Soft drinks tied to increased aggression in kids

Washington, Aug 16 - Heavy soft drink consumption is associated with aggression, attention problems and withdrawal behavior in young children, a new study has found. The study by researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, University of Vermont, and Harvard School of Public Health assessed approximately 3,000 5-year-old children. The kids were enrolled in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a prospective birth cohort that follows mother-child pairs from 20 large US cities. Mothers reported their child's soft drink consumption and completed the Child Behavior Checklist based on their child's behavior during the previous two months. The researchers found that 43 per cent of the children consumed at least 1 serving of soft drinks per day, and 4 per cent consumed 4 or more. Aggression, withdrawal, and attention problems were associated with soda consumption. Even after adjusting for sociodemographic factors, maternal depression, intimate partner violence, and paternal incarceration, any soft drink consumption was linked to increased aggressive behavior. Children who drank 4 or more soft drinks per day were more than twice as likely to destroy things belonging to others, get into fights, and physically attack people. They also had increased attention problems and withdrawal behavior compared with those who did not consume soft drinks. ÒWe found that the child's aggressive behavior score increased with every increase in soft drinks servings per day,Ó said Shakira Suglia, Mailman School assistant professor of Epidemiology. Although this study cannot identify the exact nature of the association between soft drink consumption and problem behaviors, limiting or eliminating a child's soft drink consumption may reduce behavioral problems, researchers said. The study was published in The Journal of Pediatrics.

New biomarker can spot Alzheimer's years before onset

London, Aug 15 - Scientists have identified a novel potential biomarker, present in cerebral spinal fluid (CSF), that can help detect Alzheimer's disease at least a decade before symptoms appear. This may be the earliest known biomarker associated with the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. ÒIf our initial findings can be replicated by other laboratories, the results will change the way we currently think about the causes of Alzheimer's disease,Ó said Dr Ramon Trullas, research professor at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) Institute of Biomedical Research of Barcelona and lead author of the study. ÒThis discovery may enable us to search for more effective treatments that can be administered during the preclinical stage,Ó Trullas said. The relationship of currently known biomarkers with the cause of the disease is unclear, making it nearly impossible to diagnose preclinical stages of the disease with any real certainty. The CSIC researchers demonstrated that a decrease in the content of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in CSF may be a preclinical indicator for Alzheimer's disease; furthermore, there may be a directly causative relationship. The hypothesis is that decreased mtDNA levels in CSF reflect the diminished ability of mitochondria to power the brain's neurons, triggering their death. The decrease in the concentration of mtDNA precedes the appearance of well-known biochemical Alzheimer's biomarkers (the A beta 1-42, t-tau, and p-tau proteins), suggesting that the pathophysiological process of Alzheimer's disease starts earlier than previously thought and that mtDNA depletion may be one of the earliest predictors for the disease. Trullas hopes that other laboratories and hospitals will successfully replicate his group's research results, confirming that reduced mtDNA levels should be investigated as a possible cause of Alzheimer's disease. By finding a way to block this degeneration, clinicians may be able to diagnose and treat Alzheimer's disease before symptoms appear. The study was published in journal Annals of Neurology.