Pepsico Ditches BVO in Gatorade; Are You Still Drinking It?

According to the Associated Press, Pepsico, Inc., decided to remove brominated vegetable oil from Gatorade after customer complaints. The company does not plan to remove that ingredient from its sodas, including Mountain Dew.

The New York Times reported in December that a 15-year-old girl from Hattiesburg, Miss., Sarah Kavanaugh, spearheaded a Change.org petition addressed to Pepsico to remove BVO from Gatorade. Her petition garnered more than 200,000 signatures. But Pepsico denies its decision resulted from the petition, the AP said.

The Skinny on Brominated Vegetable Oil

What Is That Ingredient? says brominated vegetable oil is made by adding bromine to vegetable oil. It's patented as a flame retardant, according to Alternet. But when used in drinks, its purpose is to prevent the oil from separating from the other drink ingredients, What Is That Ingredient? says.

Because bromine is a halogen, it may displace iodine in the human body and may impair thyroid function. Case studies prior to 1975, when brominated sedatives were in use, indicated bromine may cause side effects that mimic psychosis and brain damage. These include depression, memory loss, hallucinations, violent tendencies, seizures, cerebral atrophy, acute irritability, tremors, ataxia, confusion, loss of peripheral vision, slurred speech, stupor, tendon reflex changes, photophobia due to enlarged pupils, and extensor plantar responses..

Animal studies link bromide consumption to heart and kidney damage and fat deposits in those organs. In extreme cases, it's produced testicular damage, stunted growth, lethargy, and fatigue in animals, What Is That Ingredient? says.

Other Products Containing BVO

The New York Times says about 10 percent of drinks in the United States contain BVO. The substance is banned in the European Union and Japan, according to the AP. Soft drinks containing BVO include Powerade, Fanta Orange, Fresca, Squirt, Sunkist Peach and Sunkist Pineapple.

Regulatory Status

The Food and Drug Administration allows the use of BVO in soft drinks. That hasn't always been the case. Although used as far back as 1931, the substance was removed from the agency's safe additives list in 1970, Alternet reports. Later that decade, an industry group conducted studies used to support an industry petition that resulted in BVO's return to the FDA's Generally Recognized as Safe list at 15 ppm in fruit-flavored beverages. The agency found use at that level did not cause the adverse effects observed at higher concentrations. This was an interim decision, and to this day, it remains under that tentative classification.

Carol Bengle Gilbert writes about consumer issues for the Yahoo! Contributor Network.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pepsico-ditches-bvo-gatorade-still-drinking-215800296.html

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