Sugary drinks as a child can lead to memory problems later in life, study finds

Children who drink sugary drinks may be at increased risk for memory problems later in life, according to a new study.

American researchers gave rats a sugary drink and then, when they were adults, gave them two memory tests to compare their performance.

They found that the hippocampus, a region of the brain integral to memory function, was impaired in soda-fed rodents, leading to memory problems.

Researchers believe the drink alters an individual’s gut microbiome and this in turn alters genes in the hippocampus, altering function.

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American researchers gave rats a sugary drink and then, when they were adults, gave them two memory tests to compare their performance.

The rats were given either a diet of water or water supplemented with an equivalent of a carbonated drink sold in stores.

“The consumption of sugar early in life appears to selectively impair their learning and hippocampal memory,” said study lead author Dr. Emily Noble of the University of Georgia.

Analysis of the gut microbiome in rats also revealed that the consumption of sugary drinks had a deleterious effect.

Sugar drinkers had larger populations of two particular species of gut bacteria: Parabacteroides distasonis and Parabacteroides johnsonii.

They injected bacteria into rats that had never had sugary drinks before and found that they were also developing hippocampal-related memory problems.

This, according to the researchers, is evidence that cognitive impairment from soft drinks is the result of altering an individual’s gut microbiome.

“ It was surprising to us that we were able to essentially replicate the memory impairment associated with sugar consumption not by transferring the entire microbiome, but simply by enriching a single bacterial population in the gut, ” said said Dr. Scott Kanoski, co-author of the University of Southern California study.

Children who drink sugary drinks may be at increased risk for memory problems later in life, new study finds

The researchers then studied the genes in the brains of the rats and found that they were different if they had been fed sugary drinks.

Affected genes control how nerve cells transmit electrical signals to other nerve cells and how they send molecular signals internally.

Although the study was performed in rats, the researchers believe the results could apply to humans as well.

In future studies, the team hopes to determine whether changing habits, such as eating a healthier diet or increasing physical activity, can reverse memory damage caused by high sugar intake earlier in life.

The study is published in the journal Translational Psychiatry.

The amount of sugar a person should eat per day depends on their age, according to the NHS.

Children aged four to six should be limited to a maximum of 19g per day.

Children 7-10 years old should be no more than 24g, and children 11 and older should be 30g or less.

Meanwhile, the NHS recommends that adults consume no more than 30g of free sugars per day.