Excess caffeine is harmful to health, but, in the case of children, daily consumption of this substance can have especially negative consequences, as a study has just revealed in which data from 2,092 American children between nine and 10 years old. Specifically, those children who reported drinking caffeinated soft drinks every day were twice as likely to admit that they had sipped alcohol a year later.
In addition, they were also more impulsive and had worse working memory, according to the results of the study published in Substance Use & Misuse. Although previous studies in adolescents have shown that those who drink energy drinks regularly are five times more likely to use alcohol or marijuana within one to two years, this is the first study to demonstrate similar results in young children.
The authors of the new research used data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study – the large longitudinal study of brain development and childhood health in the United States – to find out if there was a connection between consumption of alcohol and caffeinated soft drink consumption in younger children, and to better understand the relationship between beverage consumption and known risk factors for substance use disorder, such as reduced working memory (e.g. keeping a short sequence of numbers in your mind for a few minutes) and greater impulsivity.
Impulsive children and brain characteristics associated with ADHD
To test these cognitive functions, they gave children a series of tasks to perform while their brain activity was recorded. In one of these tasks, for example, the minors had to determine whether an object presented to them was the same as the one that had been shown in the two previous tests. After taking into account factors that could have influenced such as family history of drug use and low parental education, the results showed that both high impulsivity and low working memory were significantly associated with daily soft drink consumption. with caffeine.
“There is no consensus on a safe dose of caffeine in children, and some children may be more vulnerable to the adverse effects associated with frequent caffeine consumption.”
The researchers also found that the brain activity of children who regularly drank caffeinated soft drinks was different from that of their counterparts who did not drink them. For example, when performing the impulse control task, daily users showed less activity in an area of the brain called the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Decreased activity in the ACC is frequently seen in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and in people with substance use disorders.
Regarding the working memory test, daily drinkers showed less activation in another area of the brain called the inferior frontal gyrus, which is part of the frontal lobe and whose reduced activation has been shown in previous studies to be related to a lower ability to work memory.
“Our findings suggest that daily consumption of caffeinated soft drinks in children predicts substance use in the near future. A possible explanation is that the substances contained in caffeinated soft drinks (caffeine and sugar) could induce a toxicological effect in the brain, making the individual more sensitive to the reinforcing effects of harder drugs such as alcohol,” explained the lead author. Mina Kwonfrom the Department of Psychology at Seoul National University.
This is known as the ‘gateway hypothesis’. However, an alternative theory known as the ‘common responsibility hypothesis’ is also possible, which is based on the idea that children who are naturally less able to regulate their impulses are more likely to seek out and try substances such as caffeine. at a young age and, as they grow older and find it easier to access illicit substances, they may move on to harder drugs such as alcohol.
“Frequent consumption of caffeinated soft drinks could indicate a higher risk of initiating substance use in the future, due to common risk factors between the two behaviors,” adds Professor Woo-Young Ahn, director of the Clinical Sciences Laboratory. Computing Sciences from Seoul National University.
“Our results have important implications for public health recommendations, as our study provides novel information on the neurobehavioral correlates of caffeinated soft drink consumption in children, which has rarely been evaluated. Therefore, it is vital to develop evidence-based recommendations for the consumption of caffeinated soft drinks in minors. There is no consensus on a safe dose of caffeine in children, and some children may be more vulnerable to the adverse effects associated with frequent caffeine consumption than others.”
“While we support the robustness of our main results by applying statistical methods that could control for other confounding variables, we also recognize that multiple variables other than caffeinated soft drink intake may mediate the relationship between neurobehavioral risk factors and consumption.” future of alcohol.”
