Slashdot Mirror


Soda Makes Five-Year-Olds Break Your Stuff, Science Finds

Daniel_Stuckey writes "Shakira F. Suglia and co-authors surveyed 2,929 mothers of five-year-olds (PDF) and found that 43 percent of the kids consumed at least one serving of soft drinks per day. About four percent of those children (or 110 of them), drank more than four soft drinks per day, and became 'more than twice as likely to destroy things belonging to others, get into fights, and physically attack people.' In the past, soda and its various strains have been related to depression, irritability, aggression, suicidal thoughts, and delusions of sweepstake-winning grandeur. Of course, this study didn't find out what types of soda the children had consumed."

2 of 287 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Scientists finally discover... by Attila+Dimedici · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Actually, I don't know that. There was at least one study a few years ago that studied just that. It discovered that there was no difference in children's behavior after consuming a large dose of sugar. The researchers postulated that the myth about sugar resulting in kid's "bouncing off the walls", resulted from the fact that kids tend to consume large amounts of sugar in settings which cause them to be more active.

    --
    The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
  2. It isn't the soda. It's the survey. by Smokeybehr · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The problem with the survey can be found in the results section of the Abstract. They oversampled males by +4, and 51% of the families were Black. This isn't a soda/soft drink issue; it's a parenting/cultural issue, which is mentioned, but essentially glossed over when you start delving into the "study". The families were already "in the system", as they were part of an ongoing study, which tells me that there were already parenting and cultural issues that go deeper than the family's diet.