1. Phosphoric acid is a clear, colorless, odorless liquid with a syrupy consistency.

2. Phosphoric acid is used as an acidifying agent to give colas their tangy flavor.

3. Due to the use of phosphoric acid, cola is a actually more acid than lemon juice or vinegar. The vast amount of sugar acts to mask and balance the acidity.

4. Phosphoric acid also goes by E338, orthophosphoric acid, and phosphoric(V) acid.

5. Food-grade phosphoric acid is a mass-produced chemical, available cheaply and in large quantities.

6. Phosphoric acid is commonly used for rust removal.

7. Phosphorus-containing substances occur naturally (0.1%-0.5%) in foods such as milk, meat, poultry, fish, nuts, and egg yolks.

8. Phosphoric acid has been linked to lower bone density in some epidemiological studies, including a discussion in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

9. Opposing studies showed the opposite – that *low* intake of phosphorus leads to lower bone density. Guess who funded the studies? PepsiCo.

10. Aside from the risk of osteoporosis, Cola consumption has also been linked to chronic kidney disease and kidney stones.

11. According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a consumer watchdog group not affiliated with the food industry, only a small fraction of the phosphate in the American diet comes from additives in soft drinks. Most comes from meat and dairy products. So your reason for not drinking Coke should be its sugar content and artificial food colorings, not the phosphoric acid.

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Kids love bright colors. In food as well. Yellow 5, Blue 2, Green 3 and others can be found in snacks, candies, and in a surprising array of processed foods including breakfast cereals and luncheon meats. Parents have long been suspicious of these artificial additives, and now studies show a possible link between food dyes and hyperactivity. The LA Times reports:

Earlier this year, the UK’s Food Standards Agency, the British regulatory counterpart to our Food and Drug Administration, asked food makers to voluntarily recall six artificial colors in food by 2009, a step many food companies have completed.

And in July, the European Parliament voted to add warning labels with the phrase “may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children” to products with the same six synthetic red and yellow dyes, prompting many large food makers such as Nestle to reformulate their products rather than risk a drop-off in sales.

These actions were spurred by a study published in September 2007 in the medical journal the Lancet supporting what some parents and scientists had suspected for decades — that food dyes are linked to hyperactivity, even in kids who don’t normally exhibit this behavior.

“The position in relation to artificial food colors is analogous to the state of knowledge about lead and IQ that was being evaluated in the early 1980s,” says the study’s lead author, Jim Stevenson, psychology professor at the University of Southampton, in a March letter to the UK Food Standards Agency, urging action.

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What you need to know:

The FDA considers food colorings safe. The exception, Yellow 5 (tartrazine) is a known allergen. Food colorings need to appear in the ingredient list, but no additional warning has to appear on the nutrition label or packaging.

What to do at the supermarket:

Look at a product’s the ingredient list. Read the list to the end, as items are ordered from high to low percentage in the product. Artificial coloring is used in tiny amounts. Try to choose products without.

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