Sugar linked with mental problems in Norway study [View All]

[Herman Munster]

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=healthNews&storyid=2006-09-28T204517Z_01_N28374556_RTRUKOC_0_US-SUGAR.xml&src=rss&rpc=22

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Oslo teens who drank the most sugary soft drinks also had more mental health problems such as hyperactivity and distress, Norwegian researchers reported on Thursday.

Their study of more than 5,000 Norwegian 15- and 16-year-olds showed a clear and direct association between soft drink intake and hyperactivity, and a more complex link with other mental and behavioral disorders.

They surveyed the students, asking them how many fizzy soft drinks with sugar they had a day, and then questions from a standard questionnaire used to assess mental health. The teens who reported skipping breakfast and lunch were among the heaviest soft drink consumers, Dr. Lars Lien and colleagues at the University of Oslo found.

"There was a strong association between soft drink consumption and mental health problems among Oslo 10th graders," they wrote in their report, published in the American Journal of Public Health. "This association remained significant after adjustment for social, behavioral and food-related disorders."