PepsiCo announced Friday it will remove a controversial ingredient from its Gatorade sports drinks after consumers raised concerns about health risks. The ingredient, brominated vegetable oil, or BVO, is also used as a flame retardant, and is banned as a food additive in Japan and the European Union.
But while Gatorade will soon be BVO-free, plenty of other popular drinks continue to list BVO as an ingredient, according to the AP, including Coca-Cola's Fanta, PepsiCo's Mountain Dew, and Dr Pepper Snapple Group's Sun Drop and Squirt drinks.
What exactly is BVO? According to a website called What's That Ingredient?, BVO is a blend of ordinary vegetable oil and the toxic element bromine, which reportedly has several potential health side effects, including "depression, memory loss, hallucinations, violent tendencies, seizures, cerebral atrophy," among other risks.
And according to Scientific American, soda drinkers who overdosed on beverages containing BVO "have needed medical attention for skin lesions, memory loss and nerve disorders, all symptoms of overexposure to bromine."
BVO, while banned in other countries, has long been added to soft drinks in North America. In 1977, the FDA established a limit on the amount of BVO that could legally be added to beverages. But, says Scientific American, "some scientists say that limit is based on data that is thin and several decades old, and they insist that the chemical deserves a fresh look."
According to a 2010 report from the Beverage Marketing Corporation, the average American drinks 44.7 gallons of carbonated soft drinks and 4 gallons of sports beverages each year. Two of the most popular sodas, Coca-Cola and Pepsi, do not contain BVO, says Scientific American.
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