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Potassium bromate is an oxidizing agent, a water disinfection by-product (a product that results from using ozone as a disinfectant in drinking water), and a widely used food additive, mainly in the bread-making process1.
However, potassium bromate is also a Possible Human Carcinogen. YES! You read that right! In 1999, more than 20 years ago, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) considered potassium bromate a possible human carcinogen2. Another cancer-causing agent that can be found in your food.
Studies have concluded that potassium bromate is toxic to the kidneys (nephrotoxic) in humans, and it may induce DNA damage (genotoxicity)1,3, and contribute to hearing loss4. Potassium bromate has many other nefarious effects in experimental rats, including:
Besides being carcinogenic, and as if that was not enough, potassium bromate impacts the nutritional value of food, namely of bread. The use of potassium bromate can lead to the depletion of vitamins, such as A, B1 (thiamin), B2 (riboflavin), B3 (niacin) and E, and iron, both in the flour and dough11,12.
Several countries have banned potassium bromate as flour additive:
The US and Japan have not banned potassium bromate but set a maximum allowable intake in finished bakery products. The maximum permissible level set by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is 50 μg/g of flour (10 μg/g of flour in Japan). In California, food products containing potassium bromate must have a warning label13.
Symptoms of intoxication with potassium bromate can include13:
In Cameroon, a study evaluating symptoms of potassium-bromated toxicity experienced by bakers during the process of baking bread concluded that “all bakers have experienced symptoms of potassium bromate toxicity13” adding that “painful eyes, cough, diarrhea, and sore throat were the most recurrent symptoms of toxicity13.” They further stated that there is a “carcinogenic risk over prolonged regular consumption of all the bread types13,” and “an urgent need for regulatory authorities in Cameroon to monitor, control or prohibit the use of potassium bromate as a flour additive13.”
The values measured by this study exceeded the maximum acceptable limits established by the FDA in the US, however shouldn’t a chemical with such obvious health concerns be banned from the food we eat in the US altogether?
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