Brominated Vegetable Oil (BVO) Soda List

Brominated vegetable oil (BVO) is vegetable oil that has had atoms of the element bromine bonded to it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brominated_vegetable_oil. It's used in many citrus flavored drinks that have a cloudy appearance. Clear lemon-lime sodas such as Sprite do not contain it.

Its use as a food additive may have harmful effects on health. BVO has been banned for use in food in several places including Europe and Japan, but it's legal in the United States. This article from Scientific American explains the history of BVO and its potential dangers: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=soda-chemical-cloudy-health-history.

This is a list of brominated drinks that I have found so far. I will keep this list updated for your protection.

• Squirt
• Diet Squirt
• Mountain Dew (all)
• Orange Crush
• Pineapple Crush
• Peach Crush
• Sun Drop (all)
• Gatorade ("some")
• Sunkist Fruit Punch
• Sunkist Peach
• Sunkist Pineapple
• Fanta Orange
• Fanta Orange Zero
• Fresca (all)
• Refreshe Diet Grapefruit

(Edited 11/02/2011): A commenter today noticed that some flavors of drinks such as Sunkist do not contain BVO and instead have ester gum: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycerol_ester_of_wood_rosin, which "...serves as a natural alternative to brominated vegetable oil, particularly in citrus-flavored soft drinks." Check the wiki for a list of drinks that contain ester gum.