One of yesterday regarded the arrival of the latest Dunkin’ Donuts beverage the Mountain Dew Coolatta .

It’s certainly a tweet-worthy item.  A small (16 oz.) one contains almost 13 teaspoons of added sugar, while a large (32 oz.) contributes no less than 25 teaspoons of sugar.

The 25-ingredient list also caught my eye.  Check it out:

Frozen Neutral Base [Water, Neutral Base (Sugar, Glucose, Fructose, Silicon Dioxide, Malic Acid, Xanthan Gum)], Mountain Dew Coolatta Concentrate [Treated Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Citric Acid, Orange Juice Concentrate, Sodium Hexametaphosphate (to protect flavor), Xanthan Gum, Ethyl Alcohol, Natural and Artificial Flavor, Caffeine, Sodium Benzoate (preserves freshness), Gum Arabic, Sodium Citrate, Glycerol Ester of Rosin, Calcium Disodium EDTA (to protect flavor), Erythorbic Acid (preserves freshness), Yellow 5, Brominated Vegetable Oil].

You know it’s a bad sign when you make a can of Mountain Dew seem like “the sensible choice”.  We’ve got the usual suspects here a myriad of sugar synonyms, artificial flavors, all sorts of multi-syllabic additives, petroleum-based dyes, and the belle of the processed-food ball: high fructose corn syrup.

While those red flag ingredients are familiar to many, it is that last ingredient brominated vegetable oil that most people aren’t aware of.  And, in this case, what you don’t know may indeed hurt you.