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Do the Chemicals That Turn Soda Brown
Also Cause Cancer?
By Bryan Walsh @bryanrwalsh Feb. 17, 2011 Add a Comment
Soda is not good for you. The high-calorie, sugary drinks have been linked to
obesity and a host of other health problems. Soda can be particularly
dangerous to children, who can consume lots of calories quickly through colas
and other pop without feeling full. And then theres the dental toll it doesnt
take a peer-reviewed study to tell you that drinking lots of sweetened soda isnt
great for your teeth.
But soda isnt just water, corn syrup and carbonation a can of Coke or Pepsi also contains chemical additives for
coloring and flavoring. And according to one public health group, those additives could increase your chance of
getting cancer. (More on Time.com: Five New Rules for Good Health)
Thats the message from the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a Washington-based consumer
watchdog group. CSPI has petitioned the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban the caramel coloring that is
used in Coke, Pepsi and other sodas, on the grounds that the chemicals are carcinogenic.
CSPI says the artificial brown coloring which doesnt have much to do with actual caramel, despite the name is
made by reacting corn sugar with ammonia and sulfites under high pressures and at high temperatures. (Just like
Mom used to do it!) Those reactions produce the chemicals 2-methylimidazole and 4-methylimidazole chemicals
that government studies have found to cause lung, liver or thyroid cancer in lab rats or mice. Its a small but
significant risk, and its the kind of thing that government agencies should deal with, says Michael Jacobson, the
executive director of CSPI.
Is Jacobson right? A 2007 study by the National Toxicology Program (NTP) found clear evidence of carcinogenic
activity of 4-methylimidazole (4-MEI) in male and
female B6C3F1 mice based on increased incidences of alveolar/bronchiolar neoplasms, otherwise known as lung
tumors. The state of California has also concluded that 4-MEI is a carcinogen, and is in the process of crafting
regulations that may require food and drinks containing significant levels of the chemical to bear cancer warnings.
(More on Time.com: Ways to Improve Your Diet on the Cheap)
According to Californias regulators, a level of more than 16 micrograms per day would pose a significant risk
meaning it could result in at least one excess case of cancer per 100,000 exposed people. Given that there are
roughly 130 micrograms of 4-MI per 12-ounce can of soda and given that the average American drinks 14 ounces
of soda a day, with young men drinking far more that would mean that most of us would be at some risk.
As a result, CSPI has been petitioning the FDA to change the name or ban the use of the chemicals in soda and other
foods, or at least force manufacturers to put warning labels on their packaging. We think industry can solve this
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problem, says Jacobson. They dont want to put warning labels on their products. (More on Time.com: Fitness
Apps to Get You Off the Couch)
The soda industry, however, is fighting back. In a statement the American Beverage Association an industry
group that includes soda makers denied that 4-MEI posed any danger to human health:
4-MEI is not a threat to human health. There is no evidence that 4-MEI causes cancer in humans. No
health regulatory agency around the globe, including the Food and Drug Administration, has said that
4-MEI is a human carcinogen. This petition is nothing more than another attempt to scare consumers
by an advocacy group long-dedicated to attacking the food and beverage industry.
In California a number of industry groups including the American Beverage Association have filed a lawsuit
against state regulators to block efforts to list 4-MEI as a carcinogen:
The state agencys decision does not reflect sound science and failed to follow its own regulations.
Also, it did not take into account all the data available on the subject in this process.
For its part, the FDA says that it is reviewing CSPIs petition and examining the data on 2-MEI and 4-MEI. Douglas
Karas, a spokesman for the FDA, told me in an email:
FDA is currently assessing potential consumer exposure to 4-MEI and 2-MEI from consumption of the ingredient
caramel to determine if any appreciable risk exists from exposure to these impurities. FDAs assessment will
dictate what, if any, regulatory action needs to be taken. This assessment will be used to help respond to any
petition FDA receives regarding 4-MEI and 2-MEI in caramel.
But Karas also noted that the NTP studies were conducted with rodents, and that the exposure levels far exceeded
what human beings are likely to be exposed to in the course of their soda-drinking diet. (Im still waiting to hear
back from the folks at NTP.)
Its also true that neither 2-MEI nor 4-MEI are on the NTPs list of known carcinogens, despite the conclusion in
that 2007 report that there was clear evidence 4-MEI was connected to cancers in animals. Fred Guengerich, a
biochemist at Vanderbilt University, told ABC News that he was sanguine about potential risk posed by 2-MEI and
4-MEI:
Basically my advice would be just to relax I did some simple
math. If you look at the study in terms of what the
mice got, in terms of causing any effect, a human
being would have to drink more than 1,000 sodas a
day.
Jacobson himself admits that even if 2-MEI and 4-MEI slightly increase the chance of cancers, the far greater risk
posed by soda is for obesity which is itself connected to some cancers. The contaminants pose a small risk
compared to all that sugar, Jacobson says. Cancer or not, thats a good reason to avoid becoming a popaholic.
More on TIME.com:
The Top 10 Ridiculously Strong Beverages
Diet Soda May Lead to Stroke Risk? Really?
Obesity: Its Not Just Genetics
Bryan Walsh @bryanrwalsh
Bryan Walsh is a senior editor at TIME