Why we drink so much Coke

The science behind cola

The original version of this article was published on my website on January 19, 2021. Minor changes have been made to this version.

Colas like Coca-Cola and Pepsi account for over half of all soda sales worldwide, I always found this a bit puzzling since things like orange sodas, cream sodas, and root beer usually taste better than Coke.* Of course caffeine addiction is a large part of this but you don't see very many people going into stores to stock up on a month’s supply of five hour energy, so caffeine can't be the whole reason colas and other caffeinated sodas are so popular or why some people have no problem drinking a twelve pack a day. But when you break Coke into its ingredients you begin to understand how it works.

There are three main ingredients to Coke.* Caffeine of course is addictive but but it also makes you have to pee. Another main ingredient of Coke is salt which as we all know is something that makes us thirsty. Sugar (in one form or another) is the other main ingredient, its job is to hide the nasty taste of the salt. These drinks are designed to make you thirsty, in the case of regular Coke the only thing that will stop you from drinking it is the fact that the high-fructose corn syrup will eventually make your stomach feel full. When you drink diet sodas it is a bit harder to stop drinking since the artificial sweeteners won't fill you up at all, the only things that will stop you from drinking Diet Coke are self control or running out.

Of course you could look at this and think that it is just a coincidence that Coke is make out of things designed to make you thirsty. This may have been true back when they first invented it over 100 years ago, but they know very well now what they are doing. Back in the 80s when Coca-Cola came out with New Coke the biggest change they made to the recipe was increased salt and increased caffeine, they wanted to increase the thirst causing effects of New Coke so that people would buy even more of it.

Of course sodas without caffeine do the same thing, they all have a ton of salt whose flavor is hidden by sugar, the strategy is less effective without the caffeine but there is still an attempt. Soda companies don't want to quench your thirst they want to multiply it so that you buy more of their product. Take this information into account next time you pick up a glass of soda, do you really want to drink something chemically designed to make you thirsty and crave more? Or do you want to drink something that is actually good for you?

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* I use the word Coke throughout this article to represent all caffeinated sodas.