Sodium benzoate in soft drinks?

[jamiepanic]

Hi everyone. I hope you are doing ok in this difficult time.

I wanted to know if anyone has ever had a reaction to sodium benzoate (also known as E211), which is a preservative found in a lot of processed foods. Sometimes I feel that my throat/chest is a bit irritated when I drink Diet Coke but then I'm not sure I'm just imagining it!

Would be interested to know if anyone has found something similar. I'm not talking about a severe allergic reaction but more like a mild trigger (though allergies are known).

[Poobah]

When my aspirin sensitivity was identified many years ago I was sent to the hospital dietitian. I was told to avoid all benzoate preservatives and gave up all carbonated drinks as they all contained a benzoate. I think 7-Up was benzoate free at that time (don't know about now) and so that was my go to treat. There were other things too, E numbers, certain foods and alcoholic drinks.

I was also put on dry powder inhalers. Made a huge difference.

[Hidden]

You may find this paper interesting.

nature.com/articles/nutd201646