Monday, October 31, 2005

CAFFEINATED Mountain Dew!

I know what you're thinking. "You're just realizing this?" But stay your criticism, for here in Canada, popular beverage Mountain Dew, contains no caffeine! In Canada, there is a law that prohibits the addition of caffeine to just about anything that's not a dark cola. So colas are fine, so is coffee (the caffeine is natural from the coffee beans). Pretty much anything else gets shot down.

Of course, there's been a loophole for awhile now: gurana, a natural berry which, like coffee beans, that also contains caffeine. Since it's natural, it's legal. So there's been a lot of drinks coming out with gurana.

But just today, I found something in Sobeys: Mountain Dew "Energy". Basically, it IS American Mountain Dew, complete with caffeine. Except marketed as an energy drink. The label is hilarious! They have to treat it like a drug, so they provide its purpose (to provide energy to adults), and dosages. Plus a giant warning that it shouldn't be taken by kids or pregant women! Hilarious!

Of course, one may wonder why do this? Well, caffeine is a drug: a stimulant, in fact! It is physically addictive, has significant withdrawl symptoms, the body can build a tolerance to it with repeated use, and it's possible to get caffeine poisoning, or even die! This may sound bad, but the quantities of consumption required to reach any of these problems (except the desired one as a stimulant) with most normal caffeinated drinks is excessive. These problems tend to only develop with things like caffeine pills.

Not that I'm worried. I'm going to pour myself some right now in fact!

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