And microplastics too, and sugars, and puss, and blood, pesticides, estrogens ... and?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcN7SGGoCNI

If a natural product that isn't obviously salty has 3x the sodium, then it's probably not worth worrying about. Besides, it's 3% of DV for a 20oz bottle. You'd have to drink a hilariously high amount for the negative effects of salt to kick in.

But i'm not talking about health effects of salt in Coca Cola ... I'm questioning the reason why it's included at all.

As you said ... it's not much, you won't even notice it. So the reason it's there is to increase consumption (to keep you thirsty and to tolerate more sugar) and addiction.

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/soda-addiction

Because soda contains several potentially habit-forming substances like caffeine, sodium, and sugar or artificial sweeteners, it’s easier to become dependent on soda than you might think

>I'm questioning the reason why it's included at all.

Because it makes the final product taste better. You can reframe that to mean something nefarious (ie. "it's there is to increase [...] addiction"), but fundamentally it's not any different than you adding salt when you're cooking.

>it's not much, you won't even notice it

>Because soda contains several potentially habit-forming substances like [...] sodium

Let me get this straight. You're claiming that "you won't even notice it" yet it's also "habit-forming"? What's the mechanism by which drinking 0.2g of salt per 20oz bottle gets you addicted?

The link I've posted has links to sources for their claim (there are more):

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24829986/

A Classic Innate Behavior, Sodium Appetite, Is Driven by Hypothalamic Gene-Regulatory Programs Previously Linked to Addiction and Reward

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29673924/

Food additives, food and the concept of 'food addiction': Is stimulation of the brain reward circuit by food sufficient to trigger addiction?

> The link I've posted has links to sources for their claim (there are more):

I don't doubt that salty foods in general are delicious and make people want to eat more. I'm doubting whether the effect applies specifically for coke, which only has 0.2g it per 20oz bottle. What you're doing is like looking at a car crash and concluding that it's caused by alcohol because the driver ate some bread[1] before driving.

[1] https://www.scienceabc.com/pure-sciences/does-your-bread-con...

> I'm doubting whether the effect applies specifically for coke

I'm not pretending I'm the expert.

> What you're doing

I'm cited the source.

> it's caused by alcohol because the driver ate some bread

Don't tell our politicians ... we have 0% limit.

>I'm cited the source.

A source that fails to list what the dosage is, and I highly suspect isn't in the range of 0.2g/20oz.

>Don't tell our politicians ... we have 0% limit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_alcohol_content#0%

>It is illegal to have any measurable alcohol in the blood while driving in these countries. Most jurisdictions have a tolerance slightly higher than zero to account for false positives and naturally occurring alcohol in the body.

Hold on you think Cola company is not doing nefarious stuff? This feels like late stage capitalism. Why do you feel this much of a need to defend a corporation? I am as much of a capitalist as it gets but come on.

https://laborrights.org/in-the-news/2005-list-14-worst-corpo...

>Hold on you think Cola company is not doing nefarious stuff?

Not any more than the bakery down the street is "doing nefarious stuff" by adding salt to their bread.