Many people love the classic soft drink, Mountain Dew. It has the right taste, especially when served cold, and its taste is so good that some people get addicted to this carbonated drink.
However, there is a popular myth about Mountain Dew that baffled many people all around the globe for years – does drinking Mountain Dew, lower sperm count? As strange as it seems, some people believe that this effect of the popular drink does exist.
What is Mountain Dew?
Let us first learn more about this popular soft drink. Mountain Dew is a brand of carbonated soft drink owned by PepsiCo. Barney and Ally Hartman was the original inventor of its formula in 1940. This introduction of the Mountain Dew led to the revision of Bill Bridgforth in 1958, which captured the attention of Tip Corporation in Marion, Virginia. The Tip Corporation gained the rights to this formula, wherein one of their workers, William H. “Bill” Jones, created another revision to it. They launched the revised formula in 1961 as the first version of Mountain Dew. Its production initially boomed in the United States and Canada, which expanded to several other countries all around the globe over the years. Today, Mountain Dew is one of the most famous soft drink brands globally and the flagship of PepsiCo.
Does Mountain Dew affect sperm count?
Now that we already know some information about Mountain Dew, let us go to our initial question. Despite the incredible taste of Mountain Dew and the many people who enjoy it, there is a common myth about this drink, stating that it results in lower sperm count in men.
This legend is already circulating for years, and people accepting this belief support their claims with the presence of two ingredients found in the drink – caffeine and Yellow Dye 5.
Compared to other soft drinks, the caffeine content in Mountain Dew is much higher, measuring at fifty-five milligrams per twelve ounces. Several studies regarding the effects of caffeine in our body show that if a person consumes it more than the acceptable amount, it could affect fertility, mainly in women. Records show that women who drink more than three cups of coffee each day have lower fertility. But further studies attribute these effects to the lifestyle of the person since, in general, people who consume more caffeine have a bad lifestyle. However, a cup of coffee has four times more caffeine than in a bottle of Mountain Dew. Meaning to say, if the soft drink causes lower sperm counts, then people who drink coffee daily have a higher chance of it, which is not the case.
On the other hand, there is also another ingredient found in Mountain Dew called Yellow Dye 5, also known as Tartrazine. Tartrazine is a food coloring agent which many believe is playing a significant part in the decline of sperm count in men. For starters, Tartrazine is present in many things, such as ice cream. One thing to take note of this is that our body can metabolize a minimal amount of this substance. Aside from this, studies show that Tartrazine does not produce further harmful effects such as lower sperm count, although excessive consumption of this could lead to allergy.
Mountain Dew has been around for many years, and several myths surround it since its introduction to the public. Some claims stated that Mountain Dew could lead to impotence. According to some people, it would cause a man’s testicles to shrink, while others believed that consuming it would cause the penis to dry. Despite the popularity of these myths, they hold no scientific evidence and remains to be unfounded. The unsupported belief of the so-called effects of Mountain Dew is mostly famous among teenagers, wherein some people also believe that Mountain Dew could be an alternative contraceptive in place of condoms.
Even in our technology today, there is no concrete evidence to state the cause of low sperm count in men. Considering that every human body is unique, it mostly depends on the person’s diet and lifestyle. However, based on facts and scientific evidence, we can say that drinking Mountain Dew will cause no low sperm count, and it does not affect the penis and testicles in anyway.