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Diet Coke probably isn't a cognitive performance enhancer

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Re: Diet Coke probably isn't a cognitive performance enhancer

#83
post #61
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It generally isn't. Some people don't have the ability to metabolize phenylalanine, and it will slowly poison them. However, if this is you, you would definitely know.

So if your PA level is constantly high because of drinking Diet Coke, then you will poison yourself too?

> PA level is constantly high because of drinking Diet Coke

I'd probably question if this is even possible in a healthy individual. You probably eat a lot of phenylalanine regularly. My intuition is that you'd really have to go out of your way and actively want to give yourself brain damage to even achieve this.

Given this: https://www.myfooddata.com/articles/high-phenylalanine-foods... which shows chicken breast has 2190mg and your average can of diet coke has around 104 mg https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1617863/, I think that probably holds.

EDIT: That link probably underscores that the warning label on your coke can is purely for the benefit of Phenylketoneurics, not you. A steak & 2 egg breakfast with a latte would land you with far more phenylalanine than you could sanely consume purely through coke. You'd likely be sick from the caffeine sooner than the phenylalanine.

Re: Diet Coke probably isn't a cognitive performance enhancer

#84
post #13

Fun fact: Diet Coke has 34% more caffeine than regular Coke https://www.coca-colacompany.com/faqs/what-is-caffeine#:~:te... .

I suspect this is to try to quantitatively match the stimulant effect of caffiene plus sugar/HFCS in the sweetened alternatives.

Sugar, despite popular belief, is not a stimulant (I’d have to pull up my Intro Psych textbook to find the citations on this, but it’s been deeply studied).

Re: Diet Coke probably isn't a cognitive performance enhancer

#85

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's Jr, what's up?) and not exercising, my weight increased to around 220 lbs on a 6'1" frame. I stopped drinking diet soda around the time I joined a weight-loss startup in 2011, and started eating he…

The trick is to do an 4:1 dilution of sparkling water and diet soda. You will end up with 1-2 cans of diet soda heavily diluted by water. After you get used to it, ordinary canned soda will start tasting like the carbonated syrup it actually is.

Oh no, the trick is to buy the sirup from a discount supermarket (for example Aldi's Diet Orange soda sirup) and dillute it with water from your sodastream (or sodastream knock-off, also from Aldi). This way you will always know that there are three components in your soda: sirup, tap water and CO2.

Re: Diet Coke probably isn't a cognitive performance enhancer

#86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, this happens to me too. I can get maybe a maximum 15-20 minutes of increased cognitive performance after ingestion. Once that is over I become lethargic and afterwards a bit irate since my concentration dips. It bothers me that people like Warren Buffet can go along their day ingesting copious amounts of coke normal and sweets and still be a functional productive human being.

When I used to work at big tech, we had a candy buffet in the kitchen and unlimited ice cream. This definitely lowered my work performance.

I would probably not leave the buffet in order to maintain my high… thankfully in small tech I’ve only been offered access to water and coffee.

Re: Diet Coke probably isn't a cognitive performance enhancer

#88
post #84
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect this is to try to quantitatively match the stimulant effect of caffiene plus sugar/HFCS in the sweetened alternatives.

Sugar, despite popular belief, is not a stimulant (I’d have to pull up my Intro Psych textbook to find the citations on this, but it’s been deeply studied).

Similarly, it doesn't make kids hyper. That's probably just a side effect of the environment in which kids typically get candy. There was a study, but I don't know what it was called.

Re: Diet Coke probably isn't a cognitive performance enhancer

#89
post #8
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Protein shakes are great!

Those have a massive amount of calories

They really don't at all given their nutritional value. 25g of protein (which should suppress appetite a bit) for 120 calories is by no means massive.

Re: Diet Coke probably isn't a cognitive performance enhancer

#90
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The trick is to do an 4:1 dilution of sparkling water and diet soda. You will end up with 1-2 cans of diet soda heavily diluted by water. After you get used to it, ordinary canned soda will start tasting like the carbonated syrup it actually is.

Oh no, the trick is to buy the sirup from a discount supermarket (for example Aldi's Diet Orange soda sirup) and dillute it with water from your sodastream (or sodastream knock-off, also from Aldi). This way you will always know that there are three components in your soda: sirup, tap water and CO2.

Ok so there's an even better trick, hear me out. Don't drink soda. It's sugar, water, and purple. Two of those are not good for you.
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