Coca Cola will be removing a potentially unhealthy ingredient from their products as a result of customer complaints. Brominated vegetable oil, an ingredient in a variety of citrus flavored Coca Cola products such as Fanta and Powerade, contains the element bromine which is found in flame retardants.

Because of concerns voiced by consumers, the company announced monday they will be replacing the ingredient with a safer alternative, such as sucrose acetate isobutyrate or glycerol ester of rosin, both of which are commonly found in drinks and chewing gum.

Senior Mackenzy Hollis said she believes the change will make the product slightly less unhealthy. Still, she said, Coca Cola drinks are generally void of nutritional value and replacing one ingredient will not automatically improve the health value of these products.

 “I think that if you’re drinking Coke, you’re already not very health conscious anyways, so I don’t think it really matters if [brominated vegetable oil] is there or not, it’s already not going to be good for you,” Hollis said. “I don’t think coke drinkers care that much about their health in the first place.”

Coca Cola is not the first company to remove brominated vegetable oil from their ingredients. PepsiCo removed the oil from all of their drinks in 2013, also as a result of consumer input. Hollis said she believes this is the result of an increasingly health-conscious society.  Despite the changes, she said consumers should choose alternative beverage options.

“I think people are starting to realize that what you put in your body matters, but the problem isn’t just certain ingredients, it’s the product as a whole,” Hollis said. “Coke is really bad for you so rather than urging the company to change [ingredients], people should just stop drinking it altogether and drink water instead or at least choose a healthier option.”

by Anna Wright