Drinking soda can have a number of adverse health effects. The high doses of sugar in liquid form are known to contribute to obesity. Other studies have shown that adolescents who drink more soda have higher tendencies towards aggression, suicidal thoughts, self harm, and withdrawal behavior. However no study has looked at how soda effects aggression levels in young children even though surveys have shown more than 40% of children aged 2-11 drink soda.

Many different things in a child’s environment can increase their odds of developing aggressive tendencies. Social factors such as a stressful or violent home environment are known to make children more aggressive. Other dietary influences such as sugar consumption or food coloring have been linked to attention and aggression issues in children. Also daily activities, such as watching TV, affect attention negatively.  This study attempted to isolate soda consumption from all of these other factors to look specifically at how soda consumption affected the children in the study.

The study involved nearly 3,000 children from 20 different hospitals in large cities throughout the United States. Daily soda consumption was documented and ranged from none to 4 or more. There were also detailed, validated questionnaires to include all of the risk factors mentioned that may also affect aggression and attention levels. What the study found was that drinking soda led to children being more likely to break things belonging to themselves or others, get into more fights, and to physically attack people. They also had a more difficult time paying attention and staying focused. The aggression and attention issues increased as the number of daily sodas increased. The children drinking 4 or more sodas per day, which was about 4%, had significantly higher rates of aggression and attention issues even when controlling for the other potential risk factors like home life, TV viewing and diet.

What is specifically in soda to cause the behavioral changes is still up for debate. Is it the high fructose corn syrup, the artificial colorings, or preservatives? Even without a key cause identified there is just no good reason to drink soda on a regular basis. I could write up papers every day on the damaging effects of soda and never find one paper suggesting soda is beneficial to any measure of health. Water is all our bodies need. To boring for you? Then mix it up with some fruit juice, made with real fruit by the way. Read the label; if its water, high fructose corn syrup and a splash of fruit juice for coloring run away!  Naturally brewed tea sweetened with honey is another good choice. A healthy diet is the cornerstone to a healthy lifestyle protecting us from cancer, heart disease, even depression. Reinforce good choices in your children now and it will stay with them for a lifetime.

Journal of Pediatrics August 2013

By Dr Scott Szela