I'm currently going through withdraws... I am one of those stereotypical white people that drinks Mountain Dew and eats Doritos every single day. Unfortunately, I'm not supposed to drink it anymore. I recently found out the MD is what is making me break out really bad and get horribly painful menstrual cramps. So I decided it was time to do some research.
"Mountain Dew contains High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), a sugar substitute that many believe is worse for you than regular sugar. In high doses it can cause such serious health problems as obesity, migraines, lowered immune function, gallstones, and cardiovascular disease." (Joshua Slinkard)
You're probably thinking, "yeah so? All soda has corn syrup in it." While Coca Cola, the leading soft drink in America has 39 grams (per every 12 oz), Mountain dew has 46 grams. That's worse than a Monster energy drink! It only has 36 grams of HFCS. But High Fructose Corn Syrup is not the only bad thing in Mountain Dew. Compared to Coke with 34 mg of caffeine, Mountain Dew has 54 mg of caffeine, which isn't too bad. It definitely beats a Monster with 160 mg. Scary.
Here's something you might not have known: "Citric Acid can rot away your teeth if consumed in large enough quantities." You don't even have to read a label to know that there is A LOT of citric acid in a can of Mountain Dew.
Another thing I found was that Yellow Dye #5 (or Tartrazine) can be really bad for you as well. "This has been banned for usage in Norway, Austria, and Germany. It is extracted from coal tar. Tartrazine seems to cause the most allergic and intolerance reactions of all the azo dyes. Symptoms of this can include anxiety, migraines, clinical depression, blurred vision, itching, general weakness, heatwaves, feeling of suffocation, purple skin patches, and sleep disturbances. Other symptoms include asthma and mild rhinitis (inflammation of the nasal passageways mostly with discharge.)"
Now, for the most dangerous ingredient: Brominated Vegetable Oil (BVO). Well, to kick things off with this guy, it's banned in over 100 countries. Just let that sink in for a bit.... Okay, "Bromine is lethal in its liquid and vaporous form and used to be used as a sedative until doctors noticed it caused memory loss in some patients." So why does the FDA allow the US to use it? I don't know. That's not what this is about. BVO is used in Mountain dew to give it that "cloudy" look and "citrusy" flavor.
Here are some symptoms:
-Abdominal cramps
-Anxiety
-Anorexia
-Blurred vision
-Coma
-Constricted pupils
-Convulsions
-Cyanosis (skin blueness)
-Diarrhea
-Dizziness
-Heart beat malfunction
-Headache
-Weakness
-Tremors of the tongue and eyelids
-Muscular cramps
-Nausea
-Respiratory difficulty
-Salivation
-Slow pulse
-Sweating
-Tearing
-Vomiting
One last thing, does Mountain Dew lower sperm counts? NO! This is a myth that came about in the 90's.
So in conclusion, Mountain Dew is probably one of the worst drinks you can possibly put into your body. Will I stop drinking it? Probably not. Is it still the most delicious thing in the world? OH YES!
Thanks for reading. Tell me what your opinion is on Mountain Dew! I love good discussion. I worked super hard on this research, here are my sources:
http://www.naturalthyroidchoices.com
http://voices.yahoo.com/just-bad-mountain-dew-you-3462305.html
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/01/does-mountain-dew-kill-sperm/
