Preservatives keep packaged food safe and on the shelf longer, and they show up in almost everything from deli meat to bread to bottled drinks. A large French study now suggests that eating more of some of them is linked to a higher risk of high blood pressure.
What the researchers did
The team, from Université Sorbonne Paris Nord and Université Paris Cité, used data from the NutriNet-Santé cohort: 112,395 adults in France with an average age of 42, about 79% of them women. Participants filled out repeated 24-hour food records that included the brand names of what they ate, so the researchers could estimate their intake of individual additives. They were followed for about eight years. The results were published in the European Heart Journal.
What they found
- Preservatives were nearly universal: 99.5% of participants ate at least one in the first two years of follow-up.
- People with the highest intake of non-antioxidant preservatives had a 29% higher risk of developing high blood pressure and a 16% higher risk of cardiovascular disease than those with the lowest intake.
- Of the 17 most commonly eaten preservatives, eight were linked to higher hypertension risk, including potassium sorbate, sodium nitrite, citric acid and ascorbic acid.
That last group is interesting because it includes additives many people consider harmless, such as citric acid and ascorbic acid (a form of vitamin C) used as preservatives.
The catch
This is an observational study, so it shows an association, not proof that preservatives raise blood pressure. People who eat a lot of preserved foods may differ in other ways, even after the researchers adjusted for many factors. The participants were French and mostly women, and diet was self-reported. The authors themselves say the findings need to be confirmed by other studies and that lab work is needed to understand any mechanism.
What you can do with this
None of this means you need to inspect every label. But the study lines up with broader advice the lead researcher repeated: lean toward unprocessed and minimally processed foods and skip unnecessary additives where you easily can. Practical ways to do that:
- Cook a few more meals from basic ingredients each week.
- Compare ingredient lists when choosing between similar products; shorter is often a useful clue.
- Go easy on processed meats, which commonly contain nitrites.
- If you already have high blood pressure, keep following the plan you’ve worked out with your clinician.
This article is for general information, not medical advice.
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