Dietary exposure assessment of Filipinos to sodium benzoate in water-based beverages

Sodium benzoate (SB) is a common preservative in food used to inhibit the growth of mold, yeast, and bacteria. One of the common sources of SB in the diet is processed beverages. However, excess intake of SB can be detrimental to health. Thus, the present study assessed the exposure of Filipinos to SB through the consumption of water-based beverages. The actual SB content of water-based beverages available in the Philippine market was determined using a validated reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method. A total of seventeen samples were collected from four districts in Metro Manila for SB analysis. The SB concentration data were then combined with the consumption data from the 2008 Philippine National Nutrition Survey (NNS) to derive a dietary exposure estimate of Filipinos to SB in beverages. The dietary exposure estimates were then compared with the upper bound ADI for SB set by the Joint FAO/ WHO Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) which is 20 mg.kg-1 day-1 . Results have shown that the analyzed sample beverages contained SB from 1 to 286 mg.kg-1 . Filipinos were found to be exposed to SB at levels below its ADI considering average (2 to 6% ADI) and high consumption (4 to 18% ADI) of commonly consumed water-based beverages. Children ages 1.0-5.9 years had the highest risk of exposure to SB. In general, exposure of Filipinos to SB through the consumption of water-based beverages does not constitute a significant health risk. However, to better validate the level of risk of children to SB, it is recommended that the scope of the dietary exposure assessment be extended to include other food groups known to contain SB and conduct a probabilistic approach to exposure assessment using the latest consumption data from the NNS.