Already implicated in the obesity and
diabetes epidemics, soda may be linked to violence in young people, new
research suggests. In a study of 1,878 students at Boston public high
schools, heavy soda drinkers were much more prone to violent behavior
than other teens.
That finding came about by accident. While seeking to document the
incidence of violent behavior among the high-school students, professor
of health policy David Hemenway, who directs the Harvard Injury Control Research Center
at Harvard School of Public Health, agreed to incorporate unrelated (or
so he thought) questions about nutrition at a colleague’s request.
Analyzing the survey, he found surprising correlations. Heavy
consumers of nondiet soft drinks—students who had drunk five or more
cans in the week preceding the survey—were more likely to have behaved
violently toward peers (57 percent, versus 39 percent of respondents who
drank less soda); to have behaved violently toward another child in
their own families (42 percent, versus 27 percent); to have behaved
violently in a dating relationship (26 percent, versus 16 percent); and
to have carried a gun or a knife during the past year (40 percent,
versus 27 percent). The strength of the effect was on par with the
correlation (well known among researchers) between these behaviors and
alcohol and tobacco use; in some cases, the correlation with soda was
stronger.
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