Miss. teen wins protest against PepsiCo | Business

A Mississippi teen fought PepsiCo and won.

Now the soft drink maker is removing a key ingredient from citrus-flavored Gatorade.

15-year-old Sarah Kavanaugh launched an online petition requesting the company remove brominated vegetable oil from her favorite drink.

BVO is used to promote consistency in the drink.

But it shares an ingredient with some flame retardants, and has been linked to various health problems when ingested in large amounts.

According to Change.org, more than 200,000 supporters signed the petition.

"I didn't expect all of the attention to be brought to it, but I'm definitely grateful for it. I'm glad that people are seeing the affects of it and that they're really caring about what's being put in products that they use," said Kavanaugh.

PepsiCo said it began reformulating a new line of BVO free Gatorade about a year ago.

It's expected to hit shelves soon.