Dr Oz: Brominated Vegetable Oil, A Flame Retardent Used in Gatorade

Dr Oz: Brominated Vegetable Oil Is Unsafe

There are chemicals all over the world which have been banned for one reason or another, but some of those chemicals are still making it into the food you eat right here in the United States. Dr. Oz is going to be revealing the loopholes companies are using in order to put these dangerous chemicals into the food and drinks you buy for your family.

Dr Oz: Brominated Vegetable Oil Banned In 100 Counties

You might want to put that soda down and read this before you decide to take a drink. Did you know there is an ingredient in soda that is also used as a fire retardant? Brominated vegetable oil is the ingredient and it is banned in over 100 countries but it’s still being slipped into the drinks you serve your family.

Brominated vegetable oil (BVO) was originally formulated by scientists as a flame retardant for children’s bedding and clothing, but soda companies began adding it to their products to keep the ingredients from separating while it sat on the shelf.

Dr Oz: Gatorade Contains Flame Retardant, Brominated Vegetable Oil

Dr. Michael Jacobson, from the Center for Science in the Public Interest, explained brominated vegetable oil is a food additive which is added to citrus flavored and sports drinks.

Heather White, from the Environmental Working Group, told Dr. Oz there are dangers to your health if you are consuming BVO in your favorite beverages. Numerous studies in recent years have shown a buildup of BVO in breast milk, problems with thyroid hormones and difficulties in neurological developments all attributed to BVO.

The following are all drinks which brominated vegetable oil can be found in:

• Mountain Dew
• Fanta
• Powerade
• Fresca
• Squirt
• Gatorade

Dr Oz: Highest Risk of BVO Poisoning In Gamers

White said video gamers are at the highest risk for developing problems from consuming too much BVO because it is found in the types of beverages they will often drink to stay up all night playing a video game. Consuming large quantities of drinks with brominated vegetable oil has been shown to cause memory loss, loss of muscle control and skin lesions in extreme cases.

Dr Oz: Brominated Vegetable Oil Considered Safe By FDA

Although brominated vegetable oil is banned in Europe and Japan, it is still found in beverages in the United States. Dr. Jacobson explained that back in 1970 the FDA moved BVO from a list of safe products to one that included products they were not sure about, pending further testing. Dr. Jacobson said the FDA has done no further testing on BVO in the past 43 years, ever since they moved it to the list pending further testing. He pointed out food companies could simply use the food additives used in Japan and Europe, but the FDA has not required they do so. This loophole is why companies have the right to keep putting BVO in drinks and food in America.

Dr Oz: Guar Gum a Safer Alternative To Brominated Vegetable Oil

Dr. Jacobson told Dr. Oz the FDA could simply snap their fingers and require companies to make changes and stop using BVO as an ingredient in certain beverages. Other safer additives, like Guar Gum or Gum Arabic, are used in Europe and Japan in place of brominated vegetable oil.

Although Dr. Oz was furious this was happening, he said it lies not with the companies to make a change, but with the FDA to make a change in their regulations. They need to change their regulations and force companies to choose safer ingredients for their products.

Dr Oz: Remove Brominated Vegetable Oil From Gatorade

Dr. Oz introduced his audience to an impressive young lady named Sarah. She noticed that Brominated Vegetable Oil was an ingredient in her Gatorade, so she researched it a bit and found that that it was a flame retardant that could cause several side effects. She took action and created a petition requesting Gatorade remove the ingredient from their products. As of the show, Sarah said she already had 200,000 signatures on her petition.