Food additives: Sodium borate

It’s been awhile since I last posted about chemistry stuff so I thought I’d give it a go again. Today I’d like to introduce you to Sodium borate or Borax (Na2B4O7·10H2O). It’s a white powder in normal state and in most cases, it’s used as a cleaning material like detergents. Currently, it’s deemed as a “green agent” and is a replacement for a number of materials like soaps, shampoos and other cleaning products.  

But other than being a cleaning material, it’s also widely used in other sectors of the industry like as a potent insecticide also as a way to kill weeds surrounding your crops. It’s also an emulsifying agent in make up. 

In the medical field it’s used as an anti-fungal and a selective antimicrobial agent to a few microbes and sometimes it’s used in synthesis to produce boron derivative products like boric acid. 

But then did you know they get into your food too? 

So I saw that it’s a material used in some multivitamins but I’m not sure which ones those are. But besides being used in vitamins, I took note of the fact that this specific compound is commonly used as an ingredient in some noodles. Yes, that’s right. One of the most common comfort foods could possibly have borax. Fortunately while I was working in a food testing lab, the noodles here in the Philippines did not test positive for the presence of borax but I’m not sure with the other countries. Aside from noodles, fish crackers also sometimes test positive for the presence of borax. It bothered me because I love those

Why is it used as an ingredient? 

Simply because it’s an antimicrobial agent. It’s basically used as a preservative so that the noodles have longer shelf life while at the same time, it has that crunchy texture that imitates the frying process that’s common practice for noodles in the Philippines. (This is actually the common way to process commercial noodles here and is used by bi g companies like lucky me and nissin so they're safe if you got bothered by my article, if you’re curious: https://read.cash/@Xzeon/vegetable-noodle-making-ed86c9ab). This may be mean but I just want you guys to be healthy. 

As much as there’s really no official statement of the toxicity of borax, plus the limited journals I could find, it’s still best to stay away from them beacuse 

Borax can: 

Cause irritation

When in the cosmetic use but even when used as a hygiene product, the chances of getting irritation is high

Cause hormone problems

based on this study [http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/29620610R] of using borax with pest control and how it affected the rats’ testes through atrophy or shrinking. Also in how it reduced ovum count in female rats

Have high toxicity

Well the hormone problem is already self explanatory but then it can also do some organ damage, specifically in the urinary tract since borax is still a water-soluble salt, thus it will still get taken to the kidneys. 

In worse cases though, it can cause death

if taken in excessive amounts, one can experience severe vomiting, diarrhea, shock and eventually death if not remedied immediately