I was surprised to see so many antioxidant juices containing Sodium Benzoate, including MonaVie, Xango and Ageless Xtra.
EIRO SuperAntioxidant is free of sodium benzoate and is clinically proven to raise antioxidant levels in the bloodstream. Learn more here: EIRO Antioxidant Product
If you want additional scientific details about EIRO Research check out this site.
Even the Coca Cola company has stopped using Sodium Benzoate in it’s products.
Here are the three big reasons for concern:
Sodium Benzoate with Vitamin C creates a carcinogen…
"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."
Sodium Benzoate has been shown to damage cells leading to aging…
"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."
Sodium Benzoate when ingested with certain food coloring leads to hyperactivity in children…
"A study by researchers at the University of Southampton has shown evidence of increased levels of hyperactivity in young children consuming mixtures of some artificial food colors and the preservative sodium benzoate.
The possibility of food colors and preservatives affecting children’s behavior has long been an unresolved question for parents. This significant new research by a team from the University of Southampton’s Schools of Psychology and Medicine provides a clear demonstration that changes in behavior can be detected in three-year-old and eight-year-old children."
Why would a company talk about having a healthy drink when their products contain unhealthy ingredients. Are people that gullible or desperate. I don’t have a horse in this race but this should be a huge red flag for anyone.
Hey bill, do you go to organic food stores and buy EVERY single thing organic? your bread? your milk? your fruits and vegetables?? do you? well if you don’t then you could potentially get cancer.. when you go outside of your house do you wear a oxygen mask?? why not? did you know that the air you breath can potentially give you cancer because it’s polluted??? Please read this article before you get all antsy….
http://www.facebook.com/#!/note.php?note_id=122937015864&id=71960673871
Bill…these products are scientifically formulated so there is obviously a benefit to adding a small amount of preservatives. In the case of MonaVie, what you have is wild fruits and berries in a bottle. There is no more favorite spot for mold than on fruit sitting in dark places. And if the product wasn’t healthy, people wouldn’t be seeing the amazing results they are seeing and generating billions in sales for MonaVie. Ty can bash the competition all he wants because one doesn’t reach the success level of a Brig Hart or MonaVie by doing so.
Notice how they say “excessive use” in the video? What constitutes excessive? And does the minimal amount offset the health benefits of the juice? Ty is reaching here, isn’t he?
From the MV site:
Why does MonaVie use preservatives in its
products?
Please understand that it is with the safety of our
consumers in mind that we use preservatives.
MonaVie has no control over how the product is
used and stored once it arrives at its destination.
Because of this, and although we advise against
it, we understand that the product may not be kept
or stored in optimal conditions. It is in these less than-
satisfactory conditions that potentially harmful
bacteria can grow. This is why the preservatives are
used, to prevent such microbial growth from taking
place.
Sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate are approved
preservatives by the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA). They are very safe and have
been used in food products for over a century. These
preservatives help maintain the product’s freshness
and nutritional content.
Just an FYI: Coke has pulled Sodium Benzoate from it’s products. That’s COCA COLA. Coke won’t use Sodium Benzoate in any of their products.
Why?
Sodium Benzoate with Vitamin C creates a carcinogen…
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.
Sodium Benzoate has been show to damage cells leading to aging…
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.
Sodium Benzoate when ingested with certain food coloring leads to hyperactivity in children…
A study by researchers at the University of Southampton has shown evidence of increased levels of hyperactivity in young children consuming mixtures of some artificial food colors and the preservative sodium benzoate.
The possibility of food colors and preservatives affecting children’s behavior has long been an unresolved question for parents. This significant new research by a team from the University of Southampton’s Schools of Psychology and Medicine provides a clear demonstration that changes in behavior can be detected in three-year-old and eight-year-old children.
Sodium benzoate interacts with vitamin C to form benzene; however, benzene is only a concern if the levels of benzene are very high. MonaVie repeatedly tests its products to check for benzene. There are acceptable levels of benzene described as “parts per billion” and MonaVie’s products are well within the acceptable levels of benzene as outlined by the FDA and World Health Organization (WHO).
The FDA has set a standard for benzene, which naturally occurs in water, as 5 parts per billion (ppb). To help put this into perspective, this is comparable to 5 drops of benzene found in 4000 gallons of water. Results from MonaVie tests finds our products are WELL below 5 ppb. MonaVie consistently tests below 3 ppb. The possible negative effects of yeasts and molds growing in MonaVie are far greater than extremely low levels of benzene.
The Real Risk of Benzene
“There have been reports concerning benzene in soft drinks. At issue is the reaction of sodium benzoate, a preservative, with vitamin C, which is present in many beverages. It seems clear that in the presence of trace amounts of metals which catalyze the reaction, vitamin C produces free radicals that can convert benzoate into benzene. That’s why some beverages have been found to contain as much as 50 ppb of benzene, ten times what is allowed in drinking water. But when we make the calculation, we find that a liter of such a drink contains 50 micrograms of benzene, which means that even at an impossible consumption rate of 120 liters a day, we would be below the amount that has no effect in occupational workers.” (Source: The Soft Drink Industry)
Of course, soft drinks are not our only exposure to benzene. When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration carried out a survey of seventy foods over five years, benzene was found in every item except for American cheese and vanilla ice cream. A hamburger, for example, has 4 micrograms, but this is only one tenth of the amount of benzene in the smoke inhaled from a cigarette. A banana can harbor up to 20 micrograms. Still, when all exposures are added up, we are well below the levels that have been linked with leukemia.
