How Much Food Dyes Are in the sodas?

Fanta, Mello Yello and Big Blue

Perhaps they expect you to pick up Fanta or Mello Yello of the Coca-Cola Company or Big Blue of the Big Red, Inc., from a beverage cooler when you are checking out at a local Walmart store. Your attention may be attracted by the eye-catching ”100% natural flavors” and “Caffeine free” claims  on the front of the Fanta labels. But further reading on the back reveals that the beverage “Contains NO juice.” Beware, all they are high sugar (HFCS, 74 – 80 g per bottle!) and high calorie (270 – 325) “liquid candies.”

U.S. consumption of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) went up 1,000 percent between 1970 and 1990, as reported in 2004 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Recent study showed that cancer cells use fructose to proliferate.

Now let us find out what the labels do not tell: how much food dyes were detected in the popular sodas.

 ^a Concentrations were calculated based on  Beer-Lambert Law application to our spectrophotometry studies

As you may expect, all the reviewed drinks are of high foreign additive risk and low nutritional value.

Fanta Strawberry Risk Score, DDRS ~ 32

Foreign additive risk DDFI = 16/8 ~ 2. Nutritional value DDNF = 8/24 ~ 0.3.

Fanta Orange Risk Score, DDRS ~ 67

Foreign additive risk DDFI = 39/12 ~ 3.2. Nutritional value DDNF = 12/55 ~ 0.2.

 What brominated vegetable oil is added for? Well, it gives the beverage turbidity and, in the case if you have missed reading the label, it gives you a false impression that what you drink has something to do with the orange pulp. Multiply toxic effects are what brominated vegetable oil gives you for real (See: Toxic Effects of Brominated Vegetable Oils). See also the previous post for more detail.

Mello Yello Risk Score, DDRS ~ 50

Foreign additive risk DDFI = 19/14 ~ 1.3. Nutritional value DDNF = 14/36 ~ 0.4

Big Blue Risk Score, DDRS ~ 40

Foreign additive risk DDFI = 22/8 ~ 2.8. Nutritional value DDNF = 8/32 ~ 0.2

As I wrote before, the US beverage manufacturers seem not to spur their imagination too much to come up with a new soft drink brand. Majority of the “different” brands simply is HFCS diluted with water and colored with a variety of the food dyes. What a waste of the water! SmartWater and VitaminWater of the Glaceau are the only healthier alternatives I was able to find at Walmart. Make your informed healthy choice!

Tags: big blue, fanta, food additives, food colors, food dye content, food dyes, food dyes exposure, food reviews, Food Risk Score, mello yello, nutritional value

Category: Soft drinks