Apparently, caffeinated drinks are not teaching the world to sing in perfect harmony. Though they didn’t name specific brands of soft drink, researchers report that teens who overindulged in non-diet, carbonated soft drinks per week are extra violent. They studied 1878 kids at 22 Boston public high schools.
Of those who drank 14 or more cans per week, 43 per cent carried a gun or knife. Of those who drank one or fewer soft drink cans per week, 23 per cent carried such weapons. And when it came to taking the next step and actually perpetrating violence, 27 per cent of the heavy soda drinkers did so compared with 15 per cent of the more moderate drinkers.
The researchers, who published their study in the online journal Injury Prevention, said the effect has “the same magnitude as the impact of alcohol or tobacco”, though they don’t know if it’s the sugar, the caffeine, or something else entirely that’s causing the violence. The Boston teens are not alone. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, male teenagers across the US drink 600g of full-calorie soft drink per day on average, and females drink 400g. Until we can figure out how to get them to step away from the soft drinks, let’s do our best not to make them angry.
Ollycity
Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 12:01 PMCorrelation not causation. Perhaps having a lower income causes both an increase in weapon usage and soda drinking. I highly doubt caffeine at any time is causing teens to decide to carry weapons all the time.
PB12IN
Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 12:26 PM+1 The research is anything but conclusive and only shows a Correlation. The researchers are now going to undertake additional studies to shed more light.
Ozoneocean
Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 1:16 PMThis is exactly what I was thinking! The study is interesting but the conclusion is a load of shiz.
How can they make such a jump without any other corroborating factors? They could just as easily conclude that carrying weapons makes people thirsty.
The lower income thing is far more likely. It could even be something like the children mimicking the alcohol drinking of their parents, or something specific to their peer group or anything.
Repneiras
Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 1:16 PM“Boston”
There’s your problem.
Sicarius123
Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 1:30 PMI’d like to see the same research done in a country with a lower crime rate than the US.
Andrew
Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 2:06 PMsmart kids with a good up-bringing know fizzy drinks aren’t good for you. Thugs and scumbags usually lack that sort of guidence growing up, these numbers are pretty scary regardless… This survey should have been:
1. do you drink fizzy drinks? yes/no…
2. Are you carrying a weapon? yes/no
if you answered yes to question 2 please get the f*ck out of our school and ruining it for people who are here to better themselves but remember that regular brushing is essential if you answered yes to question 1.