Stay away from sugary drinks if you don’t want poor memory

People who drank diet soda daily were almost three times as likely to develop stroke and dementia when compared to those who did not consume diet soda.

By: Shaloo Tiwari | | Published: January 2, 2018 12:59 pm

Sugary drinks can put your at the risk of cardiovascular diseases. © Shutterstock

Now, there is one more reason to stay away from sugary drinks, as they result in poorer memory. According to studies published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia and the journal Stroke, consuming sugary beverages such as sodas and fruit juices are more likely to have poorer memory and people who drank diet soda daily were almost three times as likely to develop stroke and dementia when compared to those who did not consume diet soda. “Our findings indicate an association between higher sugary beverage intake and brain atrophy, including lower brain volume and poorer memory,” explained corresponding author Matthew Pase. “We also found that people drinking diet soda daily were almost three times as likely to develop stroke and dementia. This included a higher risk of ischemic stroke, where blood vessels in the brain become obstructed and Alzheimer’s disease dementia, the most common form of dementia,” he said. The findings were published after conducting research on approximately 4,000 participants over the age of 30. Also Read - Give up soda and this will happen to your body

Though the study has cautioned people against regularly consuming sugary beverages, more experiments are needed to establish the link between these drinks and poorer memory. Also Read - 6 reasons why sugary drinks are bad for women

Recently another study proved, consuming a sugar-sweetened drink like fruit juices with a high-protein meal including lean meat, chicken, fish and dairy products may negatively affect energy balance, alter food preferences and cause the body to store more fat, according to a study. The findings showed that the inclusion of a sugar-sweetened drink decreased fat oxidation, which kick-starts the breakdown of fat molecules, after a meal by eight per cent. The combination will also increase the desire to eat more unhealthy junk food for hours after finishing breakfast. “We were surprised by the impact that the sugar-sweetened drinks had on metabolism when they were paired with higher-protein meals. This combination also increased study subjects’ desire to eat savoury and salty foods for four hours after eating,” said lead author Shanon Casperson, from USDA-Agricultural Research Service Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Centre in the US. Also Read - A bad memory is like a festering sore: 5 ways to cope with it

If a sugar-sweetened drink was consumed with a 15 per cent protein meal, fat oxidation decreased by 7.2g on average, while with an intake of 30 per cent protein meal fat oxidation reduced by 12.6g on average. While having a sugar-sweetened drink increased the amount of energy used to metabolise the meal, the increased expenditure did not even out the consumption of additional calories from the drink, the researchers said, in the paper published in the journal BMC Nutrition.

Published : January 2, 2018 12:59 pm

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