After the re-release and new introduction of the Mt. Dew Game Fuel drinks, and with them having temporary World of Warcraft themes, I made sure to buy and drink one of each.

Prior to about a month ago, I'd drink through a good 2 liters or so of Code Red and regular Dew on a daily basis. Something about game design or game relations are relative to this infatuation. Of course I was putting on a little weight, so I stopped soda all together... Was a rough process, and I have an occasional diet soda here and there, but sometimes I cheat and have a Dew for the hell of it. During my soda fringe, I'd find myself eventually lethargic, kinda fuzzy-minded (hard to concentrate), and generally irritable sometimes without a good reason... But it did help me with those late-night sessions with FoL.

Anyway while drinking through a 20 oz bottle of the Alliance Game Fuel in a movie, the words "Brominated Vegetable Oil" stood out to me. At the time it was because I'm on a calorie-based diet with my girlfriend and things like that catch my eye (even on our cheat fridays now), and I figured drinking Vegetable Oil was a wicked no-no.

After looking it up, I was shocked to find out exactly what BVO was. Apparently the worry itself isn't the Vegetable Oil, as it is the addition of the element Bromine... Here's a little excerpt from the wikipedia.


Health effects
...Bromine is a halogen and displaces iodine, which may depress thyroid function. Evidence for this has been extrapolated from pre-1975 cases where bromine-containing sedatives resulted in emergency room visits[1] and incorrect diagnoses of psychosis and brain damage due to side effects such as depression, memory loss, hallucinations, violent tendencies, seizures, cerebral atrophy, acute irritability*, tremors, ataxia, confusion, loss of peripheral vision*, slurred speech, stupor*, tendon reflex changes, photophobia* due to enlarged pupils, and extensor plantar responses.[2] In one case, a man who drank eight liters of Ruby Red Squirt daily had a reaction that caused his skin color to turn red and produced lesions diagnosed as bromoderma. The excessive quantities together with the fact that the man had a higher than normal sensitivity to bromine made this an unusual case.[3] A similar case reported that a man who consumed two to four liters of a cola containing BVO on a daily basis experienced memory loss, tremors, fatigue, loss of muscle coordination, headache, ptosis of the right eyelid as well as elevated serum chloride.[4] In the two months it took to correctly diagnose the problem the patient also lost the ability to walk. Luckily bromism was finally diagnosed and hemodialysis was prescribed which resulted in a reversal of the disorder.[1] A Pepsi product website notes that BVO has been used by the soft drink industry since 1931.[5]
(References can be found on the wiki site)

*These are general side-effects I've noticed when drinking Soda after a short period of time. I've also been tested negative for diabetes, so that isn't a factor.

I know that practically everything I'm doing these days has some sort of negative side effect, but if this is one thing I can ween myself away from, I'd gladly stick to this anti-regular soda diet.. Now to go rot my joints with some Diet Dr. Pepper(BVO Free!).

<3 Ken.