Note from Connie: Thanks to my research assistant Jennifer Moore for this enlightening post about the dangers not of sugar but of the sodium benzoate in soft drinks. There is so much news to comment about here that I’m thrilled to have her helping out here from time to time.
Just when you thought soda couldn’t be any worse for you — aside from its insanely high sugar content and the way it packs on pounds — new research from Britain uncovers yet another way this sweet stuff may be hazardous to your health.
Peter Piper, a professor of molecular biology and biotechnology at the UK’s University of Sheffield, believes that soft drinks containing the additive sodium benzoate may shut down parts of the DNA in a person’s cells, a claim we learned about, thanks to consumer affairs reporter Martin Hickman in the British paper The Independent.
Professor Piper, whom Hickman refers to as an expert in aging, made this discovery after testing the additive on living yeast cells in his lab. The sodium benzoate affects the cell’s mitochondria, which Hickman calls the "power station" of a person’s cells. (FYI, in Chapter 2 of Connie’s book SUGAR SHOCK!, Dr. Stephen Sinatra — contributing author to her book — also talks about the important role of mitochondria.)
So why is this scary news that sodium benzoate in soda affects the cell’s mitochondria?
Dr. Piper explains to The Independent:
"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."
Let’s put it another way: Some brands of soft drinks contain a substance that might very well cause the kind of cell damage typically seen in devastating illnesses like Parkinson’s disease, which is the terrible condition from which actor Michael J. Fox suffers. Just click the National Parkinson Foundation’s website to learn what the disease does to a person’s body. Yikes!
According to Hickman, sodium benzoate is widely used by a variety of soft drink manufacturers, including Coca-Cola, Pepsi Max, Diet Pepsi, Sprite, Dr Pepper, and Fanta. This substance, which Hickman reports occurs naturally in healthy foods like berries, is used in large amounts to keep mold out of soda.
Interestingly, according to Hickman, the World Health Organization even admitted that the science supporting the contention that the additive is safe is "limited."
What’s more, the combination of sodium benzoate and vitamin C was found to create a carcinogen called benzene, as Connie wrote about here last year. While the UK’s Food Standards Agency took the drastic measure to call for four products containing benzene to be taken off the market, our own FDA has’t taken such a step. The agency insists that the levels of benzene found in sodas sold here aren’t a safety risk.
Now, the FDA says that some soft drink companies did formulate their sparkling, sugary beverages to cut the amount benzene and that they continue to monitor the situation.
Pardon me for being a bit skeptical that the FDA is doing everything it can to keep toxins out of soda — after all, the FDA is same governmental agency that let Avandia be unleashed on millions of diabetic Americans, despite research showing that the drug could substantially increase the risk of heart attacks.
As far as sodium benzoate goes, Professor Piper thinks that the FDA’s tests aren’t good enough.
"By the criteria of modern safety testing, the safety tests were inadequate," he said. "Like all things, safety testing moves forward and you can conduct a much more rigorous safety test than you could 50 years ago."
So now Americans have yet another reason to avoid soda. Of course, staying away from soda is easier said than done for many people. In fact, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest’s widely acclaimed 2005 report on soda (called "Liquid Candy"), soft drinks are the # 1 source of calories in the American diet.
If Professor Piper’s research is to be believed, millions of Americans may be inadvertently damaging their cells just by having a can of soda every day.
My advice: Check out Connie’s book SUGAR SHOCK! for tips on how to quash those powerful sugar cravings and lick your soda habit for good. And ask your representatives in Congress to urge the FDA to take some serious action in light of Professor Piper’s revealing research about sodium benzoate.