Researchers explore an unexpected path to support brain health in early Alzheimer’s disease.
A food preservative used in sodas and thousands of other products may help improve memory and thinking skills in people with Alzheimer’s disease, raising the possibility that an inexpensive household chemical could help combat the nation’s sixth-leading cause of death.
A recent analysis of clinical trial data from 149 people with mild Alzheimer’s disease found that taking sodium benzoate daily for 24 weeks was linked to better thinking skills and lower levels of abnormal proteins in the blood—one of the disease’s hallmarks.
What the Study Found
Current Alzheimer’s treatments are costly and can come with serious side effects, so researchers tested whether sodium benzoate—a pantry preservative—might do more than fight spoilage.
Participants aged 50 to 90 were randomly assigned to receive either a placebo or sodium benzoate at doses of 500, 750, or 1,000 milligrams daily for 24 weeks.
The higher doses produced the most significant results: those taking 750 or 1,000 milligrams daily showed improved cognitive functions—including orientation, word finding, and word recall—along with reduced levels of amyloid beta proteins in their blood. The greatest improvements were seen in participants with higher baseline levels of the more harmful form of amyloid beta.
“You can think of beta amyloid as molecular ‘debris’ that piles up and jams the brain’s wiring system,” Dr. Thomas Holland, a clinician-researcher at the Rush Institute for Healthy Aging who wasn’t involved in the study, told The Epoch Times. “Over time, this buildup contributes to memory loss and cognitive decline.”
Holland said the findings suggest sodium benzoate may have supported cognition by altering how the body manages amyloid beta—possibly by clearing more of it or producing less. However, the researchers noted that the exact mechanism remains unknown.
How It Might Work
Sodium benzoate is a synthetic preservative widely used in acidic foods and drinks to prevent spoilage. It’s classified as Generally Recognized as Safe, which means it’s considered safe as long as it’s used as intended.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) permits sodium benzoate in foods and beverages at levels up to 0.1 percent. Unlike the FDA’s product-based cap, the World Health Organization (WHO) sets the acceptable daily intake level for sodium benzoate at 0 to 20 milligrams per kilogram of body weight, providing guidance on how much a person can safely take each day over a lifetime. For context, an adult weighing about 150 pounds could safely ingest up to roughly 1,300 milligrams per day under the WHO standard.
The preservative does have some controversies. When combined with vitamin C, it can form benzene—a known carcinogen— under certain conditions. Some studies have linked it to hyperactivity in children and possible cellular dysfunction.
