Drinking pop tied to aggression in 5-year-olds
Heavy consumption of soda linked to fights, destructive behaviour
This study though controversial does show correlation between behavior in children/adolescents and soda consumption. ~Susan
Source of article and research information found at:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2013/08/15/pop-behaviour-problem-children.html
CBC News Posted: Aug 16, 2013 12:08 AM ET
Last Updated: Aug 16, 2013 12:07 AM ET
Drinking several servings of soda a day is associated with behaviour problems such as aggression, a new study of preschoolers suggests.
When researchers looked at 2,929 children in the U.S., they found 43 per cent of parents said their child had at least one serving of soda a day and four per cent had four or more servings daily.
Four per cent of parents in the study reported their children had four or more servings of pop a day. Sugar and caffeine are potential triggers for behaviour, but parenting practices and home environment are also an influence. (Reuters)
"In this large sample of five-year-old urban U.S. children, we found strong and consistent relationships between soda consumption and a range of problem behaviours, consistent with the findings of previous studies in adolescents," Shakira Suglia of Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health in New York and her coauthors concluded in Friday's issue of the Journal of Pediatrics.
Children who consumed four or more servings of soda per day were more than twice as likely to destroy things belonging to others, to get into fights and to physically attack people compared with children who drank no soda.
Drinking four servings of soft drinks was associated with increased aggressive behaviour, even after accounting for factors such as TV viewing, candy consumption, maternal depression and intimate partner violence.
The researchers noted they can't tell if there is a cause-and-effect relationship between drinking pop and the behaviours.
The researchers didn't have information on the type of soda consumed, such as regular or diet or caffeinated or non-caffeinated. Both caffeine and sugar are potential mechanisms, Suglia said. Caffeine is associated with impulsivity in children and adolescents but the scientific evidence for sugar is mixed, she added.
Nutrition Prof. Katherine Gray-Donald of McGill University in Montreal said the study has merit, even though it doesn't prove anything.
"When we look at simply three groups of children eating low, medium and higher levels of sugar, you look at your nutrient intake, as the sugar goes up, the amount of many other nutrients just declines quite regularly," Gray-Donald said.
"We don't know if in a large population you may get children who are really missing some nutrients that are very important for their development. That's hard to say."
It's also possible that as much as the researchers tried to control for other things, they can't completely control for the home environment, such as parenting practices.
The Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study was funded by the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
With files from CBC's Kim Brunhuber
Children's pop consumption still rising
Boys most at risk for obesity from consuming sugary drinks
Source of article and research information found at:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2012/06/18/pop-child-obesity.html
CBC News Posted: Jun 18, 2012 11:22 AM ET
Last Updated: Jun 18, 2012 3:43 PM ET
Canadian boys who drink pop and other sweetened beverages are at higher risk for obesity, and sugary drink consumption is continuing to rise, a new study suggests.
Children in Mexico and the U.S. show higher pop consumption than in Canada, but parents shouldn't be complacent, a nutrition professor says. (Moyses Zuniga/Associated Press)
Researchers looked at what Canadians aged two to 18 reportedly consumed in the Canadian Community Health Survey. It defined sweetened, low-nutrient beverages as those with less than 100 per cent fruit juice, lemonades, regular soft drinks, and sweetened coffees or teas.
Sweetened beverages like pop, fruit punch and lemonade were the main ones consumed during childhood, nutrition Prof. Susan Whiting of the University of Saskatchewan and her co-authors say in the October issue of Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism.
Boys aged six to 11 years who drank the most sweetened drinks, about 553 grams a day of soft drinks, had about double the risk of being overweight and obese compared with their peers, after taking factors like household income into account, the researchers said.
"A considerable proportion of Canadian children aged two to 18 years consumed a dominant pattern of sweetened beverages," the study's authors concluded.
Children form habits about what they eat and drink early in life and often continue those patterns into adulthood, they said.
"You don't want people to be too complacent about these drinks," Whiting said in an interview. "I think other research shows that if it gets out of hand that these sugary beverages can make a big impact on weight."
Canadian intakes haven't reached those in the U.S., but are heading in that direction, Whiting said.
Whiting is concerned that children and teens are substituting soft drinks for milk in their diet.
Average consumption of sugary beverages, not including chocolate milk, for U.S. teens was 629 grams per day, compared with 476 grams in Canada based on national survey data.
Since the survey was done in 2004, schools and recreation facilities have removed pop machines.
The next such national survey is scheduled for 2015.
In the survey, participants or their parents were only asked about consumption on a single day rather than checking for changes over time, which is a limitation of the research.
Investigators collected data on physical activity and sedentary time (such as playing video games) for participants aged six to 11.
The research, which was funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, was representative of the country's population.
With files from CBC's Amina Zafar
Children in Mexico and the U.S. show higher pop consumption than in Canada, but parents shouldn't be complacent, a nutrition professor says. (Moyses Zuniga/Associated Press)
Researchers looked at what Canadians aged two to 18 reportedly consumed in the Canadian Community Health Survey. It defined sweetened, low-nutrient beverages as those with less than 100 per cent fruit juice, lemonades, regular soft drinks, and sweetened coffees or teas.Sweetened beverages like pop, fruit punch and lemonade were the main ones consumed during childhood, nutrition Prof. Susan Whiting of the University of Saskatchewan and her co-authors say in the October issue of Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism.
Boys aged six to 11 years who drank the most sweetened drinks, about 553 grams a day of soft drinks, had about double the risk of being overweight and obese compared with their peers, after taking factors like household income into account, the researchers said.
"A considerable proportion of Canadian children aged two to 18 years consumed a dominant pattern of sweetened beverages," the study's authors concluded.
Children form habits about what they eat and drink early in life and often continue those patterns into adulthood, they said.
"You don't want people to be too complacent about these drinks," Whiting said in an interview. "I think other research shows that if it gets out of hand that these sugary beverages can make a big impact on weight."
Canadian intakes haven't reached those in the U.S., but are heading in that direction, Whiting said.
Higher pop intakes
"The trend is still for higher intakes," she noted, based on her previous research of consumption among boys and girls in Saskatoon.Whiting is concerned that children and teens are substituting soft drinks for milk in their diet.
Average consumption of sugary beverages, not including chocolate milk, for U.S. teens was 629 grams per day, compared with 476 grams in Canada based on national survey data.
Since the survey was done in 2004, schools and recreation facilities have removed pop machines.
The next such national survey is scheduled for 2015.
In the survey, participants or their parents were only asked about consumption on a single day rather than checking for changes over time, which is a limitation of the research.
Investigators collected data on physical activity and sedentary time (such as playing video games) for participants aged six to 11.
The research, which was funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, was representative of the country's population.
With files from CBC's Amina Zafar
