Talk:Sodium benzoate/Archive 1

The cancer concernes

The cancer concernes are new for me and the mechanism seams not likely produce big amounts of benzene. The amount in air by gasoline is huge. The amount and the source for this should be given !--Stone 17:10, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

KOMOLPRASERT V, HARGRAVES WA, ARMSTRONG DJ DETERMINATION OF BENZENE RESIDUES IN RECYCLED POLYETHYLENE TEREPHTHALATE (PETE) BY DYNAMIC HEADSPACE GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY FOOD ADDITIVES AND CONTAMINANTS 11 (5): 605-614 SEP-OCT 1994

Suggests also a possible contamination by the PETE bottle itself!--Stone 12:15, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

Healthy or Not?

Not Healthy

Before my edit

"Health officials warn that excessive consumption can seriously damage your health."

OR

Healthy

"Some believe the limit is 0.1% because larger amounts are poisonous.  However, the International Programme on Chemical Safety found no adverse effects in humans at doses of 647-825 mg/kg of body weight per day.^[2-3]"

The latter has a citation, whereas the the former does not. I don't know which is correct. Expert Needed! JohnJohn 05:35, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

There are many people who have an alergic reaction to Sodium Benzoate (which usually manifests as a skin rashs or mouth swelling), but most doctors refuse to acknowledge a connection between the substance and the symptoms. As with most artificial compounds, the body isn't adapted to absorb them. The question shouldn't be "Healhy or not" but rather "unhealthy or benign".

And yet sodium benzoate makes ADHD worse...how do you say it's not absorbed if it does this?Evan Detwiler 23:09, 6 July 2008 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Wikimangreen13 (talk • contribs)

Carcinogenic?

I am having trouble reconciling these two statements:

... sodium and potassium benzoate may form benzene, a known carcinogen and Benzene is believed to be a possible cause of cancer.

so which is it? known carcinogen or possible carcinogen?—Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.207.245.135 (talk • contribs)

Known carcinogen Nunquam Dormio 12:11, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

I'd like to see Prof. Pipers peer review journal article in place of some news paper interviews.[1] -Diamonddavej 01:03, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

The health and safety section could use great improvement. I'd like a description of the method by which sodium benzoate acts on mitochondrial DNA, and if possible an actual citation (Piper's publications would be best) instead of 3 articles from the same newspaper, 2 of which are irrelevant to the statements made in the paragraph. Cedricshock 22:11, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

I also observe a problem with this statement: 'In combination with ascorbic acid (vitamin C, E300), sodium benzoate and potassium benzoate may form benzene[6], a known carcinogen.' - Is the suggestion that benzene is produced when all three are present, or that benzene is produced when ascorbic acid is added to either sodium benzoate or potassium benzoate? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.172.48.115 (talk • contribs)

Coke products

Coca-cola cherry zero does not contain sodium benzoate, but it does contain potassium benzoate.

Normal Coke does not contain either. AFAIK, all other Coco Cola corp. beverages aside from cherry zero and normal coke, as well as the vast majority of soft drinks from all manufactureres, contain Sodium Benzoate. Hence I don't drink them :p. Could this information merit inclusion somewhere?

85.210.173.127 01:43, 14 August 2007 (UTC)tarma_2002

Funny that Coca-Cola says they're searching for an alternative to Benzoates for Sprite, ..., when 7-UP only uses Citric Acid. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.83.24.57 (talk) 06:33, 3 June 2008 (UTC)

any chemists still drinking soda?

This is freaky stuff for a non-scientist. Affecting things at a general cellular level in a negative way sounds pretty bad. I'm looking at my "rip it" energy drink right now and don't have a mg listing for sodium benzoate, though it is listed above salt and sucralose in the ingredients listing along with 60mg of vitamin C in the "supplement facts" section. Anything toxic seems bad, but does anyone know if it is possible to consume enough to have negative effects? Are the UK Register articles just being sensationalistic? I guess I can look up benzene and marvel at all the other trace amounts I am ingesting from other sources.

Anonymous one, the recent news was not about the benzene, but about the benzoate directly. Since the research was on yeast, presumably in a petri dish, we need information on the pharmakinetics of the dose sizes from sodas to put this in perspective. These will be far lower than the therapeutic levels of benzoate. The dose makes the poison, it may be at the low levels of exposure we even have a hormesis benefit. However, given the play that this report has gotten, I think the researchers and the newspaper employees should have their stock transactions checked, just in case.--Africangenesis 23:32, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

I came to this page after being told by a relative that I should stop drinking soda because it would destroy my DNA. Naturally I'm skeptical. There's been an increase of news articles with dubious information popping up lately, and I've yet to find Piper's actual publication with this information. Does anyone have a link to the article with this research, or at least a title/journal so I can search for it on my own? Jlbrightbill 03:01, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

Please forgive me as I don't know the correct Wikipedia discussion protocol, but please think carefully before including the 'sodium benzoate damages cell mitochondria' in the article. The news story is based not on the science but a press release by Professor Piper made 8 years after his original research - research that showed sodium benzoate killed yeast cells - exactly what a preservative is supposed to do. The results are not applicable to humans. Here is the academic reference - Piper, P.W. (1999) Yeast superoxide dismutase mutants reveal a potent in vivo prooxidant action of weak organic acid food preservatives Free Radic. Biol. Med. 27, 1219-1227. I have an e-copy if anyone wants it. Contact me through my website, sciencepunk.com, where you can also read a fuller debunking of this story. --SciencePunk

Cirrhosis

I moved the comment, "It is also claimed to cause Cirrhosis of the Liver", here because it is vague and unreferenced. Also, the placement of the statement makes it completely unclear whether it is referring to sodium benzoate or to benzene. If this statement can be sourced from the scientific literature, it would be good to put it back in. Deli nk 13:33, 26 July 2007 (UTC)

organically-grown cranberries and prunes can conceivably contain levels exceeding this limit???

What the heck kind of statement is that? Where's the citation? Conceived by whom?--71.134.42.129 (talk) 23:51, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

Here you go: Professor Sir Colin Berry, Emeritus Professor of Pathology responds: Sodium benzoate is found naturally in cranberries, prunes, greengages, cinnamon, ripe cloves, and apples. Its concentration when used as a preservative is limited by the FDA in the U.S. to 0.1% by weight in drinks but it is interesting to note that organically-grown cranberries and prunes can contain levels exceeding this limit. The International Programme on Chemical Safety found no adverse effects in humans at doses of 647-825 mg/kg of body weight per day so the safety margin is vast. via: http://www.senseaboutscience.org.uk/index.php/site/about/153 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.35.246.47 (talk) 18:05, 20 July 2008 (UTC)

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"Only" 75%

"The taste of sodium benzoate can be detected by only 75 percent of the population". Should the "only" be removed? "Only" implies that 75% is a small portion of the population. Or was it supposed to say 0.75%?

Taste

Removed the section which stated "For those who can taste the chemical, it tends to be perceived as sweet, sour, salty, or sometimes bitter."

This not only has no references, it is completely useless. That is every flavor except umami and does not enrich the article in any way. It is the equivalent to describing the color of something as "red, or blue, or green, or yellow" and continuing to list every color.--Elysianfields (talk) 15:15, 3 November 2008 (UTC)