Harry: From calorie
count to portion sizes, we wanted to find out all
the differences between Mountain Dew in the UK and the US. This is "Food Wars." In the UK, Mountain Dew
comes in three portion sizes. Firstly, we have this 330-milliliter can. Then we have a 500-milliliter bottle. Then we have our largest size, which is a 1-liter bottle. In the US, Mountain Dew
comes in six portion sizes. The smallest is this 7.5-ounce mini can. Then we have our standard 12-ounce can, then a 16-ounce, or 1-pint, can. Then we go to bottles. We have a 16.9, or 500-milliliter, bottle. Jump up to the 20-ounce bottle, and our largest size, the 2-liter bottle. As you can see, I don't
currently have a 1-liter bottle, as it was surprisingly hard to track down. I finally thought I'd found some on Amazon and ordered a six-pack. Then this showed up. They helpfully sent me 12
500-milliliter bottles, which is the same as six times 1 liter. However, not really what we
were going for. Thanks, guys. Ha! Our largest size is
double the size of the UK's, and we don't even stop there. In the US, our largest single
Mountain Dew item is this. [cheering] 24-pack of 12-ounce cans. That's 8.52 liters of Mountain Dew, or 2.25 gallons. It's a little unclear what
our largest single item is. On the UK website, there
is a multipack listed, but it doesn't say how
many cans are in one, and I also couldn't find one anywhere. So I called Britvic, who
manufacture Mountain Dew here in the UK on behalf of PepsiCo, and an employee for them told me that the multipack actually doesn't exist. The largest item that the company had on their own records that
they produce is this. A 24-pack of cans. However, this is technically
marketed at retailers rather than consumers, as you can see by the fact that they
have prices on the cans. We don't usually count
wholesale on this show, so technically a 1-liter
bottle is our largest size, if you can find one. Joe: That makes the US's largest item 752% larger than the UK's. It's also worth pointing
out the difference in price between Mountain Dew in the two countries. Sugary sodas in the UK
get hit with a sugar tax, which raises their price in an effort to stop
people from drinking them. If you buy a 500-milliliter Mountain Dew from a Sainsbury's in the UK, for example, it will cost you 1 pound 25 pence, which was around $1.69 at the time of recording this. Nice. The closest thing at that
price point in the US is this 2-liter. According to Target,
this is listed as $1.98. You must be joking. This isn't even $2? Look at this. That is alarmingly cheap. For every milliliter in the UK bottle, you're paying 0.338 cents. Every milliliter of this 2-liter costs 0.0995 cents. That's 70% cheaper than the UK price. Hang on. Don't you feel like when you
go to a bodega or something, this is, like, a dollar? So not only is Mountain Dew super cheap, but then when you get
it at a sandwich shop or something, you're getting gouged! Oof! Here are all the Mountain
Dew products in the UK that you won't find in the US. Here are all the Mountain Dew products you can find in the US you
will not find in the UK. [groans] Show this video to the paramedics. We can actually only get three Mountain Dew products in the UK, one of which I couldn't even find today. I guess you could sort of call our standard Mountain Dew
in the UK an exclusive, because here it's marketed
as Mountain Dew Citrus Blast, while in the US, it's just Mountain Dew. This also comes in a diet version, which is the thing that
I couldn't find today. The only other thing we
can get in the UK is this, which is a SodaStream Mountain Dew syrup. For those of you who don't know, SodaStream is a device which lets you carbonate your own drinks at home. PepsiCo owns both Mountain
Dew and SodaStream, so I guess it made sense for them to just mash their products together. Now, I love sparkling water, so I actually own my own SodaStream, and we can use it to make
our own Mountain Dew. Take one of your little
SodaStream water bottles, fill it with water, screw
it into the machine. Once it's nice and secure,
press the magic button. SodaStream, if you want to sponsor me, you know where to find me. And bang. You have fizzy water. Ta-da. Nice splash of the syrup. That is a strange color on that. I don't think that's what I
was expecting it to look like. So, I think our homemade stuff actually might look slightly more appealing. You could kind of pass this
off as more of a fruity soda rather than Mountain Dew from the bottle, which is a bit more translucent, just a bit more pallid and weak, and not really sure what's going on there. That's actually not bad. That's actually not bad.
