10 Toxic Things You Didn’t Know You Were Feeding Your Kids

Brominated vegetable oil

This sounds like something you might cook with, but it’s not. Instead, this additive keeps citrus flavorings from separating in sports drinks and sodas. “People who drink extremely large amounts of soda containing brominated vegetable oil have experienced bromine toxicity,” says Lisa Lefferts, MSPH, a senior scientist at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Some cases found skin, nerve, and memory problems from the substance. “The effects from smaller amounts are unclear, but the fact that BVO leaves residues in body fat and in the fat in brain, liver, and other organs is unsettling,” Lefferts says. Although it’s banned in Japan and Europe, BVO was granted “interim status” by the FDA in the 1970s pending further studies—but those studies were never done. Several years ago, PepsiCo removed it from Gatorade after a high school sophomore started an online petition. “After consumer pressure, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola agreed to remove it from all of their beverages—but it is still found in Mountain Dew and Diet Mountain Dew,” Lefferts says. So before letting your kids drink sodas, sport drinks, or other fruity beverages (which aren’t good for them anyway), check the label. Here’s how one family’s health crisis led to a diet delivery business.