What to Know About Preservatives in Packaged Foods

Self Preservation: You know how nutrition experts always tell us to shop for food with short ingredient lists? Well, it looks like there’s one more big reason why. Those common preservatives in packaged foods? New research suggests they could actually have some pretty significant negative health effects.

The Study: Two large observational studies, published in Nature Communications and The BMJ, looked at the diet and health data of over 100,000 French adults between 2009 and 2023. What did they find? In the diabetes analysis, people with a higher overall intake of preservatives were at a higher risk for type 2 diabetes — and 12 of the 17 preservatives studied showed individual links. For cancer, preservatives overall weren’t the issue, but higher intake of several specific additives was linked to a modestly higher risk of certain cancers, including breast and prostate.

The Takeaway: These studies aren’t saying preservatives cause disease, but they strongly suggest that being frequently exposed to some of them might increase your risk over time. So, the practical step for better health is to try cutting back on those ultra-processed foods and opting for more fresh or minimally processed options.

Keep In Mind: Since these are observational studies, we can’t definitively say “cause and effect.” However, the findings do align with earlier experimental research, giving them more weight.