It's quite a mild flavor. It's not actually aggressively sweet. Also not too bubbly. I
guess you have a bit more control over the bubble
level with the SodaStream. Despite the difference in the color, they actually taste really similar. That's actually a pretty
accurate recreation. [exhales] Jesus Christ. That's one of the sweetest things I've ever tasted in my entire life. God. It's like they've crammed more sugar than there is space into that. Ugh. I am guaranteeing, Yuelei, I'm going to throw up
in the middle of this. In the US, we have something
you can't get in the UK, and it's Mountain Dew zero sugar. Apparently even diet Mountain Dew still has some sugar in it. I'm not surprised at all. Let's see what we got. Regular. Zero sugar. Wow, that's, like, really close. I don't mean to do the Mountain Dew zero sugar commercial here, but it tastes exactly
like regular Mountain Dew. Mountain Dew Frost Bite. I have no clue what this is. Oh, that's terrible. I don't
even know what that is. This is an Avella classic. I'm not playing. I love
Mountain Dew Code Red. It tastes like — what's
that drink that you give kids when they want alcohol? Shirley Temple? Right? What is that? That's just Sprite and
cherry grenadine, right? That's exactly what this tastes like. Oh, man. It's back, baby. Mountain Dew Snap'd. It's the gingerbread Mountain Dew. I mean, it still even has
Christmas shit on it, so. It smells just like gingerbread cookies. It's good. It's really good. Mountain Dew Voltage. "Dew charged with raspberry,
citrus flavor, and ginseng." It says "charged," guys. Look at this. This is like Windex! Oh, no. Yeah, it has, like, a
melted-popsicle flavor. It's a really strong flavor. It's Mountain Dew Spark. "Dew with a blast of
raspberry lemonade." OK. I've already hit a wall. Oh, God. It's like if you tasked a child to make Kool-Aid. It's, I can't believe
how strong this stuff is. Mountain Dew Major Melon. Watermelon Mountain Dew. Look what's on here. Look
at what they put on here. Do you see this? Like, look at the
nightmare that's on here. Oh, it smells exactly
like a Jolly Rancher. I like Jolly Ranchers, but in liquid form? No. Oh, this is really bad. It's the most artificial-tasting
thing we've had so far. To save me from getting
too bored in this section, Joe was kind enough to send me some Mountain Dew from America as well as some Mountain Dew Code Red. Let's do a little side by side of British and American Mountain Dews. Getting a rare taste
of yellow 5 in the UK. Chin, chin. Whoa. What was that? You know in the film "Limitless"
when he takes that pill and it just completely rewires his brain? I think that's what yellow 5
now does to British people. I've had, like, two sips of this, and I feel like I could fight God. Now that I've tried the American version, the British version kind of
just tastes like sadness. There's basically no flavor
to it other than sugar, whereas at least I think with this, you get obviously a lot of sugar, but then there's a bit
more citrus as well. This has even more illegal
food colorings in it. We have red 40 and blue 1, which, again, hard to come by in the UK. OK, OK. I think I actually might just prefer classic American Mountain Dew. This one felt like a religious experience, whereas this one just felt OK. So I'll stick to the classic Dew for now. If that wasn't enough,
we also have a range of Kickstart Mountain Dews. These are cans of Dew mixed
with fruit juice and caffeine. Imagine that. Caffeine. Black cherry. Now that it said juice in there, I really taste the juice here. Ooh, and electrolytes. It's like Gatorade. Fruit punch. Love fruit punch. Oh, no. That's very bad. Full disclosure, pineapple orange mango, I had to get a case of these just to get the one for the video, so, been working on these all week. This one's pretty good. Oh, man. Caffeine meter is just exploding. Orange citrus. Yeah, it's not bad. Grape. [burps] That's the grapiest-tasting
grape thing, yeah. The flavors aren't as harsh, 'cause they cut it with juice. So, yeah, I kind of like the Kickstarts. Is that everything? 'Cause I'm getting a bit bored over here. I might just go and make a cup of tea. Sorry, Harry, we have even more options. We have Mountain Dew Amp energy drink. More caffeine, I'm assuming. This is the original. You can
also get it in Cherry Blast. [Windows shutdown sound] Oh, man, that's really weird. Whoa. [inhales] [exhales] [kettle boiling] Ha ha, if that wasn't enough, we also have Mountain Dew Energy. Why? What was this? Oh, Jesus. They even broke — oh, my God, look, they even broke it down on here. Two cups of coffee. 5% juice, no added sugar, zinc. Zinc? What's zinc got to do with anything? For all I know the can's made of zinc. Oh, here it goes. "Zinc helps support immune function." I mean, I feel like I'm gonna drink this and, like, try and run
