Brominated vegetable oil

Several types of synthetic and natural food additives are available. They are used to preserve fresh and packaged foods, medicines, and other consumer products. Brominated Vegetable Oil (BVO) is used as an emulsifier in citrus-flavoured soft drinks for preserving natural fat-soluble citrus flavour in the soft drinks. BVO is also used in bakery products and some brands of pasta.
Brominated Vegetable Oil contains bromine, which displaces iodine and depresses thyroid function. Bromine is a member of halogen group of elements, other members of the group are fluorine, chlorine, iodine, and astatine.
Iodine is necessary to produce thyroid hormones for the smooth functioning of our body system.
Consumption of bromine containing products increases bromine content in our system that ultimately competes with iodine and causes iodine deficiency thereby creating a condition called “Brominated Thyroid”. Bromine is a potential carcinogen and causes a number of disorders starting from simple headache, fatigue, weight-gain to cancer, heart and kidney diseases.
The advanced countries of the world have already imposed restrictions on the use of BVO and other harmful food additives. In our country, we should also test products to determine if the bromine or other halogen elements are at an acceptable level.
In reality, the presence of abnormal levels of bromine in human body cannot be detected through standard blood tests. So physicians should advise patients to go through specific bromine concentration tests in case iodine related disorders are suspected.