Chemical in soft drinks 'can wreck your child's DNA'

JENNY HOPE, "Chemical in soft drinks 'can wreck your child's DNA'",
Daily Mail, May 30, 2007,
Link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...LTH&ICL=TOPART

Parents were warned to limit their children's consumption of soft
drinks amid fears over the safety of a commonly-used preservative.

Research shows that E211 - found in drinks such as Fanta and Pepsi Max
- can switch off vital parts of DNA, causing serious damage to cells.

Laboratory tests suggest this could even result in degenerative
diseases such as Parkinson's and cirrhosis of the liver.

However, the Food Standards Agency and drinks manufacturers insisted
that the additive had been rigorously assessed before being approved
for use.

The research into E211 - or sodium benzoate - was carried out by Peter
Piper, a molecular biology expert at Sheffield University.

He found that it could damage an important area of DNA called
mitochondria.

"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," he told a Sunday newspaper.

"The mitochondria consumes the oxygen to give you energy and if you
damage it then the cell starts to malfunction very seriously.

"And there is a whole array of diseases 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."

Sodium benzoate has been used as a preservative for decades by the
£74billion global carbonated drinks industry.

It is used to kill yeast, bacteria, and fungi in soft drinks, jam,
fruit juice and salad dressing. When mixed with vitamin C it forms
benzene, a carcinogenic substance.

It is found naturally in cranberries, prunes, greengages, cinnamon,
ripe cloves and apples.

Professor Piper claimed that tests on sodium benzoate carried out by
the European Union and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration were too
old to be reliable.

"By the criteria of modern safety testing, the safety tests were
inadequate," he said.

"Like all things, safety testing moves forward and you can conduct a
much more rigorous safety test than you could 50 years ago.

"We are feeding vast amounts of them to children inadvertently. Is
this a completely safe process?

"My concern is for children who are drinking large amounts.' His call
for further tests was endorsed by Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat
chairman of Parliament's all-party environment group.

The MP said: "Professor Piper has studied this for some years so we
should be taking his concerns seriously.

"I will be writing to the Food Standards Agency to ask them to carry
out further investigation and I would advise parents to make sure
there is no over-exposure to these drinks for their children."

Richard Laming, of the British Soft Drinks Association, said: "All
ingredients used by the soft drinks industry are considered as safe to
use by the FSA.

"The agency has assured us that the apparent concerns regarding sodium
benzoate have already been investigated and it sees no reason to
change its view that sodium benzoate is safe.

"Consumers can continue to enjoy soft drinks in the full confidence
that they are safe to drink."

A spokesman for the Food Standards Agency said: "Sodium benzoate and
benzoic acid are approved for food use.

"Food additives are only permitted for use after a long and careful
process of evaluation. This includes rigorous assessments for safety,
undertaken by independent scientific committees.

"The FSA is aware of Professor Piper's paper, looking at the effect of
sodium benzoate on yeast cells as published in 1999. This paper has
already been considered by the agency and the relevance of this
research to humans is unclear."

A spokesman for Coca-Cola, which makes Fanta, said: "All our
ingredients have been approved as safe by the food regulatory
authorities in Britain and the EU, and that is where we take our
guidance from."

A spokesman for Britvic, which makes Diet Pepsi and Pepsi Max, said:
"We will only use ingredients that are thoroughly tested and approved
for use by the FSA in the UK and approved by the EU."

On May 30, 8:20 am, Roman Bystrianyk wrote:
JENNY HOPE, "Chemical in soft drinks 'can wreck your child's DNA'",
Daily Mail, May 30, 2007,
Link:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...ealthmain.html...

Parents were warned to limit their children's consumption of soft
drinks amid fears over the safety of a commonly-used preservative.

Research shows that E211 - found in drinks such as Fanta and Pepsi Max
- can switch off vital parts of DNA, causing serious damage to cells.

Laboratory tests suggest this could even result in degenerative
diseases such as Parkinson's and cirrhosis of the liver.

However, the Food Standards Agency and drinks manufacturers insisted
that the additive had been rigorously assessed before being approved
for use.

The research into E211 - or sodium benzoate - was carried out byPeterPiper, a molecular biology expert at Sheffield University.

He found that it could damage an important area of DNA called
mitochondria.

"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," he told a Sunday newspaper.

"The mitochondria consumes the oxygen to give you energy and if you
damage it then the cell starts to malfunction very seriously.

"And there is a whole array of diseases 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."

Sodium benzoate has been used as a preservative for decades by the
£74billion global carbonated drinks industry.

It is used to kill yeast, bacteria, and fungi in soft drinks, jam,
fruit juice and salad dressing. When mixed with vitamin C it forms
benzene, a carcinogenic substance.

It is found naturally in cranberries, prunes, greengages, cinnamon,
ripe cloves and apples.

Professor Piper claimed that tests on sodium benzoate carried out by
the European Union and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration were too
old to be reliable.

"By the criteria of modern safety testing, the safety tests were
inadequate," he said.

"Like all things, safety testing moves forward and you can conduct a
much more rigorous safety test than you could 50 years ago.

"We are feeding vast amounts of them to children inadvertently. Is
this a completely safe process?

"My concern is for children who are drinking large amounts.' His call
for further tests was endorsed by Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat
chairman of Parliament's all-party environment group.

