There’s no doubt that drinking something like soda, which is full of sugar and other processed additives, isn’t the healthiest choice we can make for our bodies.
That said, this new study joins more than a few others that claim drinking too much of it on a regular basis could also be destroying your mind.
Image Credit: iStock
Researchers out of the University of Southern Canta Catarina in Brazil found that, over multiple months, the rats soda consumption caused memory impairment and oxidative stress in the brain.
Those biological stress markers increased significantly after 68 days of straight soft drink consumption. Those markers also had implications for behavior.
In one group, the rats were able to drink as much soda as they wanted but also had access to water, while the control group was offered only water. The cycle lasted for 67 days and on the 68th day, their brain tissue was analyzed.
Image Credit: iStock
They found that even the memories of young rats (between 2 and 8 months old) scored lower on the maze tests, and that tests revealed stress markers on the brains of rats of all ages.
The conclusion was that while biological changes took place in all of the rats who drank to soda, younger rats are more susceptible to behavior changes as well.
This study joins others that implicated regular soda consumption as a factor in increased risk of disease, neurodegeneration, cognitive impairments, and increased risk of dementia.
Image Credit: iStock
It’s not just the sugar intake. The soda-drinking rats did not show higher blood glucose levels than their water-loving counterparts.
More research is required, as scientists want to test rats of both s*xes and further try to determine what in the soda’s content could be affecting the rat’s brains so significantly.
Source: https://twistedsifter.com/2022/09/study-finds-a-link-between-soda-and-memory-loss-in-rats/
