How Dr Pepper Snared the No. 2 Soft Drink Spot From Mighty Pepsi

Dr Pepper has been around since the 1880s, so why is it suddenly trendy?

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In 2015, CNN’s Gary Tuchman visited a Fort Worth woman named Elizabeth Sullivan, age 104, to uncover her secret to longevity. Sullivan was happy to tell him: three cans of Dr Pepper a day.

“Doctors told me that if I drink it, I will die—but they died first,” she said.

Sullivan’s health advice is open to question, but she was ahead of a trend. After decades of being a footnote in the soft drink category, Dr Pepper has become a headline.

Recent figures from Beverage Digest show last year Dr Pepper surpassed Pepsi to become America’s second-favorite soft drink, behind Coca-Cola.

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