We had a family friend who is in her late 50s stay for a couple of days over Christmas, all she drunk was Diet Coke. Even going to bed at night she took a bottle of Diet Coke with her. The thought of waking up through the night for a swig of Coke grosses me out a bit. And yes, she is the absolute picture of health...
eh, Diet Coke is primarily water, aspartame, phosphoric acid and caffeine. I drink 5/6 of them a day (don't like water much). The paper linked actually says short term effects of diet soda are less problematic, but recent evidence suggests that aspartame may have harms on the microbiome and glucose tolerance generally.
That said, the idea of drinking anything either sweet or carbonated before bed, during the night, or in the morning, mind boggling to me, that does sound really gross.
Have you ever tried plain carbonated water? It's more interesting than still water, and for me more thirst quenching. Easy to make at home with a Soda Stream or similar, just don't add any of their syrup.
