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.
