Sugar Sweetened Drinks Are Harmful to Health and May Be Addictive

Summary: In addition to having implications for personal health, sugar sweetened drinks may have addictive properties, researchers report. The study found when abstaining from drinking sweetened drinks, people who consume them often experience increased headaches, decreased motivation and a lower ability to concentrate.

Source: UC Davis.

Just as we might have guessed, those tasty, sugar-sweetened beverages that increase risk of diabetes and other chronic diseases may actually be addictive. Youth between 13 and 18 years of age who were deprived of sugary drinks for just three days reported headaches, cravings and other withdrawal symptoms, according to a University of California study with researchers from both the Davis and Berkeley campuses.

All 25 participants in this exploratory study reported normally consuming at least three sugar-sweetened beverages a day before the study and were told they were participating in a study exploring “how soda affects teenagers’ health.”

The youths reported the following specific symptoms during the three-day period of cessation from sugary drinks: increased headaches, decreased motivation to do work, lack of contentment and ability to concentrate, cravings for sugary drinks, and lower ratings of overall wellbeing.

The findings were published in an article, “Potentially addictive properties of sugar-sweetened beverages among adolescents,” appearing in the journal Appetite.

“An abundance of research points to sugary drinks as contributing to a number of chronic diseases. Our findings — that these drinks may have addictive properties — make their ubiquitous availability and advertising to youth even more concerning for public health,” said Jennifer Falbe, assistant professor in the Department of Human Ecology in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at UC Davis and the lead author of the article.

The teens, all overweight, were instructed to consume their normal beverages for five days, then, for three days afterward, to consume only water or plain milk. They were reimbursed for travel and received up to $160 for participation.

Participants, a diverse population living in and around the San Francisco Bay Area, kept beverage journals and reported in to researchers several times during the study. Three quarters of the participants were female. They also submitted saliva samples to test for caffeine intake, which could affect results. Most of the participants were not high caffeine consumers before the study, reducing the likelihood that participants were just suffering from caffeine withdrawal, an established disorder, rather than also reduced sugar intake.

Among nine participants, there were some lapses in compliance, usually due to drinking flavored milk instead of plain milk.

a person drinking soda
The study noted that results were consistent with previous research that has reported the addictive potential for sugar, a relatively new but burgeoning area with parallels to substance abuse. NeuroscienceNews.com image is adapted from the UC Davis news release.

The study noted that results were consistent with previous research that has reported the addictive potential for sugar, a relatively new but burgeoning area with parallels to substance abuse. Additionally, researchers said, the study was needed because sugar-sweetened beverage consumption by teens had increased five-fold since the 1950s, and adolescence is a time for increased susceptibility to addiction. Young people, the report said, consume the largest amounts of sugary beverages and have experienced the greatest relative gains in obesity in the past several decades.

The study may have important implications for public health and should be repeated with a larger sample, the researchers said.

“These results, combined with present and future corroborating evidence, could inform clinical practice around helping adolescents reduce sugar-sweetened beverage intake, have important implications for messaging in public health campaigns, and inform the need for efforts to reduce sugar-sweetened-beverage advertising to youth and those drinks’ availability in and around schools,” the report concluded.

About this neuroscience research article

Co-authors of the study include Hannah R. Thompson and Kristine A. Madsen, UC Berkeley School of Public Health, and Anisha Patel, Stanford University, Lucile Salter Packard Children’s Hospital.

Funding: Funding was provided by UC Office of the President Multi-Campus Research Initiative grant, partial support for Falbe by an American Heart Association postdoctoral fellowship, and a National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health Award.

Source: Karen Nikos-Rose – UC Davis
Publisher: Organized by NeuroscienceNews.com.
Image Source: NeuroscienceNews.com image is adapted from the UC Davis news release.
Original Research: Abstract for “Potentially addictive properties of sugar-sweetened beverages among adolescents” by Jennifer Falbe, Hannah R. Thompson, Anisha Patel, and Kristine A. Madsen in Appetite. Published October 29 2018.
doi:10.1016/j.appet.2018.10.032

Cite This NeuroscienceNews.com Article

[cbtabs][cbtab title=”MLA”]UC Davis”Sugar Sweetened Drinks Are Harmful to Health and May Be Addictive.” NeuroscienceNews. NeuroscienceNews, 20 November 2018.
<https://neurosciencenews.com/health-sugar-drink-addiction-10235/>.[/cbtab][cbtab title=”APA”]UC Davis(2018, November 20). Sugar Sweetened Drinks Are Harmful to Health and May Be Addictive. NeuroscienceNews. Retrieved November 20, 2018 from https://neurosciencenews.com/health-sugar-drink-addiction-10235/[/cbtab][cbtab title=”Chicago”]UC Davis”Sugar Sweetened Drinks Are Harmful to Health and May Be Addictive.” https://neurosciencenews.com/health-sugar-drink-addiction-10235/ (accessed November 20, 2018).[/cbtab][/cbtabs]


Abstract

Potentially addictive properties of sugar-sweetened beverages among adolescents

Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) increase risk of cardiometabolic disease. Young people consume the largest amounts of SSBs and have experienced the greatest relative gains in obesity in the past several decades. There is evidence of addictive properties of both caffeine and sugar, the primary ingredients in SSBs, but little research into such properties of SSBs in naturally occurring consumption patterns. Thus, in this exploratory study, we sought to examine potentially addictive properties of SSBs during a 3-day SSB cessation intervention in overweight and obese adolescents who typically consume ≥3 SSBs daily. Participants (n = 25) were aged 13–18 years, mostly female (72%), and African American (56%) or Hispanic (16%) with a BMI≥95th percenttile (76%). Withdrawal symptoms and SSB craving were assessed approximately 1-week apart, during both regular SSB consumption and a 3-day period of SSB cessation in which participants were instructed to drink only plain milk and water. During SSB cessation, adolescents reported increased SSB cravings and headache and decreased motivation, contentment, ability to concentrate, and overall well-being (uncorrected Ps < 0.05). After controlling the false discovery rate, changes in motivation, craving, and well-being remained significant (corrected Ps < 0.05). Using 24-hr recalls and drink journals, participants reported lower total daily consumption of sugar (−80 g) and added sugar (−16 g) (Ps < 0.001) during cessation. This study provides preliminary evidence of withdrawal symptoms and increased SSB cravings during cessation in a diverse population of overweight or obese adolescents.

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