Thumbs Down on “Antioxidant” Cherry 7Up

By Tony Isaacs

In yet another example of deceptive marketing of less than healthy products to natural and health conscious foods consumers by major food and beverage companies, 7Up is heavily marketing a new product named "Antioxidant Cherry 7Up" in both regular and diet versions.

One might ask what could be so bad about a soft drink that contains "natural flavors", no caffeine and now antioxidants too? Perhaps taking a close look at what the "antioxidant" content is, and the rest of the ingredients that make up regular and diet Antioxidant 7Up might shed some light.

Most people likely assume that Antioxidant Cherry 7Up gets it's "antioxidant" power from cherries, which are known to be powerful sources of antioxiants, but such is not the case. What 7UP bases its "antioxidant" claim on is the inclusion of a tiny amount of a synthetic form of Vitamin E (dl-alpha Tocopherol Acetate) that provides a mere 10% of the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of vitamin E.

The RDA of natural Vitamin E is only 22 International Units (IU) per day to begin with, which is extremely small compared to the most commonly recommended amount of supplemental vitamin E for adults of 400 to 800 IU per day.  On top of that, synthetic Vitamin E is 33% less bioavailable than natural Vitamin E.  Recent studies have indicated that the natural forms of Vitamin E, such as d-alpha Tocopherol or the even better mixed tocopherols that contain alpha, beta, gamma and delta tocopherols, are not only more bioavailable but also more biologically active than the synthetic forms.

It is the synthetic form of Vitamin E that has been used in mainstream studies which purport to disprove the benefits of natural Vitamin E which have been reported in other studies. In one highly publicized mainstream study, the “Select” study, we were even warned about dangers of taking Vitamin E. So, with a mere 2.2 iu, or 0.0022 grams of a synthetic form of Vitamin E that mainstream medicine has told us has no proven benefits and might even be harmful, we have an “antioxidant” drink.

Besides the tiny amount of synthetic Vitamin E, "Antioxidant" Cherry 7Up also includes carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup (from GMO corn of course), citric acid, “natural flavors”, potassium benzoate, and red dye #40.

The dangers of high fructose corn syrup have been well chronicled in recent months, as have the dangers of GMO corn.  Though 7Up lists 8 ounces as a normal serving size, the most commonly sold size is the 20 ounce bottle and its high fructose corn syrup content is equivalent to 15 teaspoons of sugar.  Dietary guidelines recommend that we limit added sugars to about 8 tsp a day for an average 2000-calorie diet.

Red dye #40, also known as Red 40, has been shown to produce toxic psychological and behavior results such as extreme hyperactivity to psychotic behavior and extreme mood swings.  In the past, Red Dye #40 was made from coal tar, now it is made from petroleum. It's chemical name is 6-hydroxy-5-(2-methoxy-5-methyl-4-sulfophenylazo)-2-naphtalenesulfonic acid sodium salt".

Citric acid and potassium benzoate in combination can create the toxic chemical compound known as benzene, a known human carcinogen (cancer causing agent) that has been linked to leukemia.

It gets even "better" with the diet version of Antioxidant Cherry 7Up. Instead of the usual Splenda used to sweeten regular Diet 7Up, Diet Antioxidant Cherry 7Up uses Aspartame.

Drink up!

Sources included:

http://www.7up.com/text/cherry7upnutrition.aspx
http://www.7up.com/text/dietcherry7upnutrition.aspx
http://ezinearticles.com/?Soft-Drink-Alert:-Dangers-of-Benzene&id=241825
http://www.truestarhealth.com/Notes/2931005.html
http://www.healthcastle.com/seven-7-up-new.shtml
http://www.cafemom.com/journals/read/1390040/Red_40_Dangers
http://www.etoolsage.com/converter%5CIU_Converter.asp