UK NEWS
LIVER DISEASE WARNING OVER FIZZY DRINKS
Preservatives in drinks like Fanta can damage DNA cells
By Amy Fallon
PARENTS are being warned to limit how many fizzy drinks their children consume – because they contain a preservative that could be linked to liver disease, premature ageing and Parkinson’s disease.
The preservative E211, found in drinks such as Fanta and Pepsi Max, can damage DNA cells, according to research from scientists at Sheffield University.
Also known as sodium benzoate, the additive has already been linked to cancer, although it has been cleared as safe by the Government’s Food Standards Agency.
MPs are now calling for an immediate review after the findings by an expert in ageing, Professor Peter Piper.
Testing the impact of E211 on living yeast cells, he discovered it could be lethal to an important area of DNA.
He said: “These chemicals have the ability to cause severe damage to DNA in the mitochondria cells, to the point that they inactivate it – they knock it out altogether.
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My concern would be for the children who are consuming large amounts.
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Professor Peter Piper, expert in ageing
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“The mitochondria consumes the oxygen to give you energy and if you damage it then the cell starts to malfunction.
“A whole array of diseases are now being tied to damage to this DNA – cirrhosis of the liver, Parkinson’s and quite a lot of neuro-degenerative diseases – but, above all, the whole process of ageing.”
The professor said his main concern would be for the “children who are drinking large amounts”. He urged parents to think before buying fizzy drinks containing the chemical until they were declared safe by new tests.
Last night Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat chairman of Parliament’s all-party environment group, said: “A lot of chemicals were tested many years ago when standards were less rigorous.
“Professor Piper has studied this for some years. We should take 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 their children are not consuming too many of these drinks.”
But the fizzy drinks industry was fighting back yesterday.
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 Food Standards Agency.
“The FSA has assured us that the apparent concerns regarding sodium benzoate have already been investigated and it sees no reason to change its view that it is safe.”
He assured consumers that “they can continue to enjoy these drinks in full confidence that they are safe.”
The FSA was equally adamant that the chemical was safe.
An FSA spokesman said: “Professor Piper’s paper has already been considered, and its relevance to humans is unclear.
“All additives must be approved for use in foods by the European Commission.
“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 by independent scientific committees.
A spokesman for Coca-Cola, which makes Fanta, said: “We use preservatives in some of our products – particularly those that include fruit – to ensure that they remain unspoiled throughout their shelf life, whether people are able to store them in a fridge or not.
“All our ingredients have been approved as safe by the food regulatory authorities in Britain and the EU.”
A spokesman for Britvic, which makes Diet Pepsi and Pepsi Max, both of which contain E211, along with Pennine Spring flavoured water and some R Whites Lemonade, said: “We will only use ingredients that are thoroughly tested and approved for use by the Food Standards Agency in the UK and the EU.”
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HOW MANY MORE WAYS?
28.05.07, 11:28am
How many more ways will THEY dream up to knock us off, I wonder? I guess they do need a few standbys, what with cigarettes no longer being much of an option. Still with the fizzy drinks, Iraq and Afghanistan, drugs, binge drinking, AIDS, carnage on the roads, gun crime, cancer and heart attack caused by crap food, atmosphere and lifestyle, mad cow disease, 6,000 suicides a year, 20,000 old folk dead of the cold per annum, 5,000 a year gone from diseases picked up in hospital and the 30,000 flu-related passings every year, let's hope THEY won't be reaching for the phials of bubonic plague any time soon. Oh, and then there's the 36 Brits who've just got the nice variety of the Bird Flu. You know, the one that doesn't do you too much damage. Keep your fingers crossed for them and us that the scientists aren't kidding.
• Posted by: ironwand • Report Comment
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