| |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
Caution: Some soft drinks may seriously harm your health |
|
Posted by chshkt
|
 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._
http://news. independent. co.uk/health/
article2586652. ece
More:
Hemuz Nature
HemuZ Health
See also:
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
