Soft drinks hazardous to your health

[Guest guest]

There have been warnings about soft drinks for some time. Now things

are getting more serious than just sugar overload.

 

Caution: Some soft drinks may seriously harm your health.

Expert links additive to cell damage

 

By Martin Hickman, Consumer Affairs Correspondent

Published: 27 May 2007

 

A new health scare erupted over soft drinks last night amid evidence

they may cause serious cell damage. Research from a British university

suggests a common preservative found in drinks such as Fanta and Pepsi

Max has the ability to switch off vital parts of DNA.

 

The problem - more usually associated with ageing and alcohol abuse -

can eventually lead to cirrhosis of the liver and degenerative

diseases such as Parkinson's.

 

The findings could have serious consequences for the hundreds of

millions of people worldwide who consume fizzy drinks. They will also

intensify the controversy about food additives, which have been linked

to hyperactivity in children.

 

Concerns centre on the safety of E211, known as sodium benzoate, a

preservative used for decades by the £74bn global carbonated drinks

industry. Sodium benzoate derives from benzoic acid. It occurs

naturally in berries, but is used in large quantities to prevent mould

in soft drinks such as Sprite, Oasis and Dr Pepper. It is also added

to pickles and sauces.

 

Sodium benzoate has already been the subject of concern about cancer

because when mixed with the additive vitamin C in soft drinks, it

causes benzene, a carcinogenic substance. A Food Standards Agency

survey of benzene in drinks last year found high levels in four brands

which were removed from sale.

 

Now, an expert in ageing at Sheffield University, who has been working

on sodium benzoate since publishing a research paper in 1999, has

decided to speak out about another danger. Professor Peter Piper, a

professor of molecular biology and biotechnology, tested the impact of

sodium benzoate on living yeast cells in his laboratory. What he found

alarmed him: the benzoate was damaging an important area of DNA in the

" power station " of cells known as the mitochondria.

 

He told The Independent on Sunday: " 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.

 

" The mitochondria consumes the oxygen to give you energy and if you

damage it - as happens in a number if diseased states - then the cell

starts to malfunction very seriously. And there is a whole array of

diseases that are now being tied to damage to this DNA - Parkinson's

and quite a lot of neuro-degenerative diseases, but above all the

whole process of ageing. "

 

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) backs the use of sodium benzoate in

the UK and it has been approved by the European Union but last night,

MPs called for it to investigate urgently.

 

Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat chair of Parliament's all-party

environment group said: " Many additives are relatively new and their

long-term impact cannot be certain. This preservative clearly needs to

be investigated further by the FSA. "

 

A review of sodium benzoate by the World Health Organisation in 2000

concluded that it was safe, but it noted that the available science

supporting its safety was " limited " .

 

Professor Piper, whose work has been funded by a government research

council, said tests conducted by the US Food and Drug Administration

were out of date.

 

" The food industry will say these compounds have been tested and they

are complete safe, " he said. " By the criteria of modern safety

testing, the safety tests were inadequate. Like all things, safety

testing moves forward and you can conduct a much more rigorous safety

test than you could 50 years ago. "

 

He advised parents to think carefully about buying drinks with

preservatives until the quantities in products were proved safe by new

tests. " My concern is for children who are drinking large amounts, " he

said.

 

Coca-Cola and Britvic's Pepsi Max and Diet Pepsi all contain sodium

benzoate. Their makers and the British Soft Drinks Association said

they entrusted the safety of additives to the Government.

 

http://news.independent.co.uk/health/article2586652.ece

[Guest guest]

One of the worse cases we had in the Allergy Unit I worked in was a woman

who had drunk litres and litres of Aloe Vera - 99.8% pure - + preservative -

it is after all a health drink - to cure all her allergy symptoms - it had

benzoate preservatives in it - as most things do - not only the soft drinks

 

Jane

 

 

Soft drinks hazardous to your health

 

 

There have been warnings about soft drinks for some time. Now things

are getting more serious than just sugar overload.

 

Caution: Some soft drinks may seriously harm your health.

Expert links additive to cell damage