Soft Drink Ingredient Sodium Benzoate May Lead to Cirrhosis, Parkinsons

[Denarius]

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/261302/study_soft_drink_ingredient_sodium.html

 

New findings regarding the dangers to health by soft drinks has caused fear in the UK and is sure to cause concern in other parts of the world, according to a report published in the Irish Independent.

 

 

Soda could be doing more damage than you think

 

According to recent research, carried out by Sheffield University in the UK, a preservative that is commonly found in soft drinks can cause essential parts of human DNA to stop working, leading to serious health problems.

 

The health problems most commonly thought to arise from this preservative are not what most would associated with drinking a soda or fruit juice, but more with the aging process and excessive alcohol consumption.

 

Many of us know today that too much soda should be avoided as it can lead to dental problems. But the new research reveals that the preservative commonly found in soft drinks can also lead to cirrhosis and Parkinson's.

 

The head expert that worked on the study, Peter Piper, took a close look at this common preservative, known as E211, otherwise called sodium benzoate. Piper told the Independent that "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 then the cell starts to malfunction very seriously."

 

Sodium benzoate or E211 has been used in soft drinks for many years. This isn't the first time this commonly used preservative has been the subject of controversy. Last year it was causing fear over its potential to cause cancer if it was combined with vitamin C. It was found that when E211 was combined with Vitamin C, a carcinogenic was created, called benzene. Last year the Food Standards Agency in the UK investigated a number of soft drinks that had this combination and found four to have unsafe levels of benzene. As a result these four drinks were taken from store shelves.

 

Many may be wondering what the purpose of E211 is and why it is so commonly used. The reason E211 is used is that is keeps the soft drinks fresh by not allowing mould and other harmful bacteria to grow. E211 isn't just found in soft drinks, it can be found in other food products such as salad dressing.

 

Both the food agencies in the US and Europe have sodium benzoate as an approved safe to use substance. However, Piper was quick to point out that the test carried out by these two food agencies were old and now inaccurate.

 

Piper 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. We are feeding vast amounts of them to children inadvertently. Is this a completely safe process?"

 

[elef]

A chemical cousin of salicylic acid and one thing I'm allergic to together with fish, onion, garlic, orange and some other food.

 

Coke and Pepsi don't have this preservative, but the diet versions have.

[teddy]

You got to hand it to this guy, when I knew him he was a lowly pickled pepper picker, and now look at him, an eminent scientist

[The_Munchmaster]

[OCgringo]

OK....I can be the lab rat on this one,

 

I drink Diet Pepsi like water every day ,

so I should be dead now !

 

OC

[HeartThais]

That isn't the only thing to be worried about in soft drinks...

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brominated_vegetable_oil

 

[Guy Himmaparn]

Joe Jackson summed it up years ago:

 

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/j/joe+jackson/cancer_20072747.html

[FreeTime]

One only has to look at the crisis of obesity in N. America and increasingly in other countries to realize that money, not health is the objective of many food producers. The crap they put in food to make it last longer, look better, or taste better, will keep hospitals and doctors busy for a generation. The pendulum is slowly swinging in the other direction. It is now quite common to find sales of soda/soft drinks & junk food banned in public schools. Soft drinks are particularly bad. There is a hierarchy of liquids one should drink to give the body a chance to stay healthy. Water, natural beer, wine, fruit juice, tea and coffee are in that hierarchy, all in moderation. Some wine has additives, such as sulphites, which is unfortunate. Fruit juice has a lot of natural sugars, but in moderation, is OK. One could argue that water from some taps is unhealthy due to declining quality or the addition of clorine, etc., but there is no comparison compared to soft drinks. Personally I stopped buying soft drinks about 25 years ago. I won't turn down a drink mixed with soda, but I would suggest to all that the elimination of soft drinks in the diet is a simple proactive step in the quest for health. I understand that heredity and environment counts for a great deal as far as health is concerned, but to assume this is enough seems to me to be a significant risk.