For most of my childhood, I didn’t drink brown sodas because I didn’t trust “caramel color,” the food additive responsible for their signature hue. Despite the sweet name, caramel color isn’t remotely related to cooked sugar. Two of its four types contain a carcinogenic chemical called 4-methylimidazole (4-MeI). But no one knew that then.

As a kid, all I knew was the L.A. Times reported scientists were taking a closer look at caramel color after finding large amounts in the livers of cadavers. They suspected the liver filters and stores caramel color because the human body doesn’t process it like other so-called “natural colorings.” Gross. I pictured my liver swelling with brown goo and rupturing into my abdominal cavity. My youthful imagination was pretty vivid, and it moved me to go cold turkey on caramel-colored sodas.

My parents said I was being silly, but they indulged my silliness by picking up 7-Up, Sprite or Squirt whenever they bought Coke, Pepsi or A&W root beer for the family. Over time, they cut back a little on the brown stuff, but I never went back. I still equate the world’s most popular food coloring with gooey brown livers.

By 2007, a federal study concluded 4-MeI causes cancer in mice and possibly humans. In 2014, Consumer Reports released its test results on sodas showing dangerous amounts of 4-MeI and urged the U.S. government to set limits on the amount allowed in food and require manufacturers identify the type of caramel color they use.

The FDA is currently reevaluating caramel color and 4-MeI to determine if it needs to take regulatory action. I’ll drink (water) to that.