We have always known most aerated soft drinks are not good for us. Well, how would you feel if we told you that not only are they unhealthy, but they also cause cognitive impairment?
Scientists have long warned that soft drinks contain not just sugar, but also refined salts and caffeine. Regular consumption of these ingredients gives rise to everything from diabetes to obesity. But a new study has revealed that consuming these drinks will also make you stupider.
Sugar- Sweet and Stupid
Studies have repeatedly confirmed that soft drinks are packed with both real and processed sugars that can cause heart complications, tooth decay, and liver damage.
According to new research, excessive consumption of cola-based soft drinks results in several diseases and cognitive decline, particularly memory impairment. The startling results are published in the September 2022 issue of Experimental Gerontology. Also, diets with high sugar have also been found to promote insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, and dyslipidemia.
The new study points out that brain health and behavioral issues arise due to excessive consumption of soft drinks, and if you’re rat you will even be unable to find your way out of a maze. Looks like all Tom needs to do to outwit Jerry is to regularly slip him some cola-based soft drinks.
The Cola-Based Experiment
Scientists first separated the Wistar rats into three groups based on their age. They were split into groups of two-month-old, eight-month-old, and 14-months old. Each of these groups was then separated into control and experimental groups – water-drinking and cola-and-water-drinking cohorts.
The behavioral tests were started on the 57th day of treatment and continued until the 67th day. On the 68th day, the rats were euthanized to study the effects of the diet on their brains. Scientists discovered that the water-sipping rats were completely functional but their soda-sipping counterparts were anything but.
When scientists opened up their brains, they found that the cola-based soft drink intake caused memory impairment in the two-and eight-month-olds but not in the 14-month-old rats.
Superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) are enzymes that protect cells from radical attacks and prevent damage to tissues. The scientists saw that having regular cola-based soft drinks had reduced CAT activity in the eight-month-old rats while both eight- and 14-month-olds experienced reduced SOD activity. The experimental group sustained varying degrees of damage to the frontal cortex, which controls vital mental functions like attention, memory, and decision making. The study clearly showed memory impairment and oxidative stress in the rats. The researchers noted that “the younger seems to be more susceptible to the soft drink alterations on behavior; however, soft drink caused alterations in the oxidative system at all ages evaluated.”
The drinks induced an increase of lipid peroxidation in the hippocampus. Lipids in the brain are largely responsible for physiological and pathological processes. Lipid peroxidation directly damages membranes, lipoproteins, and other molecules that contain lipids.
The researchers aimed to study the long-term consumption of cola-based soft drinks but it definitely set the alarm bells ringing on how toxic these products are for the brain and body.
In 2018, a mini literature review published in Cureus, shed light on another set of researchers. They studied how sugary drinks can affect health and found that most drinks had increased levels of certain compounds and chemicals that interfered with brain activity, increasing the risk of stroke and dementia. They did not just mess with one’s health but also affected one’s sleep cycle and memory and motor coordination. Although this study too was conducted on rats, it would not be unwise to assume that humans will also be negatively impacted by consumption of such drinks.