Is the risk zero? No. In some unlucky person a trace of benzene may start a cascade of events that lead to cancer. Therefore, all efforts should be made to minimize exposure to carcinogens, particularly in the workplace – but traces of benzene in soft drinks are not a big deal. We should worry about the benzene we’re inhaling when we’re pumping gas. That’s about 20 micrograms – but even if you let the gas station attendant pump your gas, you’ll be breathing in about 20 – 30 micrograms per hour just from the exhaust of the cars in front of you. In comparison, the average total daily intake from diet is about 5 micrograms.
In addition it should be noted that sodium benzoate is an offshoot of benzoic acid which occurs naturally in many fruits and vegetables, including cranberries (which are present in MonaVie blends as an excellent source of antioxidants).
Steve and Ty,
Given all of these issues you two listed, doesn’t it make sense to use a product without this ingredient. I mean, if Coke took it out that speaks volumes. Is their a health-related product without it or not? If so, I would be curious. Thank you to both of you for your feedback.
Reading Steve and Ty going back and forth, as a health professional, I had to comment. Fortunately/unfortunately they are both right. For the same reason Monavie has chosen to add sodium benzoate to its product is the same reason virtually every food product manufacturer has done the same. As consumers we are exposed to so much sodium benzoate that it is the cumulative exposures that bring us close to whatever scientists define as excessive amounts. There are so many food choices where we cannot avoid this preservative, but a functional beverage is one choice where we can
I guess my point is why risk it? EIRO contains no preservatives, is clinically proven to increase anitoxidant levels in the bloodstream and has an unopened shelf life of 18 months because of a proprietary processing method.
Ty,
Can you send me a sample of the Eiro product. Given the choice between preservatives or not I would obvioulsy opt for not. I will send you my address offline. Thank yuou.
Hi Bill. You can request a sample and magazine through this link:
http://ty.ieiro.com/mag_req.php
And my point is this: if you want to post information like this, why not qualify it with an opposing argument as well? Without my clarification, this post makes it sound like MonaVie, Xango and Ageless Xtra are killing people. It sure paints Eiro in a good light, obviously, but doesn’t it really exaggerate the issue a bit and make it appear that there is a much bigger problem? How convenient.
MonaVie, Xango and Agless Xtra have Sodium Benzoate in them. EIRO does not. that seems about as clear as possible…
I posted the links to the research. You can decide which is better for you.
Steve, you are being silly. Ty never said anything like that about your product. He simply stated a fact. There is no reason to be so defensive.
Does MonaVie test every bottle for benzene? That would be pretty cool if it were true. Steve, do you know how they do that?
The reason I ask is because I know a thing or two about bottling and from what I understand, MonaVie is bottled at the manufacturer, sealed, and then shipped to MonaVie for distribution in the sealed packages.
If MonaVie checked every bottle, they’d have to open every box and every bottle and that would ruin their product.
I don’t know how much benzene is bad for me, but if I have a choice between zero and some, I’ll choose zero.
If MonaVie tells me that benzene is safe, I believe them. They stand on Godly principles.
Did MonaVie tell you that Benzene is safe?
Not being Silly Mark, just pointing out the fact that Ty’s post really becomes irrelevant now that we know that pretty much everything we eat contains sodium benzoate, the levels found in these juices are small, and that it’s actually an offshoot of benzoic acid which occurs naturally in many fruits and vegetables, including cranberries. So Eiro doesn’t contain any, big deal! If you aren’t going to drink MonaVie or any other juice for that matter because it contains sodium benzoate and you are concerned about it’s side-effects, you had better adjust your diets! Saying that I’m going to choose to drink Eiro because it doesn’t contain sodium benzoate is like going to McDonalds and ordering 2 Big Macs, 2 large fries and a DIET Coke…because I’m watching my calories!! Ridiculous.
Heh Steve, And your McDonalds Diet Coke won’t contain Sodium Benzoate, but your MonaVie health drink does. Hmmmmm.
Thank, Ty, for a wonderfully informative blog, once again! Eiro is a great company. I am with Zrii. And both products do not contain this terrible ingredient. As a very health concious individual, learning of this additive has really turned me off to products that list it as an ingredient, and to be educated on the products that don’t have it listed.
I find it mildly entertaining that distributors of the affected companies are defending the use of a questionable compound known to be linked to leukemia. I do hope that all of the products are safe all of the time. And I do feel a little better about my cheat coke once a year!
all of you are very silly. the odds of any of these drinks hurting you is 0 to none! with all the crap in all of our food and water the health benifits we get from these drinks beats 99% of what you eat everyday ,read the label on all the food you eat. or look at how it is grown and/or processed. check out food matters on youtube.com . again this whole conversation is a joke campared to what is going on in the food world today! sorry it is true.