Previous studies have linked diet sodas to strokes and dementia, diabetes and metabolic syndrome, and tooth decay, as well as abdominal cramps, diarrhea, hallucinations, headaches, joint pain and nausea. “Regularly consuming food and beverages that taste good and that you enjoy is not the same as being addicted to them.” “Food and beverages, like chocolate, for example, can trigger what scientists call ‘reward centers’ in the brain, but so can other things like music or laughter,” said Daphne Dickerson, a spokeswoman for Coca-Cola. She also had an extremely strong thirst that nothing seemed to quench, but the upside was that forced her to drink more water.Ĭoca-Cola has a different take on what people refer to as an addiction. She, too, battled severe headaches when she quit, along with “hilariously PMS crankiness,” she said. Serious drinkers are so used to the super-sweet taste that everything else seems bland in comparison. Aspartame is 200 times sweeter than table sugar. Not only is this tied to weight gain, especially in the belly, but it also leaves you with cravings. Faux sugar doesn’t pack the same wallop as the real stuff, so it keeps you wanting more and more. (An 8-ounce cup of coffee has about 95 mg.) Artificial sweeteners activate the brain’s reward system, but only about half as much as regular sugar, said Dr. Individually, they’re bad together, they’re an addict’s nightmare.Ī 12-ounce can of regular Coke has 34 milligrams of caffeine, whereas Diet Coke has 11 milligrams more, according to Coca-Cola.
Or, to be more precise: addiction to sweetness and to caffeine. Gearhardt points to two culprits: aspartame and caffeine. Carmel, a licensed clinical social worker and founder of Beacon by MC, a program that helps people stop their destructive relationships with food and dieting. “It was a haven as a fat kid who wanted to be like the other kids - I could have soda even though I couldn’t spare the calories,” said Ms. For her, the attraction was physical and emotional. Molly Carmel quit Diet Coke over a decade ago, but there was a time she guzzled at least six 12-ounce cans a day. Large food companies have spent billions ensuring that we crave more junk food, said Pamela Peeke, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland and author of “The Hunger Fix.” She added: “If Diet Coke - or any diet soda - was a new pharmaceutical product and we were testing it for whether people are getting addicted to it, we would be very concerned.” Aspirin helped the pain, and to occupy his mind he went for long walks and read books. He went cold turkey two weeks ago and suffered terrible headaches, along with feeling irritable and tired. Walsh, 38, an unemployed furniture mover in Kilkenny, Ireland. “That was easier than giving up Diet Coke,” said Mr. The 1,100 members of the Facebook group Diet Soda Coke Drinkers Who WANT to Quit understand this. But in a 2007 study where laboratory rats were forced to choose between saccharin and cocaine, 94 percent of them chose the noncaloric sweetener - even if they had showed signs of dependence on the cocaine. Diet Coke is not mentioned caffeine use disorder falls under the section “requiring further research.”Īrtificial sweeteners are nowhere to be found either.
#DIET COKE CAFFEINE MANUAL#
The American Psychiatric Association, which publishes the DSM-5, the diagnostic manual of mental disorders, categorizes all “ addictions” - to alcohol, drugs, gambling, even paint thinner - under Substance Related and Addictive Disorders. Why did it take so long? Was I truly physically dependent, or was it simply a bad habit? Can a soft drink be addictive?
Just like that, I was done, after 39 years. In late June, after polishing off my second can of the day, pains shot across my stomach, and that was my last soda.
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