through a brick wall. What's that doing for my health? "Citicoline and caffeine in combination have been shown to help
improve attention." Get — get out of my face with this on here! [groans] [echoing] Show this
video to the paramedics. [groans] Let's do this. Orange Breeze. Orange Breeze, right? A nice breeze of orange? Moments before you tackle a stranger, bite into
their neck for sustenance? Oh, that's really bad. I don't think so. They shouldn't even have it here. They should just have like a Capri Sun, like, two holes here, and you just bite into
it, like "Teen Wolf," and drink it that way. Is that possible to do that? Pomegranate Blue Burst. This is driving me out of my mind. I've never had a pomegranate
that tastes like that, and if I did, I would spit it out. Oh, Strawberry Melon Spark. Ugh. No. Melon drinks are bad. Peach Mango Dawn. The dawn — a new dawn is here. Oh, my vision is starting to blur. Tropical Sunrise. They've somehow bottled energy. Ah! Like licking a 9-volt! The last exclusive Mountain Dew product we're gonna cover before I go totally blind is Mountain Dew Game Fuel. It's the first beverage, quote,
"designed just for gamers." For real? Hey, sitting for 12 hours at a time doing literally nothing staring at a flashing screen? Drink this. Your muscles
won't atrophy as fast? I'm not quite sure what's in here to make it better for gaming, but the flavors they have is Cherry Burst, Berry Blast, original, Tropical Strike, and Orange Storm. Let's take out the flavors and go through those words one more time. Burst! Blast. Strike. Storm. Stupid. You know, it's not as
strong as the energy drinks. The Charged Berry Blast. Charged Berry Blast. Ooh. Ah, man. Feel like I'm pulling
the tab out of a grenade. You know, I'm surprised.
These aren't as harsh as the energy drinks. I'm feeling myself getting
ready to game, Yuelei! Getting ready to do some gaming! Eh? I'm about to whoop
some Candy Crush ass! This one is the Charged Tropical Strike. This one's not that bad. Full disclosure, I thought
these were going to hands down be the worst. I still don't like them, but. Ooh! Charged Cherry Burst. Bursting with cherry. Here's the issue. Are they
going to make me a better gamer? There's only one way to find out. I'm going to play an extreme game. That's right. Let's do today's Wordle. I'm going to take a sip and
then put in a five-letter word. An extreme five-letter word. Skate. Board. Mm. Yuelei: How about blast? There you go! This Game Fuel's not helping. Taste. Oh, wait, not E though. OK, blank, A S T, blank. Let's do casts. OK. Maybe nasty? N A S T Y? All right, Wordle, here we go! Is nasty it? Oh-ho-ho! That's right. So what have we learned? Uh, me? Nothing. Carry on, don't let me interrupt. If that wasn't enough, Mountain Dew recently partnered with
the Boston Beer Company to create hard Mountain Dew, a boozy spiked-seltzer
version of Mountain Dew. And it comes in four flavors, original Mountain Dew, Baja Blast, oh, God, black cherry, and watermelon. And you're asking, "Joe, where is it? I wanna see you get drunk!" Well, I'm in California, and it currently is only
available in the United States in Tennessee, Iowa, and Florida. Of course it's in Florida. Joe, I think we're gonna need
the lab coats for this one. Let's do it. There's a fun FAQ on the
UK Mountain Dew website explaining why the American
version of the product isn't sold here, citing EU regulations. There are some pretty major
differences between the two, some of which are potentially harmful. The US sweetens its Mountain Dew with high-fructose corn
syrup instead of sugar. Well, it's not necessarily
any worse for you. It provides an even sweeter taste with a slightly more chemical flavor. The US also flavors its
Dew with orange juice, which isn't specifically
listed in the UK ingredients. One thing to look out for in
the US is sodium benzoate. This is a sodium salt which food producers
use as a preservative. On its own, it's harmless, but when it's mixed with certain acids, like erythorbic or ascorbic acid, it can form benzene. Benzene is a known carcinogen
linked to causing cancer in factory workers who've
been exposed to it. The good news is US
Mountain Dew also contains calcium disodium EDTA, aka calcium disodium ... Automated voice:
Ethylenediaminetetraacetate. This can't be spelled right. Terraacetate? Look, there's two A's next
to each other in that word! With the exception of aardvark, I've never seen two
A's next to each other. And that's how that word starts! This is a flavor enhancer,
but it actually helps mitigate the formation of benzene. Fantastic. They added
poison chemicals into it, then they just added more chemicals to stop it from being so poisonous. Studies have shown that it
