Frozen meals have long been the go-to answer for one of modern life’s most familiar dilemmas: what to eat when there is little time to cook.
On busy nights, or when energy is running low, a ready-to-heat dish can feel like an easy win, offering dinner without the chopping, prep work or pile of pans that comes with cooking from scratch.
But while the appeal is obvious, new research suggests that the convenience may come with risks that are not immediately visible on the plate.
A large study has linked more than a dozen additives used in a wide variety of ready-made supermarket foods to a higher risk of fatal heart attacks and strokes.
Researchers in France examined health information from more than 112,000 people, looking closely at how often participants ate products containing 58 different preservatives.
Their analysis found that frequent consumption of eight of those preservatives — often present in frozen dinners, convenience foods, deli meats and soft drinks — was associated with a 30 percent higher risk of developing high blood pressure and heart disease.
Those conditions remain among the leading causes of death in the United States, together claiming nearly one million lives each year.
The findings may be especially concerning because many of the additives appear in foods that shoppers may not immediately view as unhealthy, including canned fruit, bread and common condiments such as ketchup and mayonnaise.
Researchers in France have revealed the additives in common grocery store products that may increase the risk of heart disease
Researchers Mathilde Touvier and Anaïs Hasenböhler, of the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research told the Daily Mail the big problem facing consumers is that the additives they evaluated ‘were not confined to a single category of foods.’
‘These ingredients are in processed meats, ready meals, sauces, soft drinks, packaged breads and even soups and reduced fat products,’ said Touvier, head of the Nutritional Epidemiology Research Team (CRESS-EREN) at the institute.
‘The risk comes not from one specific food, but repeated exposure from many different sources.’
She added that while cardiovascular diseases ‘remain the leading cause of death worldwide,’ previous research has not ‘examined whether a wide range of food additives may contribute to their development.’
In the study, published in the European Heart Journal, each participant tracked every bite of their food and drink intake by brand name for three days every six months over the course of about eight years. The average age of study participants was 43, and 79 percent were women. They were continually monitored for high blood pressure and heart disease.
The researchers then used a database of product ingredients to identify preservatives and compare consumption to participants’ medical data.
Eight of them, consumed regularly, were associated with higher blood pressure.
Three of the additives – potassium sorbate, potassium metabisulphite and sodium nitrite – are known as non-antioxidant preservatives, designed to kill bacteria, mold and yeast, helping foods last longer on supermarket shelves.
All of the additives the researchers looked at are found in US products and approved for use by the FDA and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) within federal guidelines.
The ingredients are widely used across everyday products: potassium sorbate appears in baked goods, cheeses and sauces, while potassium metabisulphite is most commonly found in wine, beer and cider.
Sodium nitrite, meanwhile, is typically added to processed meats such as bacon, ham and deli cuts. It can form toxic N‑nitroso compounds, which have been linked to DNA damage and a higher risk of colon cancer – though its role in heart disease isn’t fully understood.
The remaining additives linked to higher blood pressure fall into a different category called antioxidant preservatives, which are used to slow oxidation and keep foods looking fresh.
These include ascorbic acid – better known as Vitamin C – along with sodium ascorbate, sodium erythorbate, citric acid and rosemary extract.
They are commonly found in products marketed as healthy staples. Ascorbic acid, for example, is added to pre-cut and canned fruit to preserve color, as well as bread to improve texture. Sodium ascorbate and sodium erythorbate are used in everything from frozen foods and cured meats to soft drinks and alcoholic beverages.
Citric acid – the most widely consumed additive in the study, used by more than nine in ten participants – is a fixture in soft drinks, juices and sports drinks, as well as condiments and pasta sauces.
Rosemary extract, often seen as a more ‘natural’ ingredient, is also widely used to extend shelf life in products ranging from margarine and ready meals to processed meats and frozen fish.
