Kids Use Sugary Drinks to Relieve Stress of Parents’ Break-ups
Published at
Siraphol/iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — A new study shows that children may use sugary drinks to help cope with their parents’ breakups, linking those splits to a physical toll, as well as the expected emotional toll.
According to a press release from San Francisco State University, the study’s lead researcher Jeff Cookston explains the findings as having a lot to do with “ease and access.” Cookston says that sugary beverages can be a “quick fix” for dealing with the stress of a breakup. The study was published online by the journal Childhood Obesity, and will be available in the journal’s April print edition.
“They’re quite pleasurable, and they’re accessible,” Cookston adds. “The brain reacts with a great deal of enjoyment when we have a soda or energy drink.” The problem, he notes, is that sugary beverages — much like increased consumption of carbohydrates — is strongly associated with the U.S. obesity epidemic.
Follow @ABCNewsRadio
Copyright © 2015, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.