8 common food additives linked to high blood pressure and heart disease
Observational diet research and two cardiovascular studies on gut microbiota and on religiosity add to the evidence base without settling causation.
TL;DR
- A science-news summary reports eight common food additives linked to high blood pressure and heart disease.
- A medRxiv study uses machine learning to identify gut-microbiota biomarkers in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction and primary ventricular tachyarrhythmias.
- Another medRxiv analysis examines the mixed impact of religiosity and spirituality on cardiovascular risk over time.
A science-news item reports that eight common food additives have been linked to high blood pressure and heart disease. The linkage described is observational and does not by itself establish that the additives cause the outcomes. [1]
Two medRxiv preprints add cardiovascular data. One applies machine learning to identify gut-microbiota biomarkers in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction who presented with primary ventricular tachyarrhythmias; the other examines how religiosity and spirituality track with cardiovascular risk over time in a mixed direction. [2] [3]
Why it matters
Cardiovascular risk is shaped by diet, the microbiome and social factors simultaneously. These items are associative studies that generate hypotheses; none is a controlled trial of an intervention.
Editor's note
Observational and preprint material only; the collection has no abstracts, so no effect sizes are cited and causation is not implied.