Soda is so popular.
Its refreshing sensation makes it one of the favorite drinks of many people, including children and teenagers.
However, sodas are also known to contain lots of sugar and calories, so consumption should be limited.
In fact, according to a recent study from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, found that soda consumption can trigger aggressive behavior in adolescents.
According to the Medical Daily, some teenagers get as much as 10% of their calories from soda and a fifth of all high school students drink it, the researchers said.
This consumption pattern can lead to obesity and prediabetes.
But for this study, researchers led by Sylvie Mrug, PhD, looked at the growing trend of emotional problems in adolescents related to how much soda they consume.
Actually this trend is not new.
Previous studies have linked drinking a lot of soda with aggressive, hyperactivity, depression and suicidal behavior.
However, research conducted by Dr. Mrug is quite different.
Instead of seeing a group of teenagers of different ages at once, he and his team followed a group of about 5,000 teens for 7 years, starting when they were in fifth grade, in 2004.
The researchers examined study participants in 2007 and 5 years later.
Not only that, drinking lots of soda at age 13 could predict more aggressive behavior at age 16.
Even the association between soda consumption and aggression in children was stronger than other predictors of aggression, such as gender, drug use and divorce.
