Caramel
The next harmful ingredient in them is caramel. The dark brown, black color of Pepsi and Coca-Cola, this is from caramel. You will find many news articles from 2012, linking caramel to cancer.
What is caramel? It is basically burnt sugar. Sugar is heated with ammonia and sulphites. Doing so releases a byproduct 4-Methylimidazole (4-MI). Several studies have linked it to cancer and in the state of California, it is listed as a carcinogen.
The law there states that if the amount of this carcinogen in any food or drink is more than 29 micrograms, then it is not allowed. But less than 29 micrograms is allowed.
According to 2012 news articles, in the samples of the soft drinks, it was found to be 138 micrograms. More than four times the permitted limit. After this controversy, Coca-Cola said that they would change their formula, and use a new formula which will have lower 4-MI.
But they made these changes in America only. In countries like India and several other developing countries, there are similar laws for it. Similar news was seen again in 2014 when an organisation checked various soft drinks for the 4-MI levels. Again, these soft drinks contained exceeding levels of 4-MI.
