I think the more responsible null hypothesis should be that people respond to diet coke for the same reason they respond to all caffeinated drinks, because of the caffeine.
The only real way to test the hypothesis would be for non-caffeine drinkers to drink decaf diet coke. Without that, any investigation is going to be confounded by the 46mg of dopaminergic stimulant in each can.
The reason I don't think caffeine is the main story is that (1) a ton of drinks have caffeine without DC's reputation and (2) it has relatively little at 46mg per 12 oz, which is ~1/2 of that in black tea, 1/3 in homemade coffee, and 1/5 or less of some Starbucks coffee.
'ctrl-f caffeine'
I think the more responsible null hypothesis should be that people respond to diet coke for the same reason they respond to all caffeinated drinks, because of the caffeine.
The only real way to test the hypothesis would be for non-caffeine drinkers to drink decaf diet coke. Without that, any investigation is going to be confounded by the 46mg of dopaminergic stimulant in each can.
Yeah probably should have mentioned that.
The reason I don't think caffeine is the main story is that (1) a ton of drinks have caffeine without DC's reputation and (2) it has relatively little at 46mg per 12 oz, which is ~1/2 of that in black tea, 1/3 in homemade coffee, and 1/5 or less of some Starbucks coffee.
Cigarettes have a similar reputation so i think any kind of stimulant in general has this kind of an effect but in varying amounts
You have missed the elephant in the room, its the methanol.