Common food preservatives linked to high blood pressure and heart disease

by European Society of Cardiology

edited by Sadie Harley, reviewed by Andrew Zinin

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Eating foods that contain common preservative food additives may increase the risks of high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease, according to research published in the European Heart Journal.

The research was led by Dr. Mathilde Touvier, a research director at INSERM (the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research), and Anaïs Hasenböhler, Ph.D. student, both from the Nutritional Epidemiology Research Team at the Université Sorbonne Paris Nord and Université Paris Cité, France.

Ms. Hasenböhler said, "Food preservatives are used in hundreds of thousands of industrially processed foods. Experimental studies suggest that some preservative food additives may be harmful to cardiovascular health, but we have not had enough evidence on the impact of these ingredients in humans. As far as we know, this is the first study of its kind to investigate the links between a wide range of preservatives and cardiovascular health."

The research is part of a larger study, called NutriNet-Santé, and included 112,395 volunteers from across France. Every six months the volunteers told researchers everything they ate and drank over a period of three days.

Researchers carried out detailed analyses of the ingredients of all the food and drink, including any preservatives. They also tracked the volunteers' health for an average of seven to eight years to see if they develop high blood pressure or any cardiovascular disease.

Researcher found that 99.5% of the volunteers had consumed at least one food preservative within the first two years of taking part.

Overall, they found that people who ate the largest amounts of "non-antioxidant" preservatives had a 29% higher risk of hypertension, compared to those who ate the least, and a 16% higher risk of cardiovascular disease, including heart attack, stroke, and angina. People who ate the most antioxidant preservatives had a 22% higher risk of hypertension.

Non-antioxidant preservatives are designed to stop harmful microbes, such as mold and bacteria, from growing, whereas antioxidant preservatives are designed to stop oxidation which means the food will not turn brown or become rancid.

Researchers also looked at 17 of the most commonly eaten preservatives and found that eight of these were specifically linked to high blood pressure. These were: potassium sorbate (E202), potassium metabisulphite (E224), sodium nitrite (E250), ascorbic acid (E300), sodium ascorbate (E301), sodium erythorbate (E316), citric acid (E330) and extracts of rosemary (E392). Ascorbic acid (E300) was also specifically linked to cardiovascular disease.

Dr. Touvier added, "This study has some limitations inherent to its observational design. However, the findings are based on highly detailed data, and we have taken account of other factors that can increase or lower the risk of cardiovascular disease. Experimental research in the literature consistently suggested that preservatives may cause oxidative stress in the body or affect the way the pancreas works.

"These results suggest we need a re-evaluation of the risks and benefits of these food additives by the authorities in charge, such as the EFSA in Europe and the FDA in the U.S., for better consumer protection.

"In the meantime, these findings support existing recommendations to favor non-processed and minimally processed foods, and avoid unnecessary additives. Doctors and other health care professionals play a key role in explaining these recommendations to the public."

The researchers are now looking at how food additives and ultra-processed foods may affect signs of inflammation, oxidative stress, metabolic profile in the blood and the composition of the gut microbiota. This may help them to understand why additives may increase the risks of disease.

Publication details

Preservative food additives, hypertension, and cardiovascular diseases: the NutriNet-Santé study, European Heart Journal (2026). DOI: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehag308

Journal information: European Heart Journal

Key medical concepts

Cardiovascular DiseasesHigh Blood PressureVitamin C

Clinical categories

CardiologyNutrition & Healthy eatingHealthy livingPreventive medicineCommon illnesses & Prevention Provided by European Society of Cardiology Who's behind this story?

Sadie Harley

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