Effects Of Mountain DewBy:Andrew Evans

Thesis

I wanted to find the effects of Mountain Dew on human health and daily performance.What are the sleeping patterns?Performance in daily activity?Can it effect weight loss or gain?

The Challenge

I decided to conduct a thirty days immersion project. I was drinking a 2 liter of Mountain Dew per

day. This was a daily event.

I decided to quit drinking all soda for thirty days and record all for the results that I notice

I kept a daily blog to help record the daily data.

Daily Questions

How much sleep did I get last night? Hours? Quality? How tired am I during the day?

How much do I weigh? Did I gain or lose?

What is my daily academic standing? Grades doing good?

During The Challenge

The first week was the hardest. There was a lot of headaches. I was yearning for some soda

It did not matter what soda at that point.

The second week. The headaches were gone. I wanted soda less then the first week

During The Challenge

The third week There was almost no want for soda. It was the hardest because I went home.

The only thing to drink was soda We stopped at a fast food place and the only thing

to drink is soda so I had to ask just for water and I almost accidently filled my cup with soda.

The fourth week It was almost as if I was back to normal. Not drinking Mountain Dew had become the norm.

Daily Activity

When I was drinking a lot Mountain dew I was drinking the dew to have energy during the day but I would tend to crash when I came off the sugar high and therefore have to drink more dew to have more energy.

When I quit I didn’t have much energy at the start but after the first week I was able to go back to a normal schedule and have plenty of energy for the day.

Sleep Patterns Before

I would only get a few hours of sleep. On average I would get 5-6 hours per night. It was about 1 hour of deep sleep.

When laying down to go to sleep it would take on average 20-25 minutes to fall asleep.

I would not go to sleep until about 2:00 or maybe 3:00 in the morning.

I felt rested but I would be tired in class.

Sleep Patterns After

After I quit it was a better quality of sleep. I was able to get at least 5 hours of deep sleep. I was able to sleep longer, at least 8 hours.

I was able to fall asleep faster once I laid down. It only took on average about 10 minutes.

I felt rested once I woke up in the morning I started to want to go to bed earlier in the

evening around 12:00

Weight loss

When I started the 30 day challenge I was hoping that it would be easier to lose weight if I was to quit drinking all soda.

When I was done with the challenge I discovered that I was able to lose 6 pounds. This was a really cool outcome and I hope to be

able to continue to lose the weight.

Fun Facts

Mountain Dew is the second leading cause of tooth decay behind Sun Drop soda.

The ingredients in Mountain Dew are also used to make cement.

Ingredients in Mountain Dew

Carbonated water High fructose corn syrup

(HFCS) Concentrated orange juice

and other natural flavors Citric acid Sodium benzoate

(preserves freshness) Caffeine (55.2 mg per 12

oz.)

Sodium citrateGum arabicErythorbic acid

(preserves freshness)Calcium disodium EDTA

(to protect flavor)Brominated vegetable

oilYellow 5

Harmful Facts About Ingredients

High Fructose Corn Syrup, In high doses it can cause such serious health problems as obesity, migraines, lowered immune function, gallstones, and cardiovascular disease.

Yellow 5 or Tartrazine. may cause behavioral problems in children and can cause allergic reactions.

Citric Acid can rot away your teeth if consumed in large enough quantities

Harmful Facts About Ingredients

Caffeine, an addictive substance that can have serious withdrawal symptoms and can even produce some mild psychiatric disorders for those who are addicted to it.

Gum Arabic doesn't really have any worrying side effects, but it is a key ingredient in shoe polish, and is used sometimes in postage stamps and some watercolor paints.

Harmful Facts About Ingredients

Sodium Benzoate, has been shown to produce carcinogens when mixed with Vitamin C. It might lead to Parkinson's disease and cirrhosis of the liver.

Brominated Vegetable Oil, ( which is banned in over 100 countries) in some test animals bromine stayed in fat cells way too long, which isn't good since it also caused damage to the heart and kidneys in some of them. 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.

Life after the 30 Days

I want to continue to not drink soda and if I do I Don’t want to have more then one can per week.

After having conducted the research on the ingredients and what they do to the human body I am very glad that I was able to quit.

It is not as hard as you would think to quit a habit that you have and once you make it past the 30 day mark, it is for sure broken.

Sources Used

http://voices.yahoo.com/just-bad-mountain-dew-you-3462305.html

http://www.naturalthyroidchoices.com/MtDew.html