A large French study of 112,395 adults has found that higher consumption of certain food preservative additives—especially non-antioxidant preservatives—was associated with increased incidence of hypertension and, for some exposures, cardiovascular disease. The findings were published online May 20, 2026, in the European Heart Journal.
A major analysis from France’s NutriNet-Santé cohort has reported associations between commonly used food preservative additives and later health outcomes, including hypertension and cardiovascular disease.
Researchers analyzed repeated, detailed dietary records from 112,395 participants and tracked new diagnoses of high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease over a median follow-up of about 7.9 years. In the analysis, participants with the highest intake of total non-antioxidant preservatives had a 29% higher incidence of hypertension and a 16% higher incidence of cardiovascular disease than those with the lowest intake.
When investigators examined individual preservatives, eight additives consumed by at least 10% of participants were associated with a higher incidence of hypertension after statistical correction:
- potassium sorbate (E202)
- potassium metabisulphite (E224)
- sodium nitrite (E250)
- ascorbic acid (E300)
- sodium ascorbate (E301)
- sodium erythorbate (E316)
- citric acid (E330)
- extracts of rosemary (E392)
Among those, ascorbic acid (E300) was also associated with a higher incidence of cardiovascular disease.
Mathilde Touvier, a research director at INSERM and a senior author on the study, said the findings should prompt regulators to review the balance of risks and benefits for these additives. She emphasized that the work is observational and cannot prove cause and effect, but added that the results support existing advice to prioritize non-processed or minimally processed foods and to avoid unnecessary additives.
The team said additional studies are planned to explore potential biological pathways, including links to oxidative stress and changes in the gut microbiota.
