Citric acid is one of the most common ingredients in a wide variety of processed foods and personal care products. It can be safe or unsafe to consume or apply to your skin depending on the manufacturing process. What to look out for!
In its natural form, citric acid is what most people think it is – a beneficial chemical in fruit, especially lemons and limes. Some fruits are up to 10% citric acid by weight! It is an important part of what gives them their face puckering punch.
Citric acid, though, is much more than just something that is naturally present in some types of fruit. It is also now one of the most frequently added ingredients to processed foods, cosmetics, cleaners, and more.
If you take the time to look, you will quickly notice that it is in practically everything even brands labeled USDA Organic.
Commercial Citric Acid
This commercialized form of citric acid isn’t derived from limes or lemons. That would be far too expensive!
Instead, it is produced by the fermentation of sugars. It is this process, and the inputs that drive it, that forms the basis of the complex question of whether citric acid is safe or not.
Citric Acid Antioxidant
In natural form, citric acid is a powerful antioxidant. This means that it helps deal with DNA damaging free radicals in the body.
Citrus foods have a wide number of phytochemicals and nutrients that are well known to help and promote health. Citric acid is not just one of them but appears to play a synergistic role with many of the others.
Strangely, while it is an acid, it has an alkalizing effect on the body. Homemade kombucha and unheated apple cider vinegar have a similar beneficial effect.
Studies show many other benefits of citric acid. It may help prevent kidney stones, perhaps partly due to this alkalizing impact. (1)
It also helps protect the brain and other body tissues from certain types of inflammation and other problems. (2)
You could spend days reading studies on citric acid, as it is one of the more researched naturally occurring chemicals.
Citric Acid Dangers
While citric acid in its natural form is highly beneficial, the kind that modern people consume or are exposed to is far removed from this state.
Factories manufacture synthetic citric acid by feeding sugar – generally derived from corn or sugar beets – to the fungus Aspergillus niger.
“Aspergillus niger” pretty much means “black mold,” and it is one of many common black molds at that. Now, this particular strain is not nearly as dangerous as many other black molds. However, but studies show that its spores and by-products still aren’t helpful to human health.
Citric acid manufacturers insist that this black mold is filtered out of the final product.
But… is it really?
Mold Contamination Risks
What about the mycotoxins that the black mold produces during manufacturing? This can easily mix into the citric acid and other fermentation byproducts and end up in our food.
The field of mycotoxins is large and rather fragmented, so this is a question we don’t have great answers to at the present time.
Proponents of citric acid will point out that it is sometimes used to help lower concentrations of mycotoxins. However, these decontaminated mycotoxins were not created by the same fungus that made the citric acid in the first place. (3)
So, we really don’t know how much and what types of mycotoxins may end up in the final product.
For people who have particular health issues or known problems with mycotoxins or mold in general, avoiding citric acid is not a bad idea.
GMO Citric Acid
The second problem with citric acid is that the two main foodstuffs used to make it – corn and beet sugar – are just about 100% genetically modified (GM).
This is one of the main reasons citric acid is so inexpensive. Massive government subsidies to corn and other GM crop growers, along with vast amounts of petrochemical use, soil and ecosystem destruction, and so forth make things like industrial citric acid low enough in cost to add to almost any and every product.
For those of us who try to not support industrial agriculture for environmental, health and so many other reasons, citric acid is an important food ingredient to take great pains to avoid.
MSG Residue
Another danger of commercial citric acid is that it may also contain a small amount of monosodium glutamate. Other names are MSG or free glutamic acid.
This occurs during manufacturing when some of the protein from the corn or sugar beets is still present in the sugars that are fed to the black mold as described above. This residual protein ends up getting hydrolyzed during this fermentation process. The end result is the formation of free glutamic acid (MSG).
Note that naturally occurring citric acid contains no MSG.
Some people are sensitive to and have problems with this artificially derived type of MSG. Even naturally occurring glutamates in popular foods such as bone broth can sometimes be problematic particularly for those with leaky gut. Headaches, digestive distress, and even skin problems such as eczema are common.
In people who show an allergy to citric acid, it is unclear if their health issues arise because of an actual sensitivity. The true problem may be the possible residual presence of corn, mold, or MSG in the final product.
NonGMO Citric Acid
While citric acid is primarily made from GM feedstuffs, it doesn’t have to be.
More food manufacturers are choosing to use natural versions derived from citrus fruits!
There are also now some certified non-GMO citric acids on the market.
Remember, GMO-free doesn’t mean ANYTHING about how the food was raised. It doesn’t mean organic. It doesn’t mean unsprayed with pesticides – herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, and the like.
All nonGMO means is that precautions were taken and perhaps testing also conducted to reduce or eliminate genetically modified organisms from the crop or food in question.
Thus, if you think GMO free citric acid also offers protection from exposure to biocides, it isn’t correct.
Organic Brands
For citric acid to be truly safe, you will need to first ensure that it is organic. There are a few certified organic citric acids on the market currently. (4)
Note that just because a product is certified organic doesn’t mean all its ingredients are certified organic! Be sure to check with the manufacturer to know for sure what kind of citric acid and other additives they are using!
The studies on citric acid, other than the issues raised above, generally indicate that it is a safe and beneficial substance. That shouldn’t surprise us since it is 100% natural. What those studies don’t really address are the complex issues about taking a natural substance and creating it artificially via industrial processes.
