Can Sodium Benzoate In Soda Destroy Your Mitochondria?

Posted by Jimmy Moore on May 30 in Health

After blogging in December 2006 about an ongoing cover-up since 1990 by the Food & Drug Administration over cancer-causing amounts of benzene found in some popular soft drinks, now there's a new UK study on sodium benzoate causing damage to DNA bringing that whole controversy back into the limelight again.

Lead researcher Peter W. Piper, professor of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at the University of Sheffield, wanted to know what impact a food additive known as E211--the scientific name for the common preservative sodium benzoate used in most soft drinks to prevent molding--has on cells in the body. The cancer connection has already been established when benzene is mixed with vitamin C.

In a test conducted on living yeast cells in his lab, the sodium benzoate in the soft drinks sampled actually caused damage to the mitochondria--the important "power station" in DNA.

Okay, so let me get this straight. Sodium benzoate found in many soft drinks and various food products has been found to damage the mitochondria in DNA which then leads to new brain diseases and premature aging. You got all that? Are you buying it? I'm not so sure!

Click here to learn more about this story and decide for yourself whether you should stop consuming soft drinks that contain sodium benzoate.