We find them in cured meats, packaged bread, industrial drinks, snacks and many other products that end up in our shopping carts every day. They are food preservatives, among the additives most used by the industry to extend the life of foods and protect them from bacteria, mold and deterioration processes. But they may have a hidden cost to our health.
This is according to a new study published inEuropean Heart Journalaccording to which habitual exposure to some food preservatives is associated with an increased risk of hypertension and cardiovascular disease.
A discovery that comes from one of the largest nutritional research ever carried out in Europe, the French NutriNet-Santé project.
The study
The researchers analyzed the data of 112,395 French adults, followed for an average of 8 years, who periodically filled out detailed food diaries, indicating not only the foods consumed but also the brands of the products, allowing researchers to precisely reconstruct the exposure to the various additives present in industrial foods.
During the observation period, 5,544 new cases of hypertension and 2,450 cardiovascular events were recorded, including heart attacks, angina and stroke.
The results show that people with the highest consumption of non-antioxidant preservatives had a 29% greater risk of developing hypertension and a 16% greater risk of cardiovascular disease compared to those who consumed the least. Antioxidant preservatives were also associated with a 22% increased risk of hypertension.
The worst additives
Among the 58 preservatives identified by the researchers, eight were particularly associated with an increased risk of hypertension.
These are:
Ascorbic acid (vitamin C used as an additive) has also been associated with an increase in cardiovascular risk. A fact that might surprise you, considering that vitamin C naturally present in fruit and vegetables is traditionally associated with benefits for cardiovascular health. The authors underline, however, that the same substance can behave differently when taken as an industrial additive, depending on the doses, the food matrix and the interactions with other ingredients.
However, the researchers urge caution. The study is observational and does not prove that preservatives are directly responsible for cardiovascular disease.
What emerges is a significant statistical association between greater exposure to these additives and a higher incidence of hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. Further experimental studies will be necessary to understand the biological mechanisms involved and verify a possible causal relationship.
One more reason to limit the ultra-processed
Beyond individual additives, the work confirms an already clear trend: a diet rich in ultra-processed foods is associated with worse cardiovascular health. It is no coincidence that almost all study participants (99.5%) consumed at least one food preservative in the first two years of observation, demonstrating how pervasive these substances are now in our daily diet.
For the authors, the main message is not to demonize a single additive, but to encourage greater attention to the overall quality of the diet. Reducing the consumption of industrial products, reading labels and favoring fresh and minimally processed foods remains one of the most effective strategies for protecting heart health.
