Brain and Sodas

It seems that the average person has had a difficult time with internalizing study data that have linked consumption of sodas not only with weight gain but also with an increased risk of disease processes such as diabetes. And a subset appears to believe that if they just use diet sodas, they are home free. There’s an old saying that a brain convinced against its will is of the same opinion still, so I have no agenda for convincing a brain that water is the best bet for a beverage of choice for optimum brain function. However, data just released from two studies at Boston University, USA, links soda consumption with brain problems—and that has definitely caught my brain’s attention. Sudha Seshadri, a professor of neurology at Boston University School of Medicine (MED), a faculty member at Boston University’s Alzheimer’s Disease Center, and senior author on both papers, has been quoted as saying: “It looks like there is not very much of an upside to having sugary drinks, and substituting the sugar with artificial sweeteners doesn’t seem to help.” More tomorrow.