Soft Drinks Linked to Aging ?

Greetings,

Today a lot of stories have appeared in the media implicating soft drinks (Fanta, Coca-Cola, Britvic's Pepsi Max, Diet Pepsi, Sprite, Oasis, and Dr Pepper) in "Parkinson's and quite a lot of neuro-degenerative diseases, but above all the whole process of ageing.":

Could Soft Drinks Make Your Mitochondria Fizzle?
Wired News - 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.
Expert's drink additive fears Sheffield Today
Fresh health fears hit benzoate in soft drinks NutraIngredients-usa.com
Research: Sodas May Pose Serious Health Risks AHN
all 46 news articles »

Well, a small investigation reveals that the "news" media fuss is related to this study published 8 years ago:

Piper PW, "Yeast superoxide dismutase mutants reveal a pro-oxidant action of weak organic acid food preservatives," Free Radic Biol Med. 1999 Dec; 27(11-12):1219-27

This paper acknowledges that:

"Benzoic acid is generally assumed to be safe because it is conjugated in the liver to produce benzoylglycine (hippuric acid), a compound that is then excreted in the urine. Sorbate is also largely excreted, in this case mostly as the oxidation product 2,4-hexadienedioxic acid. However, before these acids are transported to the liver, they will come into contact with the epithelia of the gastrointestinal tract."

Therefore the possible risk is limited to the epithelia of the gastrointestinal tract only, which is reflected in the last sentence of the article abstract:

"This raises the concern that the large-scale consumption of these preservatives in the human diet may generate oxidative stress within the epithelia of the gastrointestinal tract."

Obviously a potential damage limited to the epithelia of the gastrointestinal tract only can not be possibly responsible for "Parkinson's and quite a lot of neuro-degenerative diseases, but above all the whole process of ageing."

On the other hand, we may agree with the following, more balanced statement of this article:

"...the potential for weak organic acid food preservatives to act as pro-oxidants in humans should probably be reexamined, if only to reassure the public of the complete safety of these compounds."

For easy reading about food preservatives sodium benzoate, potassium benzoate, and other food additives, see:

Nutrition For Dummies
by Carol Ann Rinzler (Paperback - Jun 19, 2006)



For more professional coverage of this topic, please see:

Food Preservatives
by Nicholas J. Russell and Grahame W. Gould (Hardcover - Oct 19, 2005)


See also:

New Books about Soft Drinks


Key words:
Soft drinks, Aging, Sodium benzoate, Peter Piper,Benzoic acid, Parkinson's disease, Neuro-degenerative diseases, epithelia of the gastrointestinal tract, Fanta, Coca-Cola, Britvic's Pepsi Max, Diet Pepsi, Sprite, Oasis, Dr Pepper

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