Drinking This Could Affect Your Child's Memory

Health experts have emphasized on the fact that consuming sugary drinks can prove to be more harmful for your health than the consumption of sugar or sugary foods. Some of the recent studies also explain how sugary drinks can cause tooth decay, bone damage and obesity in both adults as well as in children. A new study conducted by the University of Southern California in United States gives you another reason to make sure that your kids steer clear of the sweet stuff. (More: Parents are warned to steer clear of sugar-filled 'healthy' drinks)The study was published in the journal Hippocampus and states that consuming a diet high in added sugar can not only lead to weight gain among kids, but it can also negatively affect their memory.A team of experts carried out experiments on adolescent rats to study the effects of sugary drinks on their brain, mental activity and spatial memory ability. According to Scott Kanoski, corresponding author of the study, "The brain is especially vulnerable to dietary influences during critical periods of development, like adolescence." Adolescent rats that freely consumed large quantities of liquid solutions containing sugar or high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in concentrations comparable to popular sweetened beverages experienced memory problems and brain inflammation, and also became pre-diabetic. However, neither adult rats nor the ones who did not consume sugar, faced the same issues. "Adolescent rats that had consumed the sugary beverages, particularly HFCS, performed worse on the test than any other group - which may be the result of the neuro-inflammation detected in the hippocampus," Kanoski pointed out. The hippocampus is a critical area of the brain that is responsible for memory functions.Dr Scott Kanoski further explains, 'It is no secret that refined carbohydrates, particularly when consumed in soft drinks and other beverages, can lead to metabolic disturbances. However, our findings reveal that consuming sugar-sweetened drinks is also interfering with our brain's ability to function normally and remember critical information about our environment, at least when consumed in excess before adulthood.'The study concludes that consumption of beverages loaded with sugar may affect your child's ability to learn and alter their aptitude to remember information. Inputs from IANS