Artificial citric acid. Worrying news.

jowitt.europe

Artificial citric acid. Worrying news.

Well, I have to admit. I did use it. When I ran out of lemons. After I read this short article in Natur&Heilen 12/19 (Nature&Healing) I will never ever use it again for cooking, baking… Only for cleaning. 

The article is in German. I attach it for those who read German. 

The worrying factor is that artificial citric acid dissolves tooth enamel - that's why sweet tooth children have poor teeth - including me - I loved bonbons in my childhood! Artificial citric acid is in sweet and sour drinks, cakes, cookies, lollipops. I can't imagine industrial cake manufacturers squeezing real lemon juice into cakes…

But teeth is not the only problem. Artificial citric acid is able to bind metals to itself. For example, aluminum. If it is in yogurt with fruit, and the lid is made of aluminum, then we are already getting a portion of aluminum into the brain. Since citric acid is a normal part of the body's cells, the body's defense system allows artificial citric acid into the brain and it can also be damaged - it may cause not only learning and memory disorders, but, in the long run can end up with Alzheimer’s or Parkinsons. 

On the European food market Citric acid is marked E330. Thus, it is quite easy to avoid when buying. 

It is produced industrially by fermenting sugar production waste molasses with Aspergillus niger mold. The article says that antibiotics are used in production in order to protect that mold from bacteria. Thus citric acid contains also traces of antibiotics. 

Whether natural citric acid has any similar effect - binds aluminium and transports it into brain? Destroys teeth? This I do not know. I hope not.

LaurieLovesLearning

@jowitt.europe I do know that even natural citric acid strips teeth of enamel. It certainly won't have any antibiotic content. Lemon (containing citric acid, of course) will react with metals, so I could see the same happening. I know that when I was very young, I made some lemon bars. I put them in an aluminum pan. It reacted. We had to throw out the whole thing. 😞

Citric acid is in many processed things, for sure.

If I am remembering correctly, there are now antibiotics used to "preserve" many cheeses and I believe it is a industry requirement for most now. I find this disturbing. The cheeses never used to "need" this. We loved one type of grated Parmesan that combined 3 types. It now has this in it, so we no longer buy it. Next time we are in, I will have to look at its ingredients once again.

dipat2005

This is really scary news. Thanks for sharing it and helping us learn about it @jowitt.europe .

jowitt.europe

@LaurieLovesLearning this is what I thought. There is not much difference between natural and artificial citric acid, but the quantity makes a difference and whether it has contact with aluminium. We stopped using aluminium foil. If one uses lemon juice, the quantity is very tiny in comparison to half a tea spoon of citric acid. There are other sour fruit for giving good taste to drinks and jams and cakes like black currants, sour cherries…

marjstratton

I do know that acidic foods strip the enamel from teeth. I also know that acidic foods can dissolve aluminum from cooking pots so not to cook in aluminum. I have avoided using aluminum around food and have avoided it for many years. I cringe when food is cooked in foil, but I know that many people line their pots to make for easy clean up.

jowitt.europe

@marjstratton well, people could line their pots with baking paper, instead of aluminum foil. It is like this, what we do not see, or do not immediately feel seems to be less dangerous. If we cut a finger and it is bleeding, it seems to be something very much worrying for some people, but, when aluminum lands in brain, we do not feel or see immediate effects, thus, it is as if less dangerous. The same with sugar and diabetes. One does not feel diabetes coming.

Cornelius

Citric acid is a type of carbohydrate and is treated like sugar in the body (e.g. broken down for energy).

Lemon juice is also good for cleaning metal water bottles!

heirlooms777

@jowitt.europe This is very interesting, and makes me wonder about all supplements, especially vitamins. @Marjory Wildcraft spoke of the importance of growing our own food, and I am looking forward to learning how to get the nutrition back into my garden ground so that we are eating all of these nutrients. I have a lot to learn! —Christina

Marjory Wildcraft

Wow, it just never ends does it? Everyday there are new reasons why growing your own food and medicine is so important. You can get vitamin c from so many sources...

jowitt.europe

https://community.thegrownetwork.com/discussion/comment/918635#Comment_918635

Exactly!

jowitt.europe

@heirlooms777 oh yes! I have a vegetable and fruit garden and we grow as much as we can. And what we cannot, I try to get from local farmers. But, of course, from time to time, one has to buy something from the shop and then it is so difficult to find “ clean “ products - without additional chemical substances. Well, growing one’s own food is protecting oneself.

water2world

@ jowitt.europe YIKES!! Thanks for posting!

vickeym

At the rate they are going everything we eat in the future will be artificial.

SuperC

Citrus products naturally strip tooth enamel thus scientific articles state to drink citrus beverages using a straw so there’s less contact with teeth. (GreenMedInfo)