The three essentials and what they have in common. By Thomas Herd
You’ve just woken up and hopped
in the shower and you think to yourself , “what keeps this shampoo thick?”. The
answer is more than likely sodium citrate. The citrus taste in the powerade you
downed after basketball or the morning after a long night also probably came
for the additive sodium citrate. When you get home from school and take out
some frozen food and cook it, the reason it’s still fresh has to do with the
actions of preservatives, like sodium citrate(5). Shampoo, sports drinks, and
ready to heat meals, what would we do without them.
Sodium citrate, referred to in
the IUPAC convention as trisodium;2-hydroxypropane-1,2,3-tricarboxylate, is
consumed by people everyday(7). This consumption is allowed because using all
the current information sodium citrate is considered to be completely safe. It
is not believed to a carcinogen. It is not believed to harm the environment. It
is also not believed to be bio accumulative(8). However, just like anything
else, if you have enough of it, it can kill you. The lethal dose that killed
50% of mice is 6mmol/kg and in rats is 5.5mmol/kg(5). However if you are taking
sodium citrate pills for stomach relief there can be some serious side effects.
These side effects range from swelling to seizures(1).
Sodium citrate is made from the
chemical processing of citric acid. When you mix sodium carbonate with citric
acid a reaction occurs that causes a fizzing reaction. When the fizzing ends
the solution is allowed to evaporate. What is left is sodium citrate(7).
You come across is everyday and
it is neither bad for you, or necessarily good for you. It is simply a chemical
making product making your everyday products possible.
References
(1) citric
acid and sodium citrate health encyclopedia norris cotton center. Retrieved on
Nov. 14, 2014 from http://cancer.dartmouth.edu/pf/health_encyclopedia/d03952a1
(2)Disappearing
Milk and Perfectly Melting Cheese. Retrieved on Nov.14, 2014 from http://doctorbrookschemistry.net/disappearingmilk/
(3)GRAS
substnaces (SCOGS database). Retrieved on Nov.14, 2014 from http://www.fda.gov/Food/IngredientsPackagingLabeling/GRAS/SCOGS/ucm260742.htm
(4)Lofty,W et
al (2006) Citric Acid Production by a Novel Aspergillus Niger Isolate: II.
Optimization of Process Parameters
Through Statistical Experimental Designs; Biosource Technology 98.(2007)
3470-3477
(5)O'Neil,
M.J., (Ed.). (2006). The Merck Index: An Encyclopedia of Chemicals, Drugs, and
Biologicals (14th ed.). NJ:
Merck
(6)Osol,
A. and J.E. Hoover, et al. (eds.). Remington's Pharmaceutical Sciences. 15th
ed. Easton, Pennsylvania: Mack Publishing
Co., 1975., p. 802
(7)Sodium
Citrate – PubChem. Retrieved on Nov.14, 2014 from http://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/6224?from=summary#section=Physical-Description
(8)Sodium
Citrate, Skin Deep Cosmetics Database Environemtal Working Group. Retrieved on
Nov. 17, 2014 from http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ingredient/706027/SODIUM_CITRATE/
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