A jar of pumpkin pie spice which includes "sulfiting agents"; to use it or not?
I had a general idea that sulfites are not good for one's health.
I looked up more info: most people are not sensitive to sulfites and don't react badly to it, but a small percentage of people have sulfite sensitivitiy.
Sulfites: Separating Fact from Fictionthe Food and Drug Administration (FDA) estimates that one out of a hundred people is sulfite-sensitive, and of that group 5% have asthma. Another source states that 5% of asthmatics are sulfite sensitive, compared to only 1% of the nonasthmatic population (Knodel, 1997), while another source estimates that up to 500,000 (or less than .05% of the population) sulfite-sensitive individuals live in the United States (Lester, 1995). Sulfite SensitivityIt appears that sulfite sensitivity may be caused by a relative deficiency of the enzyme sulfite oxidase which breaks down sulfites and requires molybdenum as a cofactor. As with lactase deficiency, this is a metabolic problem and not an allergic one. The other proposed mechanisms are a cholinergic reflex response to inhaled sulfur dioxide and IgE mediated delayed hypersensitivity.
Asthma, nasal and sinus congestion, rhinitis, postnasal drip, frontal headache and bronchospasm can be triggered by sulfites. ... A person can develop sulfite sensitivity at any point in life.Sulfite StrategySulfites can hurt you if your protective Sulfite Oxidase enzyme (a chemical that converts one chemical to another chemical) is low. Sulfite Oxidase converts sulfites to sulfates, which are not harmful. If your Sulfite Oxidase enzyme is down, the sulfite will swim around your blood and inhibit important enzymes such as Tyrosinase, polyphenoloxidase, and ascorbate oxidase. This can result in the impairment of the synthesis of Dopamine and the conversion of Dopamine to Noradrenaline, which can lead to neurological fatigue. For a review of Noradrenaline and brain chemistry, click here. Also, sulfites can inhibit 90% of lung ATP energy production (as noted in REFERENCE #18), can impair liver cell ATP energy production, and can deplete glutathione (chemical that helps the liver filter the blood and helps protect cell enzymes from damage). Anything that reduces your production of ATP energy can cause fatigue, since low levels of energy are synonymous with fatigue.
Things that can impair the protective sulfite oxidase are as follows: heavy metal molecules such as lead and mercury, Sulfa-drugs (e.g. a class of drugs within the sulfa group that can impair pterin synthesis, such as asthmatic inhalants and many antibiotics), molybdenum deficiency, proto-IX-porphyria (enzyme that makes blood inhibited), inherited genetic damage encoding of the SO-enzyme, severe B12-vitamin deficiency, and arrays of So2/SO3-group containing drugs including DMPS (an Rx chelation drug).