Some Soft Drinks Containing the Additive Sodium Benzoate May Seriously Damage DNA, British Scientist Believes

Filed under: In The News — @ June 7, 2007

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? Click here to read more about this fascinating research.