Caution: Some soft drinks may seriously harm your health

[Angstrom]

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

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.

 

[Boodles]

You cant even fart these days without some scientific boffin claiming it being unsafe.

... to remove the sodium benzoate from food stuffs would be a nightmare, as its in every other food item.

Its just up to the public to be more concerned about what they consume. Moderate or do without.

 

[noxibox]

Reporting of scientific research, particularly this sort of research, is often distorted in the media. It isn't unusual to have public relations people write a press release which gets sent to newspapers where it is interpreted by journalists. Invariably both parties know nothing about science.

food additives, which have been linked to hyperactivity in children.

A definite statistically significant causative link or is this more correlation being touted as causation?

The food industry will say these compounds have been tested and they are complete safe

That's not a valid claim regardless. You can prove something is unsafe, but it would be difficult to prove something is completely safe.

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,"

Maybe children shouldn't be drinking large amounts of carbonated drinks anyway.

Do all carbonated drinks use the same preservative? If not, why not?

 

[Xarog]

A definite statistically significant causative link or is this more correlation being touted as causation?

Can't speak for the rest, but I know this one to be accurate, and being a "definate statistically significant causative link". They're talking about excitotoxins such as aspartame and monosodium glutamate (aka MSG). Aspartame is an artificial sweetner which is practically in every last diet product on the market. MSG is added to enhance the flavour of savoury products such as chips and boerewors; it's also been banned in many countries.

Without going too much into detail, glutamate and aspartate are used as neurotransmitters by the body, but when there's too much aspartate or glutamate in the bloodstream, nerve cells absorb too much of the neurotrasmitter and become over-excited which leads to cell-death in nerve cells.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excitotoxin

 

[bwana]

Without going too much into detail, glutamate and aspartate are used as neurotransmitters by the body, but when there's too much aspartate or glutamate in the bloodstream, nerve cells absorb too much of the neurotrasmitter and become over-excited which leads to cell-death in nerve cells.

When I stopped drinking diet pepsi I had massive headaches and nasty cotton mouth for several days while my body adjusted.

I'll stick to sugar!

 

[Jozi101]

When I stopped drinking diet pepsi I had massive headaches and nasty cotton mouth for several days while my body adjusted.

I'll stick to sugar!

Believe it or not, i've never had Pepsi in my life. I love Fanta though.