In Brazil a scientific team was given the task of evaluating the damage that sugary soda can cause, and to determine the first results, they fed a group of rats with only that drink for 2 months.
The results determined that cola-based soft drinks induce memory impairment at different ages. In addition, they influence the increase in the ROS marker in the hippocampus, the increase in lipid peroxidation in the hippocampus and they alter the activity of oxidative enzymes.
Those results add to health conditions already known as diabetes, heart disease, dental caries and liver complications, among other.
study details
Some universities in Brazil participated in this study, such as University Center of Espirito Santo, Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) and Ignatianum Jesuit University of Poland.
The scientists first separated the rats into three age groups: 2 months, 8 months and 14 months of age. Each of these age groups it was divided into cohorts that drank water and that drank cola and water.
The radial arm maze and the Y-maze were used to assess spatial memory, the open field to assess habituation memory, and inhibitory avoidance to assess aversive memory.a. Behavioral tests began on day 57 and ended on day 67 of treatment. At day 68, the rats were killed; frontal cortex and hippocampus were dissected for analysis of the antioxidant enzymes catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD); and oxidative markers of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) and dichloro-dihydro-fluorescein diacetate (DCFH) were measured in the hippocampus.
“Intake of cola-based soft drinks caused memory impairment in the radial arm maze, the Y-maze task, and the open field in the rat of 2 and 8 months of age, but not in the 14 month old. There were no differences between the groups in the inhibitory avoidance test. In frontal cortex, soft drink intake reduced catian activity in 8-month-old rats and SOD activity in 8- and 14-month-old rats”, indicates the study published in ScienceDirect.