Root Beer, Sassafras and Cancer
Added 2023-11-18 16:19:07 +0000 UTCRoot beer has a long history; one of the key ingredients was sassafras, which contained safrole. The chemical safrole was found to be carcinogenic in the 1960s and was banned from commercial use. Many people seem not to believe this, based on erroneous posting on Internet forums, so I've done a walk-through on the science behind why sassafras is considered carcinogenic.
I also compare a modern substitute, sassafras acetate, to a sassafras extract. The great thing about the alternative is that it does not have any of the health issues Safrole does, so it can be used safely in modern beverage formulations.
I've also posted an information sheet with a modern Root Beer formulation using sassafras acetate here, so if you want to get a head start on making your own version of root beer, this is a good place to start.
Comments
Hello Jacob, I'll be doing a video on sarsaparilla in the next few weeks, but if you watch the video I made on how to make an extract, it would be the same procedure. And then for levels, you can check the FEMA GRAS documents to get the level. I've also done a video on formulating that can guide you on the specific levels. https://www.femaflavor.org/flavor-library
Darcy S. O'Neil
2023-11-30 02:09:12 +0000 UTCWonderful Video, a few questions. If I wanted to incorporate Sarsaparilla extract separately, how might I go about doing that? Also, if extracts are desired, like Sarsaparilla or Vanilla how would those be incorporated? Could those be mixed with the essence, or should they be added to the simple syrup separately?
Jacob 'JayJaman' Allen
2023-11-28 23:44:08 +0000 UTCHey Jason, Good question. It is hard to navigate because there are almost no resources for regular people to understand the complex nature of these things. I'm trying to bridge the gap, but making safety videos on YouTube isn't a winning strategy. If we take asarone, in many repeated experiments, it causes cancer in lab animals, the doubt comes from people (YouTubers, etc.) exploiting the fact that there are no "human trials." It is purely unethical to perform experiments on humans, that may cause cancer and death, hence why they are not done. But, good science looks at chemical reactions, and chemists are really good at figuring things out. Nobody would say a chemist was bad at creating painkillers but for some reason people says chemists just can't understand how asarone reacts in the body.
Darcy S. O'Neil
2023-11-22 19:32:23 +0000 UTCHey Darcy, appreciate your videos as always. I watched this a few days ago when you released it and found it timely as I had just finished making a batch of Boker's Bitters from your recipe list over on Art of Drink which contains Calamus. It was a good reminder for me to double check ingredients on the GRAS list before using them. That being said I've spent the last few days looking into Calamus and Asarone and while I think the quantities I'm dealing with after diluting my extract, then adding a couple dashes of the dilution to a cocktail are minimal, its hard to get an idea of a "risk tolerance" for some of these ingredients. The FDA just calls it "Prohibited" while it appears there are many pharmacological benefits published elsewhere. I know there's no hard and fast answer or probably even a rule of thumb when it comes to this stuff, but as a layperson without a background in chemistry or medicine how can I better navigate the safety of some of these ingredients? Thanks again for all you do!
Jason Lowe
2023-11-22 17:11:16 +0000 UTC
