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Caution: Soft Drinks May Seriously Harm Your Health Expert links additive to cell damage
By Martin Hickman, Consumer Affairs Correspondent- The Independent
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 mold 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 Organization 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.
