No one wants the food they bought to spoil immediately. But it’s also alarming when food has an incredibly distant use-by date. While foods with a long shelf life are excellent for emergency kits, they can be unnerving in everyday life.

Preservatives are often added to processed foods to give them a longer shelf life. While that makes them last longer in your pantry, a new study found that they are linked to a higher risk of developing cancer and blood sugar concerns.

French epidemiologist Mathilde Touvier, who supervised the work, said that “consuming products with preservatives does not mean you will immediately develop cancer. But we need to limit how much we are exposed to these products. The message for the general public is to choose the least processed foods when shopping in the supermarket.”

Researchers who weren’t involved in the research praised the methodology but said it’s too early for shoppers to panic. More research is needed to know if the work is correct, they say, as foods that contain preservatives are often unhealthy in other ways. It might not be the preservatives that are the problem.

The researchers used the health and dietary information of more than 100,000 adults. They grouped preservatives into two categories. One kind slows microbial growth and delays chemical reactions. The other reduces or controls oxygen exposure to the food.

Researchers found that preservative consumption was associated with a 47 percent higher risk of developing blood sugar concerns. Preservatives that slow microbial growth were linked to the highest risk.

“This is the first study in the world on the links between preservative additives and the incidence of [blood sugar concerns]. Although the results need to be confirmed, they are consistent with experimental data suggesting the harmful effects of several of these compounds,” said Dr. Touvier.

Many of these preservatives are found in foods known to cause health issues. For instance, the researchers found that eating sodium nitrate was linked to a 32 percent higher risk of prostate cancer. But sodium nitrate is used to cure bacon, ham and other processed meats. It could be that the meats are the problem, and the sodium nitrate is taking the blame. Similarly, sulfites were linked to a 12 percent increase in the risk of cancer. But 85 percent of the sulfite in people’s diets came from alcohol. In that case, alcohol and not a preservative may be the issue.

Banner image: Chez Gilbert Saigon via Pexels