Food Additive in Pizza, Pancakes Linked to Lower Sperm Counts

On March 7, 2024,¹ Dr. Naomi Wolf sounded an alarm about a food additive that contains a known neurotoxin, and which has demonstrated the ability to cause reproductive damage in mammals after being ingested. She found the additive in a box of pancake mix in her pantry, which sent her down a trail investigating research data.

What she found was scientific evidence that has not been well publicized in the mainstream media, including an ingredient that’s commonly found in commercially prepared food, including baked goods and processed cheeses. The ingredient is sodium aluminum phosphate, which the food industry claims to use as an emulsifying agent and stabilizer.

Innophos² manufactures the product and the safety data sheet states “The product meets the definition of a hazardous substance or preparation.” Under health hazards, it lists damage to the eyes and irritation to the skin and respiratory system. Those working around it must avoid breathing any dust and the product should be stored in a tightly closed container.

Wolf points out that this ingredient is found in many of the food products our children are eating, and the result of this exposure may have led to long-term oxidative stress, DNA damage and a negative impact on blood testosterone levels and sperm production.³

Food Additive May Trigger Oxidative Stress and DNA Damage

Wolf cited a peer-reviewed literature review paper,⁴ which summarized details including bioavailability and absorption time for the exposure route. As the author of the paper noted, controlled human studies using this known neurotoxin have not been done, so the literature review was limited to laboratory animal studies.

Additionally, the paper reviewed intended and unintended dietary aluminum exposure in the animals since there was considerable and variable aluminum content in animal diets, which creates uncertainty about how the mammals’ reproductive system would function in the absence of aluminum.

He did find that in experimental studies, males experienced a more significant effect to aluminum at lower levels than did females. The author proposed an adverse outcome pathway that included “oxidative stress as the molecular initiating event and increased malondialdehyde, DNA and spermatozoal damage and decreased blood testosterone and sperm count as subsequent key events.”⁵

Past studies have evaluated the bioavailability of aluminum from drinking water but until 2008,⁶ there was little evidence of aluminum bioavailability from consumption of sodium aluminum phosphate used as an emulsifying agent in food. Using an animal study, researchers found that both water and food contribute to the typical intake and the results suggested that aluminum intake from food contributed much more to systemic circulation than did drinking water.

According to Michigan State University, the European Food Safety Authority reviewed the safety of sodium aluminum phosphate in 2018 and determined it was “safe to consume in typical quantities.”⁷ “The Panel concluded that … sodium aluminum phosphate, acidic (E 541) are of no safety concern in the current authorized uses and use levels.”⁸

The European Food Safety Authority defined the typical quantity, authorized use level or maximum permissible level (MPL) as 400 milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg) of sodium aluminum phosphate. While that might sound like a lot, a 2005 evaluation of selected foods⁹ found the level of sodium aluminum phosphate could range from 1 to 27,000 mg/kg. Frozen pizza had up to 14 mg/kg, single serving packets of non-dairy creamer had up to 600 mg/kg.

The researchers found acidic sodium aluminum phosphate present in many food products, including pancakes, waffles, baking soda and frozen products. Many contained significant quantities. With the number of foods containing this agent and the number consumed per day, many are exposed to far more than 400 mg/kg from multiple sources and, importantly, aluminum bioaccumulates in the body.¹⁰

Aluminum Associated With Multiple System Issues

As Wolf notes, there are no good peer-reviewed human studies since when animal studies show that feeding aluminum damages unborn children, placentas, testes, blood testosterone and sperm, it’s unethical to conduct human trials. This conundrum protects the pharmaceutical industry since they can conclude there are insufficient human studies that demonstrate harm and support withdrawing the product from the market.

Wolf writes¹¹ that the effects of aluminum have aligned with the observed decline of male morphology, including a square jaw, muscle mass and libido in males born after 2000. She suggests that exposure to aluminum may also help explain increasing rates of depression, weight gain and disinterest in sex among young men, which highly correlate with lower levels of testosterone that in turn is associated with exposure to aluminum.

For years I’ve warned that aluminum is a serious neurotoxic hazard likely involved in the rising rates of autism and Alzheimer’s. A 2020 study¹² in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease strongly linked aluminum exposure to Alzheimer’s after examining the brain tissue of individuals diagnosed with familial Alzheimer’s and who had a specific gene mutation that was known to increase levels of amyloid beta, leading to early onset and more aggressive disease.¹³

Aluminum levels were compared in the donor tissue against those without neurological disease diagnosis and the researchers found striking differences between the two groups. Donors with the genetic mutation had universally high aluminum content. All samples had some level of aluminum, but 42% of the samples from those with familial Alzheimer’s had pathologically significant levels and the aluminum was primarily co-located with amyloid beta plaques.

As aluminum reaches the systemic circulation, it is distributed to target organs such as the nervous system, skeletal and hematopoietic system.¹⁴ Additionally, researchers have linked the bioaccumulation of aluminum to several cancers, including breast cancer and colorectal cancers,¹⁵ where it has been linked to a high rate of mutations.

Examination of colon cancer samples showed that aluminum-positive samples had a significant decrease in apoptosis and an increase in the expression of the anti-apoptotic molecule BCL-2.