Diet Coke probably isn't a cognitive performance enhancer

Fun fact: Diet Coke has 34% more caffeine than regular Coke<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.coca-colacompany.com&#x2F;faqs&#x2F;what-is-caffeine#:~:text=People%20are%20often%20surprised%20when,Coke%20caffeine%20content%20is%2046mg" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.coca-colacompany.com&#x2F;faqs&#x2F;what-is-caffeine#:~:te...</a>.

Contrary to most opinions here, I lost weight through Diet Coke and diet drinks and kept it down thanks to it. These sodas (or rather the artificial sweeteners) allowed me to cut out sugar totally out of my diet at age 16 where I weighed 250 lbs at my highest, to 140 lbs at my lowest at age 21. Now I&#x27;m 30 years old at a healthy 160 lbs. I never worked out (still hate it) and only achieved this thanks to the dietary changes I was able to make through 0-calorie sweeteners. Perhaps my experience differs from other peoples, but I personally know 2-3 other people like me. Today, like most days, I drank at least 80 fl oz of diet soda and it never had a negative effect on me.

Back in the dot-com days, thanks to employer-subsidized soda fridges, I was drinking easily 6+ cans of diet soda a day (in my case, Diet Dr. Pepper). Along with other startup related behaviors like eating fast food (Carl&#x27;s Jr, what&#x27;s up?) and not exercising, my weight increased to around 220 lbs on a 6&#x27;1&quot; frame. I stopped drinking diet soda around the time I joined a weight-loss startup in 2011, and started eating healthier and I end up dropping down to around 175 lbs, which I more or less maintain to this day. I personally think &quot;diet soda&quot;, even though &quot;0 calories&quot; doesn&#x27;t do anything great for your metabolism or weight and is a great oxymoron of a product.

I found out that when I stop drinking Diet Coke, I get depression symptoms. (Reproduced three times now).<p>It must have something to do with the aspartame in it. When I take DLPA pills (a breakdown product of aspartame), the depression goes away quite fast. Drinking a can or two of Diet Coke also does the trick.

Biggest advantage over regular coke: does not get sticky when you spill it.

So they just decided to ignore the Caffeine in it for the sake of making a point?

&quot;Placebo enthusiasts&quot; is a great term.

I wasn&#x27;t even aware this was a question.<p>I&#x27;d also consider the possibility that high-achievers realize that drinking calories is hardly ever worth it. And if you want something that tastes like soda but has all the nutritional value of water, Diet Coke is your best option.

It is by will alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the cola of coca that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire pits, the pits become a warning. It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.

Trivia: Diet Pepsi has 177mg Aspartame, so a rounding error&#x27;s difference of phenylalanine.<p>Perhaps this started as a Diet Coke marketing viral campaign?

The original impetus seems to be from this tweet:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;mobile.twitter.com&#x2F;AaronBergman18&#x2F;status&#x2F;1527333615763603456" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;mobile.twitter.com&#x2F;AaronBergman18&#x2F;status&#x2F;15273336157...</a><p>&gt; 12oz Diet Coke contains 100mg phenylalanine, which is an indirect precursor to dopamine and norepinephrine in the brain.<p>If &quot;leads to dopamine eventually via some pathway&quot; were sufficient for dopamine, hoo boy, the field of psychopharmacology would look <i>radically</i> different. Would certainly make treating ADHD and Parkinson&#x27;s way easier (and schizophrenia and mania way harder).<p>Or, y&#x27;know, it&#x27;s the caffeine. Especially since it doesn&#x27;t cause the sugar spike&#x2F;crash like regular soft drinks.

It took me many years but a great thing you can do for yourself is quit all soda.

&gt; More concretely, phenylalanine is in all sorts of foods like eggs, chicken, milk, soybeans, and breast milk. Remember how phenylalanine is an essential amino acid? And remember how you’re reading this right now and not dead? From these facts, we may conclude that you consume phenylalanine all the time.<p>Oh man, this had me chuckling and is a great TLDR for many supplements.

Well that blows my summer plans!

Then how the hell did Trump do it, dammit??? ;-)

Calories in vs calories out is a myth. How do diet sodas affect insulin response? Not well I suspect.