Is Kool-Aid carcinogenic?

I am a grown-up and I like sweet, sugary drinks. Big whoop, wanna fight about it? I do get a bit bored of the standard response from other so-called adults though. They're not satisfied that the sugars will rot my teeth, they want to ruin my fun completely, which normally ends in the vague suggestion that they read an article somewhere, once, that said that product x was actually full of bad cancer-causing chemicals. *sigh* So, in order to claw back some dignity I thought I'd actually research this statement properly and have an answer ready for them. (I'm not up to much at the moment and I've got plenty of time on my hands, k?)

Its actually quite hard to find a proper answer. When you trawl the internet you come up with alot of hippy-dippy responses like that of Laura B:

"I cannot think of a single other food except maybe sugar cubes that would be worse for your health. Wait a minute, sugar cubes don't have all that red dye. If you want a better drink thats similer, try iced hibiscus tea (it's bright red and a little tangy) sweeten with splenda or whatever. Serve it just as you would Kool-aid and they might ask what flavor it is but I've never had kids turn it down or think it wasn't Kool Aid."

Oh Laura, yawn. Hibiscus tea? Your kids must be pretty thick if they are duped by that weak-ass trick. And, by the way, Laura B, you didn't actually answer the question. Listen up, Laura B, and prepare to get edu-ma-cated.

Lets put aside the sugar levels - obviously Kool-Aid has more sugar than water, FFS. Lets instead focus on the reported carcenogenic properties of certain ingredients.

First of all, anyone who suggests that any food substance contains lots of 'chemicals' and that this is a bad thing needs to learn* themselves some chemistry. Chemicals make up everything. Of course it contains chemicals. It IS chemicals. As are you.

Next: there are lots of naughty chemicals that are added to food stuffs to make them taste better/last longer etc. In some quantities these are bad, yes, and thank goodness we have a variety of organisations who test all our foodses and drinkses and legislate against the naughty companies who cut corners and kill off their customers in the process.

One of the beautiful things about America is personal freedom and choice. But with that comes responsibility, the idea being that you either listen to what the experts say, OR you research yourself and make an informed choice. The third option, of course, is to make stuff up and skip through life on your magical ignorance unicorn.

So, buckle up, chumps, here comes a bit of science. If you're not interested, here's a video of a kitten.

 

After a bit of research on the ol' internets I have discovered that, aside from the sugars, the ingredient with the biggest neon warning light is Sodium Benzoate. The issue is that Sodium Benzoate plus Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C) can, in SPECIFIC CIRCUMSTANCES combine to create a coarcinogenic substance, Benzene. So, the Consumers' Union decided to experiment by recreating these SPECIFIC CIRCUMSTANCES to test how much Benzene would be present in some of the USA's favourite soft drinks. They stored at least three samples of each drink under fluorescent light in a 90°F chamber for three to four weeks and found levels between 7 and 30 ppb (parts per billion) in SOME samples of FOUR products (none of which were Kool Aid).

They also tested drinks bought in stores (around New York from March to May 2006) and the highest amount they found was 6 ppb. 

Now then, lets put all this in perspective:

In the USA bottled water is allowed a maximum of 5 ppb of Benzene, but weirdly there appears to be no equivalent maximum for soft drinks. The US EPA calculates this 'safe' amount by estimating that an individual will drink two litres of water, from the same source, every day for 70 years. In certain states this drops to 1 ppb, the same as the EU. The World Health Organisation apparently allows 10 ppb before they start to freak out, although they recommend that you avoid Benzene completely if at all possible.

So, its at this point that we leave the people who listen to the experts to decide whether to continue in to the corner store and buy a bottle of Fanta that might, in certain circumstances contain more or less Benzene than the WHO or Federal Law suggests is acceptable. Good luck to you, boys and girls, and thank you for joining us thus far.

Those of you who reckon yourselves capable of arguing with the 'experts' (no judgement here - each to their own) ponder on these additional figures. Lets look at some figures comparing the amounts of Benzene we experience on a daily basis from a variety of other sources (in μg):

Table 1. Estimated exposure to benzene through various sources
（European Commission Joint Research Centre, 2005）

Source of exposure	Estimated exposure （μg/day）
Food products	0.2-3.1
Air: Inhalation exposure	220
Cigarette smoking （20 cigarettes）	7900

Seems like quite alot of inhaled Benzene compared to ingested, huh? Apparently the UK FSA experts think that you would need to drink 20 litres of a drink with 10 μg of Benzene to equal the amount of Benzene you inhale in a day.

Some other lovely stats courtesy of a variety** of lovely sources:

• People breathe in 220 μg of pollution-flavoured Benzene every day 
• Wikipedia says that "a motorist refilling a fuel tank for three minutes would inhale a further 32 μg ... and ... driving for one hour is 40 μg.
• Passive smoking delivers between a 50 and 63 μg hit each day (depending on where you live)
• Water is between 0.2 and 3.1 μg a day. Yum.

And if this isn't enough to calm your tits, you should also note that bananas, cheese, butter, eggs and avocados all contain more than 5ppb Benzene.

IN SUMMARY: OK, you can wake up again. Its the end of the lecture, and what have we learned? That Kool Aid is not as healthy as water, but the potentially carcinogenic chemical that sometimes occurs in it when it is stored incorrectly is also present in water, bananas and cheese.

Tits officially calmed.

* Yes, I'm fully fucking aware that this is not grammatically correct. Its called humour. If thats a bit much for you, you might want to start gently and work up to it. Perhaps with a Charlie Brown strip?
** New Zealand Food Safety Authority Benzene in flavoured drinks 
Food Standards Agency, March 2006, "Survey of Benzene in Soft Drinks"
European Commission Joint Research Centre, HEXPOC Human Exposure Characterization of chemical substances; quantification of exposure routes
Consumers Union article, http://consumersunion.org/news/benzene-in-soft-drinks-lawsuits-highlight-possible-presence-of-carcinogen-in-beverages/