Hypertension

Preservative food additives, hypertension, and cardiovascular diseases: the NutriNet-Santé study

Eur Heart JPublished Prospective cohort study

Authors' conclusion

Multiple associations between exposure to preservative food additives widely used in industrial foods and higher incidence of hypertension or CVD were observed in this large prospective cohort.

Study context

Population
Adults in the NutriNet-Santé cohort (France, 2009–2024)78.7% women
Participants
112,395 adults
Exposure
Higher vs lower consumers of preservative food additives
Outcome
Incidence of hypertension and CVD
Follow-up
Median 7.9 years
Methodological detailstime-dependent exposure, multi-adjusted Cox models
  • Time-dependent exposure
  • Multi-adjusted Cox models

Main finding

As reported in the abstract

Higher consumers vs Lower consumersHazard ratio (95% CI)
Total non-antioxidant preservatives; hypertension (n = 5544)
1.29(1.20–1.39)
Total non-antioxidant preservatives; CVD (n = 2450)
1.16(1.04–1.29)
Total antioxidant preservatives; hypertension
1.22(1.13–1.31)

Observational data: associations, not effects.

Further findings

Individual preservative additives (17 consumed by ≥10%)

Associated with higher incidence of hypertension, after multiple test correction
8
Associated with higher incidence of cardiovascular diseases (CVD), after multiple test correction
1

Original publication

Preservative food additives, hypertension, and cardiovascular diseases: the NutriNet-Santé study. Eur Heart J. Published 20 May 2026. doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehag308

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