Caution: Some soft drinks may seriously harm your health: Expertadditive

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Caution: Some soft drinks may seriously harm your health

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

By Martin Hickman, Consumer Affairs Correspondent

Published: 27 May 2007

 

Expert links additive to cell damage

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.