Have some old sodas in your fridge? Might be time to check the labels.
Health Canada is following the lead of the Food and Drug Administration in the U.S. with a ban on brominated vegetable oil, a popular food additive often used in sodas and sports drinks, after recent studies showed adverse health effects after consumption.
What is brominated vegetable oil?
Brominated vegetable oil (BVO) is oil that has been modified with bromine, a naturally occurring chemical that is also used in flame retardants. BVO has often been used as a stabilizer for beverages, particularly citrus-flavored drinks, to keep the flavouring from floating to the top.
While BVO has been in use as a food additive in the U.S. since the early 1920s, it has been banned for use in Japan and the European Union.
BVO was ubiquitous in most soft drinks a decade ago, and could be found in some flavours of Gatorade, Powerade, Fresca and Mountain Dew. Gatorade removed BVO from most of its products in 2013, when it was still on the FDA’s approved additive list, saying, “some consumers have a negative perception of BVO in Gatorade.” And Coca-Cola dropped BVO from all its drinks in 2014.
Why has BVO been banned?
Concern about BVO as an additive dates back to the 1970s, when studies first detected possible health effects on the hearts of rats that were fed BVO at levels that exceeded normal human consumption, and additional studies allayed those concerns.
Then, in 2022, the FDA researchers published a study in the Food and Chemical Toxicology journal that found BVO could cause damage to the thyroid in rats that were fed more moderate levels of BVO.
Health Canada cited the study in its decision to ban the food additive, but added that its assessment of the studies “did not identify an immediate health concern with the currently-permitted use of BVO.”
How do I know if my drink has brominated vegetable oil?
The ban was announced in the U.S. on Aug. 2 and in Canada on Aug. 30. In both countries, companies have been given a year to reformulate their drinks before the renewed guidelines on BVO kick in.
Several grocery store sites show that Mountain Dew, Crush Orange Soda and Gatorade contain brominated vegetable oil, however the sites for Dr Pepper Keurig (the producer of Mountain Dew and Crush) as well as Gatorade either do not list BVO in their ingredients list or deny the use of the additive.
Beverages in Canada containing BVO are required to note the food additives used in the ingredients list, where it will be listed as “brominated vegetable oil” or another type of “brominated” oil.
