Bad Food Additives

Soft drink chemical linked to DNA damage, Parkinson's and cancer.

Tuesday, 03 March 2009 14:20

Sodium Benzoate, found in many soft drinks, is linked to DNA damage and can form benzene, a known carcinogen.

Sodium Benzoate (preservative 211) is a common preservative used quite heavily by the soft drink industry. It is found in Diet Coke, Pepsi Max, Sprite, Sunkist, and others. But, it's use is not limited to soft drinks. It is also found in some juices, sauces and other condiments.

Britain and Australian guidelines for drinking water allow a limit of 1ppb (part per billion) of benzene. Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) recently tested 68 flavourd drinks. Some contained benzene levels of up to 40ppb.

By itself, Sodium Benzoate has been shown to deactivate and damage parts of DNA mitochondria. DNA damage is linked to diseases like Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative diseases.

The consumption of Sodium Benzoate was recently studied by Professor Piper at the Universy of Sheffield. "These chemicals have the ability to cause severe damage to DNA in the mitochondria to the point that they totally inactivate it: they knock it out altogether," Prof Piper. link:news.ninemsn.com.au.

Concern about the health risks of Sodium Benzoate have led to Coca-Cola in Britain withdrawing the additive from Diet Coke due to consumer demand. And it has announced that it will be removed from other product lines as well. Coca-Cola Australia, however, has no such plans and announced "All of the ingredients used in products of The Coca-Cola Company are safe and approved for use by the Food Standards Australia New Zealand."

That may be so, but Professer Piper points out that "by the criteria of modern safety testing, the safety tests were inadequate."

by John Pitchers