The trend among younger children to frequently drink caffeinated soda may indicate higher risk of alcohol consumption in the future, new research suggests. — AFP
PACKED with calories and additives, sodas don’t just pose a nutritional problem. When they are caffeinated and children drink them on a daily basis, these drinks are believed to have consequences on development and may even indicate higher risk of alcohol consumption in the future.
In addition to their calorie content, it has previously been established that sodas, like any other ultra-processed food or drink product, could be associated with a risk of developing depression.
This was one of the major findings of recent US research, published in the journal JAMA Open Network, highlighting a link with regard to women aged between 42 and 62.
“This is an important potential mechanism linking ultra-processed food to depression since there is emerging evidence that microbes in the gut have been linked with mood through their role in metabolising and producing proteins that have activity in the brain,” Dr Andrew T Chan, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and co-author of the study, told CNN at the time.
Artificial sweeteners in soft drinks were identified as a possible source of this increased risk of depression.
Some sodas also contain caffeine. And can be problematic when it comes to the child population. Frequent consumption of this type of soft drink has now been identified as a potential gateway to future alcohol consumption at an early age.
Soft drinks and kids
This surprising conclusion was shared by a team of researchers from South Korea and the US state of Virginia, who worked jointly on studying the effects of caffeinated carbonated soft drinks on children aged nine and ten.
More than 2,000 US children took part in this vast study, the results of which are published in the journal, Substance Use & Misuse. The children were followed for a year. The scientists concluded that nine-to-10-year-olds who drank caffeinated soda daily were twice as likely to try alcohol within a year.
Lead author Mina Kwon, from the Department of Psychology, Seoul National University, explains: “Our findings suggest that daily consumption of caffeinated soda in children is predictive of substance use in the near future. One possible explanation is that the substances contained in caffeinated soda (caffeine and sugar) could induce a toxicological effect on the brain, making the individual more sensitive to the reinforcing effects of harder drugs like alcohol.”
Parents may be wondering whether their children could be affected if they drink these types of sodas. However, it’s difficult to establish a concrete answer.
For while the analysis in this study also took into account family history of drug use and low parental education, the researchers say that “there is no consensus on a safe dose of caffeine in children, and some children might be more vulnerable to adverse effects associated with frequent caffeine consumption than others.”
Finally, a potentially increased likelihood of trying alcohol at a young age was not the only finding of this research. The scientists also noted that children who drank caffeinated soda every day were more impulsive and had a poorer working memory. – AFP Relaxnews
