Benzoic Acid

benzoic acid A preservative normally used as the sodium, potassium, or calcium salts and their derivatives, especially in acid foods such as pickles and sauces. It occurs naturally in a number of fruits, including cranberries, prunes, greengages, and cloudberries, and in cinnamon. Cloudberries contain so much benzoic acid that they can be stored for long periods of time without bacterial or fungal spoilage. Benzoic acid and its derivatives are excreted from the body conjugated with the amino acids glycine (hippuric acid) and alanine. Because of this, benzoic acid is sometimes used in the treatment of argininaemia, argininosuccinic aciduria, and citrullinaemia, permitting excretion of nitrogenous waste from the body as these conjugates.