This is not a scoop: abusing sugary drinks, sodas, cola drinks is not a good idea. They make you fat, are harmful to the digestive system, especially when consumed in large quantities. And increase the risk of cardiovascular pathologies and therefore of death!
However, in recent decades, their appeal has increased considerably, note a team of researchers on the Science Direct site. They publish a study which is interested in a new sphere reached by excess of these beverages: our cognitive health.
To conduct their experiment, they used rats that they divided into three groups: the first drank only water, the second drank cola and water, the third only cola, and this for 67 days. From day 57, they studied their ability to locate themselves in space, their memory, their habituation. At the end of the study, the rats were dissected: their frontal cortex and their hippocampus were studied, as well as the enzymes secreted by each of them.
Oxidative stress and memory loss
Conclusion: in the long term (and in large quantities), cola causes oxidative stress in the brain and affects memory. The rats studied, whose ages varied (2, 8 and 14 months) were all impacted cognitively, even if the youngest were the most prone to it, note the researchers.
If the study relates only to rodents, it warns all the same about the extent of the risks linked to an overconsumption of sodas, in particular those which contain cola. Consume in moderation, then!
Source: Long-term administration of soft drink causes memory impairment and oxidative damage in adult and middle-aged rats, Science Direct, July 2022.
