Mountain Dew is one of the most popular soft drinks in the country. However, like all other soda brands, this lemon-lime drink is anything but healthy, and one specific ingredient in Mountain Dew caused the beverage to be banned in other countries.

Mountain Dew used to include the food additive brominated vegetable oil, or BVO, to emulsify its citrus oils. However, BVO is banned in other countries due to its substance called bromine, a harmful red and brown element with a strong scent similar to bleach, which can cause memory loss and skin and nerve problems when consumed excessively.

Due to mounting pressure and a Change.org petition to remove BVO from Gatorade, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola removed BVO from all of their soft and sports drinks. However, since these drinks need an emulsifier, the behemoth beverage corporations have replaced BVO with other emulsifiers, such as sucrose acetate isobutyrate or glycerol ester of rosin.