I drink water.  I drink crystal light (and the generic equivalents). I drink whole milk.  And I drink Diet Mountain Dew.  That’s about all I drink on a regular basis.  I also have egg nog once or twice a year, milkshakes and root beer less than once a month.  No alcohol. No regular sugary drinks.

When I drink Dew, it’s usually at work, and it’s usually in the form of a two liter bottle.  Why do I do this?  Because you can buy a two liter bottle at the grocery store for approximately the same price as a 20 ounce bottle anywhere else. That means I get three times as much for the same price.  My coworkers (both past and present) can attest to the fact that sometimes I walk into work carrying this bottle.  I have gotten to where I usually drink it at room temperature, straight from the bottle. It usually takes me two shifts to get through an entire bottle.

Some people have criticized me for drinking Dew in such quantities.  The warning I hear more than any other is this, “You are drinking too much caffeine!”   I have told them that this isn’t the case.  I have now looked up the numbers.  So to all of you who think I drink too much Dew, here’s the facts.

According to the Mayo Clinic (www.mayoclinic.com/health/caffeine/AN01211)  Mountain Dew has between 46-55mg of caffeine in a 12 oz can.  That’s 4-4.6mg of caffeine per ounce. This means that a two liter bottle has between 260mg and 310mg of caffeine.  Sounds like a lot, doesn’t it?

Regular, brewed coffee has between 95-200mg of caffeine in an 8 ounce cup.  That’s between 12-25mg of caffeine per ounce.  This means that a 2liter bottle of Dew has the equivalent amount of caffeine as a 15 ounce cup of coffee.   My entire bottle of Dew has less caffeine than two cups of regular coffee, or one “Grande” from Starbucks. So the next time you are tempted to hold an intervention for someone because they tossed back a few Dews, check to see how much caffeine you are consuming via Juan Valdez.

These two have the same amount of caffeine.

Oh, and just for reference, the average adult needs to consume more than 500mg of caffeine in a day in order to cause negative health effects. So I’m good with my Dew unless I drink two 2Liter bottles in one day. And even I would agree that would be excessive.