Can drinking soft drink lead to suicide?

Posted on Sun, 16 Sep 12

Sugar rots your teeth, and also your brain. A little talked about discovery is that drinking soft drink, or liquid sugar, is strongly associated with serious mental health problems such as depression and suicide.

In 2011 a study of Chinese students aged from 12-19 years old found that soft drink was significantly associated with risk of suicidal plan or suicide attempt. In fact, “compared with soft drink consumption less than once per day, consumption at least three times per day was associated with 80% increased risk for suicidal plan and more than 3.5-fold increased risk for suicide attempt.”

And an earlier study in Australian adults discovered that “those who consumed more than half a liter of soft drink per day had approximately 60% greater risk of having depression, stress-related problem, suicidal ideation, psychological distress or a current mental health condition, compared with those not consuming soft drinks.”

Could soft drink be causing serious mental health problems such as depression and suicide or is this just a chance association? Sugary diets have  been shown to lead to important changes in the brain linked to depression and degeneration so it is certainly possible that soda is a cause of mental meltdown.

References:

Pan X, Zhang C, Shi Z. Soft drink and sweet food consumption and suicidal behaviours among Chinese adolescents. Acta Paediatr. 2011 Nov;100(11):e215-22.

Shi Z, Taylor AW, Wittert G, Goldney R, Gill TK. Soft drink consumption and mental health problems among adults in Australia. Public Health Nutr. 2010 Jul;13(7):1073-9.