Digging up Dirt on Sodium Benzoate
If you think there’s nothing scarier than food that’s growing a shaggy carpet of mold, then how do you feel about food that is inhospitable to microbial life? A prime example would be McDonald’s french fries, as seen on the DVD extra cuts from the movie “Supersize Me” or in this copycat experiment. Reportedly, Ronald McDonald’s fries can go weeks without fostering microflora. Then there’s the container of store-bought hummus that survived in my refrigerator unscathed for nearly two years, even weathering multiple long duration power outages. I never threw it out because it never went noticeably bad, but neither did I have the nerve to sample it. I didn’t even dare stir it with a spoon before documenting it. Oh, trust me, it’s gone now. But it led me to wonder exactly how healthy preservatives are.
My hummus was rendered inhospitable to simple life forms by sodium benzoate (less than 0.1% according to the label). After a little research, I think even I can agree that sodium benzoate is probably not disruptive to the human body in the quantities likely to be consumed in food products, even though it does cause toxicity in cats in relatively small amounts. At the most, a 2004 study showed that sodium benzoate, along with artificial colorings, may contribute to behavioral problems in children. According to Dr. Alan Greene, these results were powerful enough to suggest that simple avoidance of chemical additives in foods can be as alleviating for children suffering from ADHD as commonly prescribed drugs.
More note-worthy is the brewing scandal over the use of sodium benzoate in beverages. Apparently when sodium benzoate combines with ascorbic acid, a frequent combination in fruit juices and tart carbonated beverages, benzene — a known carcinogen — may form. Benzene levels in some drinks exceed the highest levels permissible in drinking water, as set by the World Health Organization, by as much as five times.
The lessons I take away from all this are that even food additives that are generally recognized as safe (GRAS) can present health risks in specific circumstances, and that maybe I should clean my fridge out more thoroughly in the future.
I don’t know that much about sodium benzoate, although as a chemist I can confirm, yes benzene is a carcinogen.
Interesting theory that behavior problems in childeren may be due to food additives. The truth is, in the quest for market share, more efficiency, better profits…food and the farming of food has gotten pretty out of control. My wife recently found out that she’s not supposed to be eating partially hydrogenated oils (arthritis issues). Walk into a safeway and see how many things you can find that don’t have hydrogenated oils. Once I started thinking about it I decided to try avoiding High Fructose Corn Syrup (some believe there is a link between HFCS and obesity/diabetes). Now, go to your local grocer, with a list of what you usually buy, and don’t by things with either of these ingredients in them. How empty is your cart? That doesn’t even get into preservatives or colorings. I have no problem with junk food or convienence now and again, but when did we turn the corner and become so far removed from the original food source?
Processed food was, and is, a great idea. It helps us get foods out of season or region, it helps get dinner on the table in a pinch, but is it really supposed to be an every day thing? Refined grains, modified sugars and oils, genetically modified foods…they all will rob the original food of nutrients…therefore robbing us of nutrition. And like the increase in obesity, diabetes, and cancer…what will we see when we’re 20 or 30 years into a steady diet of genetically modified foods?
I digress. Would be nice though to see the trend swing the other way.
As for the hummus…I’m not sure how much sodium benzoate is added, but lemon and garlic (ingredients in traditional hummus) are pretty good preservatives too.
As for the fries…the last time I stopped at the golden arches (had to, no better option) I didn’t order fries…despite drooling at the thought of them.