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Some soft drinks may seriously harm your health

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Caution: Some soft drinks may seriously harm your health
Expert links additive to cell damage
By Martin Hickman, Consumer Affairs Correspondent
Published: 27 May 2007

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.
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Source: http://news.independent.co.uk/health/article2586652.ece

And I thought soda pop just made people fat.
 
L

Lune TNS

I stay far away from diet soda's. It's better to eat a little more sugar than to end up with cancer.
 
FallenBuddha

FallenBuddha

Chat Mod
Veteran
i stay away from soda as much as possible, its like drinking battery acid on the teeth. the only carbonated beverage i drink is beer which has a far more neutral pH as opposed to soda which is fortified with phosphoric acid.

peace -fb
 
miss nycdf

miss nycdf

Member
arg... why is it they get away with continuously putting this crap in things sold for mass consumption?

same goes for all hygeinic/beauty products like soaps and shampoos on the market with harmful, carcinogenic chemicals (and these products aren't even regulated by anything like the FDA does with food, which makes it even scarier!) But that's a whole different topic..

I'm trying to drink less diet soda lately, more water and tea!
 
M

Magi101

Member
Quit drinking soda after i broke my fifth metatarsal training on the heavy bag, i heard some were that theres a substance in soda which weakens your bones.
 
G

Guest

yeah i have read that the sodium bicarbonate can make women more prone to osteoporosis...i used to drink a lot of pop, then in college i switched to diet...i honestly have not bought pop in a long time...as far as mixers for drinks i usually like cranberry juice, tonic water or red bull...i've read the red bull is bad for u with vodka but i like it occasionally...

actually if i drink a regular can of coke now i get kind of sick b/c of the sugar, since i don't drink it at all...i drank two cans of dr. pepper at a friend's house a couple months ago and got all jittery and felt like shit...i like to drink vitamin water and actually i like to drink just room temperature water from the brita...i much prefer chocolate milk and a glass of water to drinking pop if i'm just at home watching tv...
 
Nikijad4210

Nikijad4210

Member
Veteran
Nugalicious said:
i drank two cans of dr. pepper at a friend's house a couple months ago and got all jittery and felt like shit...i like to drink vitamin water and actually i like to drink just room temperature water from the brita...i much prefer chocolate milk and a glass of water to drinking pop if i'm just at home watching tv...
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Caffeine, man, not sugar. If sugar made you jittery, all the damn sugar in chocolate milk would have done you in, too. There's a lot more packed into chocolate milk than most people think.
 
G

Guest

the caffeine was an issue as well...i quit drinking coffee about 7 years ago as well and won't ever drink it again...i used to drink a ton of it and when i quit i was really sick for almost a week, i got awful headaches and felt just horrible...

the reason the sugar in the pop is different is b/c its high fructose corn syrup...metabolically speaking it is 'hotter' than lactose...the chocolate milk i drink is reduced fat and not much different in calories than regular milk...i like regular milk as well but have been drinking more chocolate milk after i read a study in which it helped people lose weight...
 
AriesXX

AriesXX

Member
How about Red Bull, or Rockstar? I drink an energy drink almost every morning for breakfast, have for about the last few years. I'm switching to coffee, it's bad too, but at least it won't rot my kidneys and turn my liver neon green. I think my body actually needs the high acid though, because when I don't have one of these, I crave citric acid really badly. Sort of like how old folks who drink a lot of baking soda get hooked b/c their stomach ups acid production.
 
T

treble

Active member
it makes me squirm to read that. I was a heavy user of one of those brands for about 15 years. I had very serious health problems which I attribute mostly to a sugar substitute in that brand and in the gum I also used heavily. I stopped both several years ago and I am a serious vocal complainer around people who buy or use that additive...

now I am more concerned after recovering I might be facing more... I thought mj was the cause of my inceasing inability to string a sentence together these days.

