my wife loves her pop. middle of the day, middle of the night — i hear that satisfying crack of a pop tab at all hours. but it’s become a bit much.
“it’s sugar-free, it’s practically good for me!” she’ll say. but a little digging will show you pop, in any form, is most certainly not good for you.
in fact, it can actually be addictive.
depending on your soda brand of choice, there are several reasons you might be addicted to pop. many soft drinks are filled with
sugar
and/or
caffeine
, two substances evidence suggests are addictive. but even the drinks without either ingredient can stimulate the brain in a way that keeps you coming back for more.
artificial sweeteners like aspartame and sucralose are found in many different brands of soft drinks. ingesting them consistently can
actually train the brain into a never-ending craving cycle
similar to an addiction. that’s because the brain can distinguish between real and artificial sugars, even if our mouths experience a similar sweet taste. so when the brain doesn’t get the dopamine kick it expected from the fake stuff, it tells us to have more of it, creating that craving cycle as we subconsciously chase that sugar fix.
“artificial sweeteners have positive reinforcing effects — meaning humans will work for it, like for other foods, alcohol, and even drugs of abuse,” said martin p. paulus, md, a professor of psychiatry at the university of california san diego
in an interview with cnn
. “whenever you have that, there is a potential that a subgroup of people … will have a chance of getting addicted.”