PepsiCo Inc. is removing a controversial ingredient, brominated vegetable oil, from its Gatorade sports drink in response to customer complaints.

A spokeswoman for the company, Molly Carter, said Friday that the move was in the works for the past year after the company began "hearing rumblings" from consumers about the ingredient. She said it wasn't a response to a recent petition on Change.org by a Mississippi teenager.

The ingredient is also listed in other drinks, including some flavors of Powerade, made by rival Coca-Cola Co. The Atlanta-based company did not say whether it would remove the ingredient from Powerade as well but noted that it takes customers' concerns into account when looking for ways to improve its drinks...

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