and drink records, often down to the commercial brand, which allowed researchers to estimate exposure to specific additives.

The team then followed participants for nearly eight years to see who went on to develop hypertension or cardiovascular conditions, including heart attack, stroke, or angina.

After adjusting for a wide range of health and lifestyle factors, the researchers found several notable patterns.

People with the highest intake of non-antioxidant preservatives were 29% more likely to develop hypertension and 16% more likely to develop cardiovascular disease than those with the lowest intake.

Higher consumption of antioxidant preservatives was linked to a 22% greater risk of hypertension.

Eight additives were associated with an elevated risk of blood pressure: potassium sorbate, potassium metabisulfite, sodium nitrite, citric acid, sodium erythorbate, sodium ascorbate, ascorbic acid, and rosemary extracts.

Researchers emphasized that the study was observational, meaning it could not prove that the preservatives directly caused those outcomes.

Food preservatives are widely used in industrially processed products, so even people who are not thinking much about additives may be exposed to them regularly.

The findings add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that some ultra-processed foods may carry health tradeoffs beyond calories, salt, sugar, and fat alone.

High blood pressure is one of the biggest risk factors for heart disease and stroke, and many people do not know they have it until serious problems develop.

Research like this could help health agencies decide whether current rules around additives warrant another look.

On the policy side, the researchers said their findings support closer review by food safety authorities such as the European Food Safety Authority and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

"These results suggest we need a re-evaluation of the risks and benefits of these food additives … for better consumer protection," Dr. Mathilde Touvier said, per Consumer Affairs.

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