I like the line where they say we dont care if its safe, not our problem....and of course the food safety people are totally corrupted

thanks for getting that out there. one more reason to not trust the multi's

treb
 
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guest

Nugalicious said:
the reason the sugar in the pop is different is b/c its high fructose corn syrup...metabolically speaking it is 'hotter' than lactose...the chocolate milk i drink is reduced fat and not much different in calories than regular milk...i like regular milk as well but have been drinking more chocolate milk after i read a study in which it helped people lose weight...
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I've been watching the hfcs (high fructose corn syrup) for several months now. I'm glad to see at least one person here that knows it is different than sugar.

The human body does not and can not digest hfcs.

hfcs attacks the liver and then almost every other major organ.

When they come up with a new drug for diabietes, they need rats to test it out with. These rats need to have diabietes. To CAUSE diabietes in these rats they just feed them hfcs. It is a guarantee to cause the rats to get type II diabietes.

I can't understand how it can be allowed in our foods.

I've been able to completely go off my glucophage and my blood sugar has been completely normal since I've quit hfcs. I've been off my diabietes medication for more than a month now.

High Furctose Corn Syrup is a deadly poison.

BTW I've only been able to find one brand of chocolate milk that used sugar and not hfcs.
 
G

Guest

wow PB nice post...what brand of milk is that? i totally hate the shit as well...my family is predisposed to diabetes, i'm not yet 30 so i am focused on staying fit and cutting back shit food like hcfs and this benzoate crap...i don't eat any trans fats anymore, i think for me personally that was the biggest difference, when i quit eating that shit...now the fast food places don't use it anymore and it is noticeable to me...i always used to go to europe and eat fast food and i would like lose weight and feel fine over there and then i'd come back here and the fast food totally grossed me out and i didn't eat it for like 5 years...i go to mc d's now and i like their yogurt parfait (awesome while baked), i like their chicken and i admit to having weakness for the $1 double cheeseburger...i only have about two a month tho so i think a couple extra helpings of broccoli here and there make it ok...lol...
 
wikidcalibudgrl

wikidcalibudgrl

Active member
that is some scarey shit... I've been told by a herbalist lady I know, when discussing my son's hyperactive behavior, that to cut out artificial flavors and colors, HFC's along with as much sugar as possible and Include valarian (sp?) root would greatly improve his situation. His hyperness isn't all that bad, even his Dr. who's seen him since he was born doesn't think he's a candidate for the ADD or ADHD med's. ,,she tends to look at me like I'm crazy for a sec when I even bring it up. I have my quirks about that too(ADD & ADHD),, but that's another subject...
 
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Guest

peanutbutter said:
I've been watching the hfcs (high fructose corn syrup) for several months now. I'm glad to see at least one person here that knows it is different than sugar.

The human body does not and can not digest hfcs.

hfcs attacks the liver and then almost every other major organ.

When they come up with a new drug for diabietes, they need rats to test it out with. These rats need to have diabietes. To CAUSE diabietes in these rats they just feed them hfcs. It is a guarantee to cause the rats to get type II diabietes.

I can't understand how it can be allowed in our foods.

I've been able to completely go off my glucophage and my blood sugar has been completely normal since I've quit hfcs. I've been off my diabietes medication for more than a month now.

High Furctose Corn Syrup is a deadly poison.

BTW I've only been able to find one brand of chocolate milk that used sugar and not hfcs.
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This is great info for everyone to know if they want to have a productive life after their 50(if you make it that far). In my part of the world there's a type 2 diabetes epidemic due to diet and lifestyle. I know for a fact because my dad is a Neurologist and his patients with type 2 are mostly obese and dying a slow greusome death. Blindness, amputations and organ failure are just some of the side effects of this easily preventable disease. Years of HFCS abuse are one of the main factors along with other unhealthy foods that are the equivalent of slowly poisoning your body and living your later years in a literal state of suffering and torture for you and your loved ones. The sad thing is that HFCS is in almost everything, from gatorade to cheap bread. Raising healthy kids today is alomst impossible.
 
G

guest

PhenoMenal said:
just wanted to say that I like soft drinks
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I LOVE them also!!

I crave them .. which started to make me wonder .. the craving, that is.
 
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