other reasons folks might drink soda daily:
Itās a clean and affordable/ cheap source of drinking water: in many regions in America, tap water costs money. In other countries in the so-called ādevelopedā world or The West tap water is covered by taxes and is therefore āfreeā to everyone. But in the USA, you must pay a water bill every month. The water you receive may not be safe to drink. In American supermarkets, soda is sold as a loss leader. This means it is sold for less money than it costs to make, so that people will come to buy soda at rock-bottom prices and then stay to buy the rest of their groceries and other purchases at full price. Bottled water, however, is still sold at a markup. So soda is not only guaranteed to be safe to drink, but itās more affordable often than safer, healthier bottled water. Where richer people in America can afford bottled water, and also often have the luxury of living in neighborhoods where the tax dollars ensure that the water that they pay for comes drinkable from the tap, poorer people buy soda in order to stay hydrated. This isnāt only an American issue. In many parts of the global South, like S. East Asia, Africa, and South America, it is cheaper and easier to buy bottled soda that is safe to drink than it is to buy bottled water that is safe to drink.
Soda is a cheap source of calories: Remember when I said soda is a good source of safe, cheap bottled drinking water? Well, itās also a cheap source of calories. And when youāre poor, water that is cheaper and has the added benefit of giving you energy in the form of lots of sugar is a much better choice than water that only keeps you hydrated. When youāre choosing which gives you more mileage per dollar spent, soda gets you much further.
Itās a cheap source of comfort: Food and drink have long been some of the only comforts and joys poor people can afford. Sugar makes human beings feel safe and comfortable because itās a much-needed nutrient that our early ancestors struggled to find. Weāve spent the last 10ā000 years or so cultivating plants like fruits, vegetables, and especially, sugarcane, which allow us to enjoy plentiful access to sugar like we do today. But this wasnāt always the case. Sugar elicits a profound pleasure response from our brain because it was so scarce and so necessary for our ancestorsā survival. And today, that pleasure can be had for just a dollar, or less, depending on where you live in the world. Itās a small comfort which can mean a lot to people who donāt have the financial means for other comforts. A nice cold soda after a long shift doing customer service or manual labour restores lost electrolytes and calories, hydrates, and gives pleasure by being sweet and refreshing.
Even if someone doesnāt have ADHD, caffeine and other stimulants are chemically addictive and it is easy to build up a dependency: A lot of the leading sodas for sale on the global market contain caffeine. Caffeine can also trigger pleasure centres in the brain. It helps maintain alertness, and can help with various things like task management and keeping reflexes sharp. Also, like and stimulant, the human body quickly builds up a tolerance for caffeine and can become reliant on it. People who consume it daily report feeling groggy, nauseous, dizzy, and even headachey when they go through withdrawal. And most sodas contain a higher dose of caffeine than a cup of tea or coffee. Itās even easier to build a higher tolerance or greater dependence on Coca Cola, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, or Mountain Dew (at least in Canadaā itās caffeinated. I understand maybe Mountain Dew isnāt caffeinated in the US? Itās basically an energy drink here), than it is with other caffeinated beverages.
A lot of the criticisms Iāve seen about people consuming a lot of soda, at least in America/ Canada have been really classist at their core.
The people who are drinking a lot of soda here are largely impoverished or working class. Many of them are BIPOC living in communities where there is no access to safe drinking water due to intersecting factors of racism and classism (cities like Flint, Michigan, or historically Black communities in the Canadian maritimes that are not even on the water grid and which still only have access to well water, or communities on First Nations/ Native American reservations, for example).
For many people, soda is the only way they have access to safe, calorie-dense drinking water that is affordable.
And yeah. It IS ALL THAT DEEP.
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