Soda War

Pepsi Removes Brominated Vegetable Oil From Gatorade, Keeps It in Mountain Dew

Totally healthy now.
Totally healthy now. Photo: Gatorade

You’ve probably been up at night, worried sick about all the brominated vegetable oil you’ve consumed in your lifetime. No? Really? It’s one of the yuckier ingredients in soft drinks, and studies have linked it to brain, fertility, and thyroid problems, as well as early onset puberty (kids are horny enough!). We’ll hit you with the good news first: PepsiCo is taking the shady ingredient out of its Gatorade formula. But since soda companies are senseless, Pepsi is still using it in Mountain Dew and other soft drinks. Brominated vegetable oil is banned in Japan and the European Union, and it’s actually a patented flame retardant. There’s no putting out the fire on this growing war against soda. [Earlier, AP]

Pepsi Removes Brominated Vegetable Oil From Gatorade, Keeps It in Mountain Dew