The MP said: "Professor Piper has studied this for some years so we
should be taking his concerns seriously.

"I will be writing to the Food Standards Agency to ask them to carry
out further investigation and I would advise parents to make sure
there is no over-exposure to these drinks for their children."

Richard Laming, of the British Soft Drinks Association, said: "All
ingredients used by the soft drinks industry are considered as safe to
use by the FSA.

"The agency has assured us that the apparent concerns regarding sodium
benzoate have already been investigated and it sees no reason to
change its view that sodium benzoate is safe.

"Consumers can continue to enjoy soft drinks in the full confidence
that they are safe to drink."

A spokesman for the Food Standards Agency said: "Sodium benzoate and
benzoic acid are approved for food use.

"Food additives are only permitted for use after a long and careful
process of evaluation. This includes rigorous assessments for safety,
undertaken by independent scientific committees.

"The FSA is aware of Professor Piper's paper, looking at the effect of
sodium benzoate on yeast cells as published in 1999. This paper has
already been considered by the agency and the relevance of this
research to humans is unclear."

A spokesman for Coca-Cola, which makes Fanta, said: "All our
ingredients have been approved as safe by the food regulatory
authorities in Britain and the EU, and that is where we take our
guidance from."

A spokesman for Britvic, which makes Diet Pepsi and Pepsi Max, said:
"We will only use ingredients that are thoroughly tested and approved
for use by the FSA in the UK and approved by the EU."


Thank you for your interesting post!

Perhaps you may be interested to know that this topic is discussed in
more detail he

http://longevity-science.blogspot.co...-to-aging.html


Kind regards,

-- Leonid Gavrilov, Ph.D.
Website: http://longevity-science.org/
Blog: http://longevity-science.blogspot.com/
My books: http://longevity-science.org/Books.html

Roman Bystrianyk wrote:
JENNY HOPE, "Chemical in soft drinks 'can wreck your child's DNA'",
Daily Mail, May 30, 2007,
Link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...LTH&ICL=TOPART

Parents were warned to limit their children's consumption of soft
drinks amid fears over the safety of a commonly-used preservative.

Research shows that E211 - found in drinks such as Fanta and Pepsi Max
- can switch off vital parts of DNA, causing serious damage to cells.

Laboratory tests suggest this could even result in degenerative
diseases such as Parkinson's and cirrhosis of the liver.

However, the Food Standards Agency and drinks manufacturers insisted
that the additive had been rigorously assessed before being approved
for use.

The research into E211 - or sodium benzoate - was carried out by Peter
Piper, a molecular biology expert at Sheffield University.

He found that it could damage an important area of DNA called
mitochondria.

Mitochondria is not area of DNA. Mitochondria are organelles that are
important in the generation of ATP which is use to power our cells. They
are called the mighty mitochondria and the powerhouses of the cell.

I point this out to show that the author of the report has no clue. You
have to be pretty ignorant of cell biology to make this mistake.

...

It is found naturally in cranberries, prunes, greengages, cinnamon,
ripe cloves and apples.

Oh crap. No more prunes to keep things moving. And no more greengages,
either.

rest of doodoo deleted

On May 30, 1:08 pm, Jeff wrote:
Roman Bystrianyk wrote:
JENNY HOPE, "Chemical in soft drinks 'can wreck your child's DNA'",
Daily Mail, May 30, 2007,
Link:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...ealthmain.html...

Parents were warned to limit their children's consumption of soft
drinks amid fears over the safety of a commonly-used preservative.

Research shows that E211 - found in drinks such as Fanta and Pepsi Max
- can switch off vital parts of DNA, causing serious damage to cells.

Laboratory tests suggest this could even result in degenerative
diseases such as Parkinson's and cirrhosis of the liver.

However, the Food Standards Agency and drinks manufacturers insisted
that the additive had been rigorously assessed before being approved
for use.

The research into E211 - or sodium benzoate - was carried out by Peter
Piper, a molecular biology expert at Sheffield University.

He found that it could damage an important area of DNA called
mitochondria.

Mitochondria is not area of DNA. Mitochondria are organelles that are
important in the generation of ATP which is use to power our cells. They
are called the mighty mitochondria and the powerhouses of the cell.

I point this out to show that the author of the report has no clue. You
have to be pretty ignorant of cell biology to make this mistake.


This may be of interest - from Wikipedia:

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is the DNA located in organelles called
mitochondria. Most other DNA present in eukaryotic organisms is found
in the nucleus. Nuclear and mitochondrial DNA are thought to be of
separate evolutionary origin, with the mtDNA being derived from the
circular genomes of the bacteria that were engulfed by the early
ancestors of today's eukaryotic cells. In the cells of current
organisms, the vast majority of the proteins present in the
mitochondria (numbering approximately 1500 different types in mammals)
are coded for by nuclear DNA, but the genes for some of them, if not
most, are thought to have originally been of bacterial origin, having
since been transferred to the eukaryotic nucleus during evolution. In
mammals, all mtDNA in a zygote is inherited solely from the mother,
and this holds true for most other organisms as well.

Currently, human mtDNA is present at 100-10,000 separate copies per
cell, with each circular molecule consisting of 16,569 base pairs with
37 genes, 13 proteins (polypeptides), 22 transfer RNA (tRNAs) and two
ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs).

Enjoy your day.
Roman