Your stomach and intestines, however, are built to withstand a variety of acidic digestive juices. For people with healthy digestive tracts, a little extra acid from Mountain Dew, which passes through your system relatively quickly, shouldn't harm your stomach like it does your teeth.

Defenders of Mountain Dew sometimes argue that orange juice contains as much or more citric acid as the neon green soda. "It's basically true," Ren said. "The pH of orange juice is between 3.5 and 3.8 — also very acidic. From what our experience is, yes, the rate of decay would be the same."

However, juice presents a small tradeoff: It erodes teeth, but it also provides vitamin C. "Orange juice has a healthy aspect, so people should continue to drink it," Ren said. He suggested minimizing the contact between the juice and your teeth by taking large gulps rather than small, frequent sips, then washing your mouth out with water. Or, you could use a straw.

Unlike orange juice, Mountain Dew contains no vitamin C… and, if you're lucky, no rubbery ghosts of mice, either.

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9 Comments

1. 1. hanmeng 07:55 PM 1/5/12

   Aren't other soft drinks like colas pretty acidic, too? On another note, many Asian drinks have jelly-like substances intentionally added to them.

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2. 2. Unksoldr 08:30 PM 1/5/12

   Got some problem with reading comprehension?
   
   "Consequently, these drinks have a low pH value around 3 (very acidic). Coca Cola, with its dark coloring and non-fruity flavor, may be the soft drink most often compared to battery acid, but 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."

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3. 3. Mr. Natural 10:15 PM 1/5/12

   If ever an article called for time lapse video...

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4. 4. LorneZ 11:03 PM 1/5/12

   I found a mouse in my beer, eh.....

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5. 5. blondmarcus 12:36 AM 1/6/12

   Mike Drake, a New York personality, author (Halloween In New York), and guest star of Discovery Channel’s ODDITIES tv show, has taken science into his own hands and is making a series of videos to show what will happen to bones submerged in water (as a control) and Mountain Dew.
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZQ_m1B28-g
   Look for it on You Tube as
   Mountain Dew dissolves a mouse? Part 1

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6. 6. MadScientist72 09:51 AM 1/6/12

   "When Fraunhofer's team soaked human molars in Mountain Dew for two weeks (a period of time comparable to approximately 13 years of normal beverage exposure, the researchers calculated)"
   - Did they figure the body's repair functions into this calculation, or just a basic time-equivalency?
   
   "But dissolving [the mouse] does not mean it will disappear, because you'll still have the collagen and the soft tissue part. It will be like rubber."
   - collagen's the primary component of gelatin. Anyone for Mountain Dew-flavored rat-jello?

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7. 7. MadScientist72 in reply to hanmeng 10:18 AM 1/6/12

   "many Asian drinks have jelly-like substances intentionally added to them"
   Are sure SURE they're jell-like substances when they're added & not dead (or not-so-dead) rodents that BECOME jelly-like?

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8. 8. Wayne Williamson 05:16 PM 1/6/12

   mmmm...love mountain dew;-)

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9. 9. linda.amendt@fda.hhs.gov 03:40 PM 1/12/12

   I wonder how many college kids are going get a mouse and (kill it first) place it in a can of Mountain Dew--"just to check"...

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