Despite the increasing awareness of the harms of soda, Mountain dew is a still a popular drink among children and adults alike.
Almost every soda fountain in fast-food restaurants have it on hand.
However, Mountain Dew, is even worse than other sodas, including coca-cola, which have been highly criticized in the last few years.
Mountain Dew is so bad that it even has a disease named after it.
Mountain Dew Ingredients
As listed in the nutritional information made available online (1), the soda contains:
GMO corn: in the form of high fructose corn syrup. The syrup is known to cause cardiovascular problems and fatty liver disease. The Corn syrup also contains traces of glyphosate, a powerful carcinogen.
BVO: (brominated vegetable oil): which is banned in Europe and Japan. This oil has been linked to memory loss and skin and nerve problems (2).
Sodium benzoate: a preservative which is a known carcinogen (3).
Yellow dyes: a petroleum-based product which is a possible food carcinogen (4,5). Yellow dyes are also known to cause adrenal tumors in animals as well as hypersensitivity in children.
Ever Heard of “Mountain Dew Mouth?”
The high sugar levels and ascorbic acid are known to cause severe tooth enamel erosion. It can lead to holes in the teeth, nerve damage and even tooth loss (6).
Mohamed Bassiouny, a researcher and professor of dentistry at Temple University in Philadelphia found striking similarities between the lesions on the teeth of crack and methamphetamine addicts (7).
65% of children in West Virginia, where Mountain Dew has a cult-like following, suffer from tooth decay. This state, as well as the region of Central Appalachia is the #1 region in the United States in terms of toothlessness (8).
The drink also contains synthetic caffeine which causes rapid heart rate, palpitations, a rise in blood pressure “and in the most severe cases, seizures or sudden death.”
The caffeine is the main cause of its popularity in the Appalaches, where coal miners use it to stay awake. Tap water is also unsafe to drink, making people more prone to drinking other substances since they have to pay for bottled water anyways (9).
Mountain Dew Vs. Cola
A 20-ounce bottle of Mountain Dew has 290 calories, 77 grams of sugar and 91 milligrams of caffeine (1).
In comparison, a 20-ounce bottle of Pepsi has 250 calories, 69 grams of sugar and 63 milligrams of caffeine (10).
Mountain Dew is even worse than cola, which is already pretty bad!
In 2004, a well-known study led by dentist J. Anthony von Fraunhofer found that citrus sodas like Mountain Dew and Sprite erode tooth enamel around six times faster than colas (11).
The Mouse Incident
In 2012, Pepsi Co was sued after a man named Ronald Ball had purchased Mountain Dew from a vending machine and found a dead mouse inside (12).
The company was quick to state that the mouse would have “dissolved in the soda in the time between bottling and consumption, turning it into a jelly-like substance.”
Yes, that’s right, the company admitted that Mountain Dew was corrosive enough to dissolve a mouse carcass in just a few months. Curious youtuber tried the experiment and found that it only took 37 days to liquefy the mouse (13).
Now, imagine what this kind of drink can do to your intestines and the rest of your digestive tract. Needless to say, Mountain Dew should never be consumed by anyone.
sources:
[1]https://origin-www.pepsicobeveragefacts.com/Home/Product?formula=44316*01*01-07&form=RTD&size=20
[2]https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-answers/bvo/faq-20058236
[3]https://articles.latimes.com/2011/sep/08/news/la-heb-skinnygirl-margarita-sodium-benzoate-20110908
[4]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17505761
[5]https://www.fda.gov/ForIndustry/ColorAdditives/RegulatoryProcessHistoricalPerspectives/
[6]https://www.dentalhealth.org/tell-me-about/topic/mouth-conditions/dental-erosion
[7]https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/26/mountain-dew-regions_n_6524382.html
[8]https://www.healthline.com/health/dental-and-oral-health/mountain-dew-mouth
[9]https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/26/mountain-dew-regions_n_6524382.html
[10]https://origin-www.pepsicobeveragefacts.com/Home/Product?formula=35005*26*01-01&form=RTD&size=20
[11]https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/can-mountain-dew-really-dissolve/
[12]https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2081767/Mountain-Dew-dead-mouse-lawsuit-Ronald-Ball-wrong-dissolve.html
[13]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8U8f8GQ1LYc