Kids and Soda Don't Mix: Behavioral Problems Associated

The simple truth is that kids and soda don't mix. Give a kid a Mountain Dew and he'll be galloping around the living room till 2 a.m.

Well, a new study confirms exactly what parents have feared after dropping their kids off for school-(possibly that a bully might be selling sugary beverages for dollar bills or other lunch tradeables.) This new study shows that not only is soft drink consumption in younger children unhealthy, but it can cause symptoms of aggression, attention problems and even withdrawal problems associated with the product.

According to Shakira Suglia, ScD from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and colleagues from the University of Vermont and Harvard School of Public Health, they assessed approximately 3,000 5-year-old children that were enrolled in the Fragile Familes Child Wellbeing Study that looks at the prospective birth cohort followed by mother-child pairs from 20 large U.S. families in the city. The mother's reported their child's soft drink consumption as well as a behavioral checklist based on how their child was behaving during the previous two months. The study showed that approximately 43 percent of the children consumed at least 1 serving of the soft drinks per day and 4 percent consumed 4 or more.

The study concludes the following, via a press release: "Aggression, withdrawal, and attention problems were associated with soda consumption. Even after adjusting for sociodemographic factors, maternal depression, intimate partner violence, and paternal incarceration, any soft drink consumption was associated with increased aggressive behavior. Children who drank 4 or more soft drinks per day were more than twice as likely to destroy things belonging to others, get into fights, and physically attack people. They also had increased attention problems and withdrawal behavior compared with those who did not consume soft drinks."

Dr. Suglia also added that a child's aggression score tended to be higher depending on how much soda he or she was consuming per day.

"We found that the child's aggressive behavior score increased with every increase in soft drinks servings per day."

Researchers believe that limiting the amount of soda consumed for child per day could reduce behavioral problems commonly noted in the study. We're in favor. 

More information regarding the study can be found in the Journal of Pediatrics.