Im thinking correlation vs causation. Fad diets are common among eccentrics otherwise. I drink diet coke occasionally and here I am. Plus, aspartame has only been around since the 50's or so. Over achievers arent new. Right place, right time, right parents.
Might as well ask why do top achievers drink coffee and know sugar is very unhealthy…
If you believe that copying what “top achievers” do will also make you a “top achiever” then I have some bad news for you.
First off, they don’t.
Secondly, there just aren’t enough top achievers around to make any statistically significant observations about them.
This thread is pretty interesting.
I’ve had a non-trivial “addiction” to Diet Coke in various times of my life. MDs and Neuroscientists please weigh in! When I put my Bayesian hat on, I think this claim falls over (lots of people in general drink Diet Coke so the background numbers are high and people are likely to self-select as being “more intelligent” etc etc)