chelates the metallic ions that catalyze hydroxyl radical formation. It's a complicated way of saying that it removes the fuel from the fire. Mm. Talk about teeth for a second, because Mountain Dew is
pretty bad for your teeth. When a man sued PepsiCo in 2009, he alleged that he found a mouse in his can of Mountain Dew. But experts called in by PepsiCo said that couldn't have been true because Mountain Dew would
have dissolved the mouse into a jellylike substance. Oh, my God. If it is strong enough to
dissolve an entire mouse, you can imagine the
effect Mountain Dew has on the enamel of your teeth. But why is this happening? It comes down to two things. Sugar and acid. Tooth enamel will start to erode if your mouth's pH level drops below 5.5. Mountain Dew has a pH of
around 3.3, which is acidic, but actually on the
better end of the spectrum as far as sodas are concerned. Sugar itself has a neutral pH, so why does it aid tooth decay? Our mouths play host
to a range of bacteria. They're usually harmless
and can even be helpful by fighting things like gingivitis. However, they also love sugar, and when they eat it, they produce acid. Bacteria like Streptococcus mutans will metabolize sugar into lactic acid, which will then erode your teeth. The more sugar in a soda, the
more food these bacteria have and the more acid they'll produce, so sugar isn't causing it per se, but it is aiding tooth decay. Acids commonly used in soda include citric acid and phosphoric acid. Firstly, these acids will
lower the pH of your soda and contribute to regular erosion. But they're also examples
of polybasic acids. These bind to the calcium in our teeth and cause us to lose
enamel through dissolution. It's kind of like how you can use acid to dissolve rust on a metallic object. All in all, while Mountain
Dew might not have one of the lowest pHs when
compared to other sodas, its sugar content combined
with its other ingredients means that it is one of
the worst for your teeth. A 2004 study place it as
the second-worst offender for the dissolution of tooth enamel, second only to Sprite. Really? Sprite's worse? Hm. And the bad news is the
sugar-free versions of sodas don't seem to be any less harmful. The replacement sweeteners
have the same effect on the bacteria in your teeth. If you're worried about your teeth, it's better to drink a soda quickly than it is to continuously sip it and prolong the exposure. Or, you know, you could
just stop drinking soda. Interestingly, the UK version actually has 1 more gram of sugar when compared to the American version. But our Mountain Dew is
slightly more calorific and has double the
sodium of the UK version. The bottles contain 132% and 130% of your daily sugar
allowance, respectively. Let's find out what that looks like. Wait, this is for how big of a thing? No, way. Yeah! Oh, my God. That's 50. We're not done yet. That's an appalling amount of sugar. I'm still gonna drink it. Another thing worth pointing out is the caffeine content
of your Mountain Dew. In the UK, many supermarkets will actually list Mountain Dew as Mountain Dew Energy. This is because we have
stricter rules in the UK about what does and doesn't
count as an energy drink. In the UK, sugar is a major factor in deciding whether or not
something is an energy drink, as opposed to just caffeine. Mountain Dew doesn't actually disclose its caffeine content in the UK. All I could find was this
Twitter reply from 2018 where they said it used
to be an energy drink, but then they reformulated it and now it has a similar
amount of caffeine to Pepsi. They claim that this is less than half the caffeine content of a cup of coffee. Regular Mountain Dew contains
72 milligrams of caffeine per 16 ounces. There's around 92 milligrams of caffeine in the same amount of Kickstart, almost one and a half
espressos' worth of caffeine. Moving up, Mountain Dew
Amp, original and cherry, contain 142 and 160 milligrams of caffeine per 16 ounces, more than a double espresso. The worst offender is Mountain Dew Energy. One of these cans contains
180 milligrams of caffeine per 16 ounces, which is
basically a triple espresso. For reference, the FDA recommends that the average healthy
adult shouldn't consume more than 400 milligrams
of caffeine per day. That's just over two of
those Mountain Dew energies. It's around the 1,200-milligram mark where you're actually
putting yourself in danger. According to the FDA, ingesting 1,200 milligrams of caffeine, and you may experience seizures or put yourself at risk
of cardiac arrhythmia. So please do not drink more
than six of these at one time. The "good" news is that
the lethal dose of caffeine is around 5 grams, so to actually overdose on Mountain Dew, you'd need to chug 28 of
the Mountain Dew Energies in pretty quick succession. What a way to go. Charlie: You're loving
that one, aren't you? I can't stop drinking it.
I'm slightly concerned.
