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Comment by openknot | Hacker News Reader

I'm genuinely curious: why are soda/pop/coke/soft drinks so popular? I've never liked them because they're too sugary, and they represent like empty calories (like I'll gain weight without feeling full) from drinks that aren't hydrating. When purchased in a restaurant, it costs money that could be saved or spent on a side dish. I'd much rather eat candy if I want sugar, or drink cold water if I want to hydrate myself.

I don't say this to condemn these drinks (if people like them that much, they're free to spend money on the little things in life they enjoy), but I'd like to square my experience of not caring for them versus their clear popularity from statistics.

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It's about caffeine and carbonation as much as sugar. Caffeine and sugar are highly addictive substances, with obvious habit-forming potential. Carbonation is a unique effect that stimulates and satisfies people, and probably provides a physical "hook" for addiction, like how many heroin addicts crave the feeling of the needle.

I think the same way about cigarettes, weed, and coffee, wtf is so good about it that you go out of your way to get it?

But this is the thing about addiction, to the person who isn't hooked it seems odd.

As a kid I used to wake up at night and drink Coke. I just craved it, that's how it was. I still like something sweet to drink but I control it these days, and my taste is not quite the same as an adult. Still, there's no accounting for it, you want something because you want it. Best explanation I can find is that it triggers something connected to reward paths in a way that isn't how that reward path evolved.

> I've never liked them because they're too sugary

This is the crux of the matter. Whether something is too sugary is a matter of taste and habit. It tastes too sugary to you, but great to other people.

That also makes a lot of sense (my other hypothesis, which doesn't necessarily contradict, is that I wasn't introduced to much soda growing up). This could also explain a personal preference for salty food (taste and habit) that other people I've met don't seem to share.

I'm not sure about that. My mother was from a developing country and only tried soda for the first time when she tried it in a developed country as an adult, and fell in love with it immediately. She doesn't drink sugary sodas anymore but still loves sparkling water, champagne, and anything bubbly.

As a kid i just drained coke bottles there was no thinking .. it was 'neat' and my body could take a sadly impressive amount of L per day (5 maybe).

Your logic is sensible adult talk ..

ps: my body crashed I'm now borderline allergic to processed foods and sodas, it's still strange to me :)

Thanks for sharing. From your and noah_buddy's comments, it looks like it was a treat from childhood that stuck.

My parents forbade me from soda growing up, but my cousin once snuck me some sugary orange pop once (I didn't like the fizz when I first tried it, but I liked it more when I tried it again). I still have a preference for it sometimes due to the memories (along with root beer, which I also tried when younger) if it's free, though just a small cup. I never tried Coca-Cola or Pepsi until an abnormally older age, so that's probably why these two never stuck for me.

Hard to explain! I think I picked up a taste for soda as a kid, I love me a Barqs, any sort of Cream Soda, and a cold Coke on a hot day. That said, I can't drink soda daily or I feel I'll, nor do I drink beer or other carbonated drinks frequently, maybe tops once a week. I drink the most tea out of anything (herbal, green, white) besides water.

I really enjoy carbonated beverages, the whole sensory package the bubbles bring to the drinking experience. I have had an easy experience substituting the soda I drank as a child for a more healthy carbonated beverage.

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