Using Citric Acid Safely
If I needed to use citric acid, I would go with either a certified organic or at the least a nonGMO verified, non-corn or sugar beet derived option.
This brand from Pure Organics is a good example.
If you eat a real food diet, your exposure to industrially produced citric acid should already be fairly low. If so, for the most part, unless you know you have a sensitivity to it, I wouldn’t sweat small occasional exposure.
For non-food products, such as cleaners and cosmetics, there are some concerns that citric acid is an irritant, especially to the respiratory system. So for those with asthma or similar issues, it may also be best to avoid products that contain it.
For water softeners that use citric acid, it would be wise to consider switching to a water filtration system that doesn’t require it.
References
(1) Lemon juice in the treatment of urinary calcium stones
(2) Citric Acid Effects on Brain and Liver Oxidative Stress
(3) Effects of Citric and Lactic Acid on Mycotoxin Contaminated Feeds
(4) Organic Citric Acid
Thanks! Great info.
According to Medical Medium citric acid is a hidden word for MSG. Why don’t they just say from lemon or lime? Will not eat any thing with citric acid or the other hidden word for MSG “Natural Flavors”. I had a company try to tell me that natural flavors was an ingredient in our cupboards. B.S. Then they need to list the ingredient. Stay away from these hidden ingredients, they will eat away your brain cells.
Citric acid is not MSG … but there may be some MSG residue in it from processing that forms IF the citric acid comes from corn. Why corn? Because corn has protein in it (it is a grain after all), and you have to have protein in the citric acid source for MSG to form during processing. If citrus fruits are used, there isn’t any protein in the juice, so hence, no MSG residue can form.
I am not allergic to corn. I am, however, allergic to molds, grass, trees, weeds, dogs, dust mites, and roaches. That said, I have been allergic to citric acid and its derivatives, citrate, limonine, acidic acid. The citric acid burns my skin on contact, irritates my stomach and digestion, and gives me a rash where I sweat after consumption. I have passed the allergy to both my daughters. I read ingredients on EVERY product. I am now 40 yrs old, Life is tedious, but possible. The impossible is educating the public that it is possible to be allergic to citric acid. No one believes me until they see it for themselves.
Some confusion with intolerance to citiric acid might be confused with food chemical intolerance, such as to amines, salicylates and glutamates. e.g., fresh food is fine, and canned food or leftovers are bad. Important to tease out.
My family usually has a reaction to my spaghetti sauce if I use canned tomatoes that have citric acid added (most organic an natural brands do). My husband gets indigestion and the kids and I may get migraines! There are few brands of canned tomatoes that don’t use it, so I usually search for those (although at some point I suppose it would be better not to use canned ingredients either! Baby steps!). Many years ago my son as a baby couldn’t consume processed baby food that had citric acid in it. He could eat fresh bananas but not jarred banana food. We figured out the citric acid was the culprit. It would cause severe reflux. At that point, we decided to use more table food that I had prepared from scratch rather than using store bought baby food even if organic! I’d never read about others having reactions to citric acid till now and was always perplexed by how we could consume oranges and other things but not citric acid as an additive.
Yes, citric acid as an ingredient is so confusing because most people think it comes from citrus fruit. The reality is that most is made from GMO corn which most likely contains MSG and glyphosate residue (GMO corn is Roundup Ready and heavily sprayed). Some reputable companies list citric acid from limes or lemons for example, but this is the rare exception.
Great in-depth article that really cut to the core. One of my child grew up eating CA for almost 10 years. The symptoms started out with allergies in toddler years, then turn into eczema, then later on yeast overgrowth, and fungi issues causing skin breakouts and boils. Through your articles, we found he has leaky gut. We cut process food and sugar out. Now those symptoms are gone, but still need time to heal the leaky gut. I believe CA has a lot to do with it.
This is wonderful to hear! So glad you are on the road to healing! Yes, it takes quite a while for the gut to fully heal. Be patient and don’t give up like most people do unfortunately. It took time to cause the gut problems in the first place; it will take time to resolve them.
Hi Sarah, I use natural soaps and found even the natural brands like Dr. Bronner use citric acid. I am in the process of getting a hold of them to see what their’s is derived from but doubt l will get any response. May l ask what you and your family use for soap needs? Is it listed in your shopping guide? I appreciate it.
I use a natural bar of goat milk soap. It’s made locally.
When I saw this in your newsletter, I was so excited! Thank you for this in depth report on an ingredient that is ubiquitous. If I come into contact w/ citric acid my skin will immediately start burning. I have a sensitivity to corn and an allergy to mold, so I avoid CA in everything from food to cosmetics and even laundry detergent and soap. I will only use products that have naturally derived citric acid from citrus fruit.
Dear Sarah . I’ve had a rash for about 3 weeks . My dermatologist said it’s called folliculitis . It’s bacterial . Any home remedy suggestions to get rid of it . He suggested an antibiotic lotion to use but I didn’t wNt to hovtyst route . The rash is on my waist And stomach area . Thank you for any advice
Surprisingly the packaging for the Pure Organics Citric Acid does not have a USDA verified organic label; it just states that it is organic. Any reason why that might be??
No idea. If you contact the company about it, please post what you find out!