The influence of sodium benzoate on the nutrition and health of man.

  • United States. Department of Agriculture. Referee Board of Consulting Scientific Experts.
Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The influence of sodium benzoate on the nutrition and health of man. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    have been carried out; one at the Medical School of Northwestern University in Chicago, under the charge of Prof. John H. Long, of that institution; a second at the private laboratory of Prof. Christian A. llerter, of Columbia University, New York Citj^; and the third at the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University, in charge of Prof. Russell H. Chittenden. The same general ])lan of procedure was followed in all tliree experi- ments. A certain number of healthy young men were selected as sub- jects, and during a period of four months these men, under definite conditions of diet, etc., with and without sodium benzoate, were sub- jected to thorough clinical and medical observation, while the daily food and the excretions were carefull}^ analyzed, and otherwise studied, and comparison made of the clinical, chemical, l)acteriological, and other data collected. (For details see the individual reports.) In tliis manner material has been brought together which makes possi- ble conclusions regarding the effect of small and large doses of sodium benzoate upon the human system. In fixing upon the amount of sodium benzoate that should con- stitute a ''small dose we have adopted 0.3 gram of the salt per day. Manufacturers of food products which in their view require the use of a preservative are in general content with 0.1 per cent of sodium benzoate. Tliis would mean that in the eating of such a preserved food the consumer would need to* take 300 grams per day, or nearly two-thirds of a pound, of preserved food to ingest an amount of benzoate equal to our minimal daily dosage. Looked at from this point of view, our dosage of 0.3 gram per da}^ seemed a fair amount for a small dose, one that would clearly suffice to show any effect that small doses of the salt might exert, especially if continued for a considerable length of time. In all these three experiments tliis daily dosage was continued for a period of about two months. Under large dose was included quantities of sodium benzoate ranging from 0.6 gram to 4 grams per day. Such a daily dosage was con- tinued for a period of one month. In a few instances somewhat larger doses were employed. As the amount and character of the daily diet exert a well-known influence upon many of the metabohc or nutritive changes of the body, as well as upon the bacterial flora of the intestines, attention is called to the fact that the three investigations differed from each other in the amount of i)rotein food consumed daily, thereby intro-