The reason young children fight too much or can’t pay attention could be found in the pop they drink
A new study published in The Journal of Pediatrics finds that aggression, attention problems and even withdrawn behavior in young children are all linked to the consumption of soft drinks.
Prior studies had established the association between soft drinks and adolescents’ aggression, depression, and suicidal thoughts, but young children had not previously been evaluated.
Researchers at Columbia School of Public Health, Harvard School of Public Health and the University of Vermont studied nearly 3,000 5-year-olds.
Their conclusion: any amount of soft drinks consumed by children makes them more likely to be aggressive.
Not surprisingly, aggressive behavior increased right along with the number of soft drink servings children consumed per day. Children who consumed 4 or more soft drinks a day were more than twice as likely to destroy other people’s belongings and physically attack others.
Based on these findings, eliminating sugary beverages could be a wise decision for parents searching for an all-natural, drug-free solution to their children’s behavioral problems.
