The Chemical Additive Of The Week - Potassium Bromate

Chemical Information: 

Potassium bromate is typically used as a flour improver, strengthening the dough and allowing higher rising. It is an oxidizing agent, and under the right conditions, will be completely used up in the baking bread. However, if too much is added, or if the bread is not baked long enough or not at a high enough temperature, then a residual amount will remain, which may be harmful if consumed. Potassium bromate might also be used in the production of malt barley where the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has prescribed certain conditions where it may be used safely, which includes labeling standards for the finished malt barley product. -US Code of Federal Regulations 

Potassium Bromate has been banned from use in food products in the EU, Canada, Nigeria, Brazil, Peru and some other countries. It was banned in Sri Lanka in 2001 and China in 2005. In the United States, it has not been banned. The FDA sanctioned the use of bromate before the Delaney clause of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, which bans potentially carcinogenic substances went into effect in 1958, so it is more difficult for it to now be banned. Instead, since 1991 the FDA has urged bakers to voluntarily stop using it. In California a warning label is required when bromated flour is used. - Regulation Of Potassium Bromate

Health Effects: 

Potassium Bromate is carcinogenic in rats and nephrotoxic in both man and experimental animals when given orally. It has been demonstrated that Potassium Bromate induces renal cell tumors, mesotheliomas of the peritoneum, and follicular cell tumors of the thyroid. - Y Kurokawa, A Maekawa, M Takahashi, and Y Hayashi 

Potassium Bromate have the ability to cause cancer within your body. These chemical based products usually become metabolized into harmful substances within different organs, and generally target those specific places once produced. In the case of potassium bromate, cancer usually develops in the kidney or thyroid when consumed frequently and in large doses. - 3 Fat Chicks 

 In 1992-93 and again in 1998-99, the FDA tested several dozen baked goods and found that many contained bromate at levels considered unsafe by the agency,” said Darren Mitchell, a CSPI attorney. “One sample tested recently had almost 1,000 times the detection limit. The FDA’s inaction needlessly exposes consumers to this harmful additive. - Center For Science In The Public Interest 

When you ingest or absorb Potassium Bromate, it displaces iodine, and this iodine deficiency leads to an increased risk for cancer of the breast, thyroid gland, ovary and prostate. Cancers that we see at alarmingly high rates today. This phenomenon is significant enough to have been given its own name, the Bromide Dominance Theory. - Dr. Mercola