The researchers found that those consuming the highest levels of preservatives tended to be younger, better educated and less physically active. They were also less likely to have a family history of heart disease or conditions such as diabetes.
When it came to risk, however, clear patterns emerged.
Potassium sorbate was linked to the largest increase, raising the risk of heart problems by 39 percent. Citric acid followed at 25 percent, while potassium metabisulphite and sodium nitrite were each associated with a 16 percent increase.
Other commonly used additives carried smaller – but still notable – risks. Ascorbic acid and sodium erythorbate were linked to a 14 percent rise, sodium ascorbate to 12 percent and rosemary extract to ten percent.
‘One interesting finding was that the associations involved several different preservatives rather than a single culprit,’ said lead researcher Hasenböhler.
‘Another surprising aspect was that some antioxidant additives, often perceived as harmless, were also associated with increased risk. This reinforces the need for further studies, both in populations and in experimental settings.’
Exactly how these additives affect the heart is still unclear. But researchers believe several may damage cells directly – a process known as cytotoxicity – while also disrupting normal cell function and triggering inflammation.
They also suggest the preservatives could alter the gut microbiome, encouraging harmful bacteria linked to damage in the arteries, higher cholesterol and the build-up of plaque.
‘Some preservatives have also been shown experimentally to affect liver or pancreatic function,’ Hasenböhler added. ‘Different groups of additives may act through different pathways, and these mechanisms are likely to overlap.’
Michelle Routhenstein, a preventative cardiology dietitian at EntirelyNourished, who was not involved in the study, told the Daily Mail that even though mountains of research demonstrate that foods high in fat, sugar and sodium, rather than individual additives, have long been shown to increase heart disease risk, additives are still a cause for concern.
‘This study showed that even when researchers accounted for other major cardiovascular risk factors in the diet, including sodium, saturated fat, added sugar, and overall diet quality, the association between higher preservative intake and increased risk of high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease remained,’ she told the Daily Mail.
‘This suggests that preservatives themselves may contribute to risk through mechanisms beyond traditional nutrients, potentially including inflammation, oxidative stress, and changes to the gut microbiome.
‘While the increase in risk was modest, the findings are meaningful given how commonly these additives are consumed.’
Researchers Mathilde Touvier and Anaïs Hasenböhler told the Daily Mail they plan to conduct additional studies on the relationship between food additives and heart disease
Touvier emphasized that the findings cannot pinpoint an exact number of safe or dangerous amounts of these foods. Instead, she said, the results reflect regular consumption over a long period of time.
‘For some additives, this could correspond, for example, to the equivalent of one ready-made meal together with another processed product such as a dairy dessert consumed daily,’ she said.
‘These additives are ubiquitous, and exposure comes from the accumulation of many foods consumed over years.
‘Therefore, the message is not that one particular food is dangerous, but rather that reducing overall exposure to unnecessary additives may be beneficial.’
About 120 million American adults have some form of heart disease, including 20 million with coronary artery disease. Another 120 million have high blood pressure.
Hasenböhler noted that this group ‘could potentially benefit the most from reducing their exposure’ to additive-rich foods, but said ‘the recommendations are relevant to the general population.’
Routhenstein noted that while ‘the study cannot prove causation, it suggests that preservative exposure itself may contribute to cardiovascular risk through mechanisms such as inflammation, oxidative stress, or gut microbiome disruption.’
‘Future research should focus on randomized controlled trials and mechanistic studies to better understand how specific additives affect blood pressure, vascular health, and cardiometabolic risk at real-world intake levels,’ she added.
The researchers said they are planning to conduct additional studies on the relationship between food additives and heart disease, and look closer at different mixtures of additives.
‘Ultimately, such research could help refine food safety evaluations and better protect consumers,’ Touvier said.
At the grocery store, the authors emphasized choosing simplicity.
‘The safest approach is to favor non- or minimally processed foods whenever possible and to limit products with long ingredient lists containing numerous additives.’
