Which ingredients in soft drinks can cause cancer?

Question: Which ingredients in soft drinks can cause cancer?

Answer: Many soft drinks add sodium benzoate (an antimicrobial agent) and ascorbic acid (vitamin C) to their products. Under certain conditions of light and heat exposure, the benzoate and ascorbic acid can form benzene in soft drinks.

Exposure to large amounts of benzene is known to cause cancer; however, this exposure is usually from coal burning and gasoline emissions -- not from drinking soft drinks.

The FDA tested over 200 soft drinks and released a list of benzoate levels found in soft drinks, however that list is no longer available. The levels of benzene detected in most of the soft drinks was below five parts per billion, which is considered safe for humans.

_Sources:

_{U.S. Food and Drug Administration. "Benzene in Soft Drinks." Published April 2006.}

_{U.S. Food and Drug Administration. "Data on Benzene in Soft Drinks and Other Beverages." Updated July 2007.}

_{U.S. Food and Drug Administration. "Questions and Answers on the Occurrence of Benzene in Soft Drinks and Other Beverages." Updated 2007.}