Coca-Cola Drops Controversial Ingredient from Powerade

Coca-Cola Drops Controversial Ingredient from Powerade

Cola drinks have always been a source of great debate among health enthusiasts and fitness experts. The questions regarding the ingredients of these drinks and their impact on human health have always been a source of conflict. Celebrities endorsing these drinks have often been a target of campaigners for pure food an drinks. But while the debate over cola drinks continues, both PepsiCo and Coca-Cola have made a move to banish controversial ingredients from their sports drinks Powerade and Gatorade respectively.

Last year, PepsiCo dropped a controversial ingredient from Gatorade. This year, Coca Cola has dropped a similar ingredient from Powerade. The ingredient in question has been brominated vegetable. A Mississippi teen named Sarah Kavanagh has been working to raise awareness about this controversial ingredient in these drinks since 2012. She started an online petition against BVO (brominated vegetable oil) which had over 200,000 signatories.

If the levels of bromine in the body increase beyond a certain point, skin conditions such as bromoderma can occur. Excessive amounts of bromine in the system can also have other negative effects. BVO is an emulsifying agent. It is used to keep oil components of citrus flavoured beverages from mixing together. The FDA had previously recognised BVO has safe but later withdrew its approval. BVO is also banned in some countries including certain European nations.

After PepsiCo dropped the ingredient from Gatorade following Sarah’s efforts, she also campaigned against the ingredients in Coca-Cola’s Powerade. Coca-Cola will now be replacing BVO with sucrose acetate isobutyrate and or glycerol ester of rosin together or as single component. While sucrose acetate isobutryrate has been found in beverages for over a decade, glycerol ester of rosin is used to make chewing gums as well as beverages.

Certain varieties of Powerade fruit punch and strawberry lemonade are already being made using glycerol ester of rosin. BVO is linked to flame retardant. It is not allowed for use in Japan or the EU. Most Powerade brands are going to become BVO free. More information is needed regarding the reformulation of the drinks.

On its website for Powerade, Coca-Cola still lists brominated vegetable oil as an ingredient for fruit punch and strawberry lemonade however. The decision to remove BVO from Powerade has been one of the latest achievements of activism to ensure that companies are held responsible for the ingredients they use in food and beverage products.

The movement towards natural food is gaining momentum. Some companies stand by the safety of their products. Others are making the effort towards change in the positive direction. Subway has also indicated that it would remove the ingredient widely known as yoga mat chemical from its breads. The ingredient is azodicarbonamide. It has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration and it can be found in a wide number of breads.

Petitioner Vani Hari of FoodBabe.com targeted Subway for this ingredient because of the image of the food company as the healthy option for fitness conscious folks. Similarly, Gatorade and Powerade had been dubbed as the perfect drink for sportspersons and athletes. Brominated vegetable oil can also be found in numerous other drinks. But consumer awareness levels have now risen.

Online petition sites and change-makers such as Sarah are working tirelessly to ensure that the food and beverages you have are safe for human consumption. Consumers are now coming together to initiate positive change in a proactive manner. Soda and sports drinks have been the most common targets of change-makers who want to see positive action. In the coming years, people will only have more awareness about the importance of safeguarding their food and beverages from contamination and health hazards.