For decades, sodium benzoate has been used as a preservative in pickles, sauces and -- most prominently -- soda. Its safety has been tested, though not rigorously, and a British scientist with the unfortunate name of Peter Piper has shown that sodium benzoate shuts down the mitochondria of yeast cells.
"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 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.
The article describing Piper's research is titled with unnecessary alarmism, but it couldn't hurt to fire up a few mouse studies.
Caution: Some soft drinks may seriously harm your health [The Independent]
Image: Michael Whalen*
